The United Nations is the international community's second attempt at an international organization aimed at guaranteeing world peace by international cooperation and consensus. The first such attempt came at the end World War I, with the establishment of the League of Nations.
Despite a great desire for peace a second worldwide conflict occurred less than twenty years after the foundation of the League of Nations. The League, and later the United Nations, based its peacekeeping on the principle of collective security. In collective security all members accept joint responsibility for preserving peace. Thus a threat to one was a threat to all. Two basic elements make up collective security: first, all the great powers must participate; second, they must act with conviction to preserve the peace. The League failed because not all the great powers participated.
The Atlantic Charter was signed in August, 1941 by the United States and Great Britain. It stated that neither power sought territorial gains as a result of the war and affirmed the hope for a postwar world in which "all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want."
The Declaration of the United Nations on January 1, 1942 marked the first use of the term "United Nations." This declaration, signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China, and 43 other nations was a statement of the Allied nations' victory aims. Security in the postwar world, according to the declaration, was to be collective in nature.
The Moscow Declaration on General Security was released October 30, 1943. This contained an agreement by the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union and China (the "Big Four') that an international organization based upon the principles of collective security would be desirable in the postwar world.
The Dumbarton Oaks Conference, held from August to October, 1944 in Washington, D. C., was the first direct effort to create the United Nations. The "Big Four" met to discuss the structure of the organization they were trying to establish. While much was accomplished several key issues were unresolved. Among these were when the veto in the Security Council could be used, whether nations could vote on issues in which they were directly involved, and could the Soviet Union include each of the fifteen Soviet Republics as member states since each member of the Commonwealth would be admitted as a member nation.
Progress on these issues was steady, and compromise on the veto and representation issues were reached at the Yalta summit in February, 1945. In return for the admittance of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics, it was agreed the procedural matters in the Security Council would not be subject to veto. With the significant disputes between the big powers settled, the "Big Four" decided to hold an additional conference that has come to be known as the San Francisco Conference. Its purpose was to write a charter for the proposed United Nations.
This conference was attended by 46 nations from April 25 to June 26, 1946. Most of the disputes here were between the larger and smaller nations. The smaller ones felt that the great powers would have too much control over the proposed organization, particularly in possessing a veto over all actions taken by the Security Council. In the end, the veto was preserved, but the power of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council was increased. The revised Charter was approved unanimously and went into effect October 24, 1945.
The United Nations celebrated its Fiftieth Anniversary in 1995. It has made great strides in helping the world politically, economically and socially. As well as serving as a forum for international negotiations, the UN has made outstanding accomplishments in global health. The eradication of small pox by the World Health Organization (WHO) was perhaps its most noted achievement. The UN has made great strides in the protection of human rights, decolonization, protection and aid to refugees, peacekeeping, the advancement of women's issues, and help for children worldwide.
The United Nations has six principal organs:
