The General Assembly is composed of representatives from all member states, with equal voting rights. It is the principal body of the United Nations exercising deliberative, supervisory, financial and elective functions. As a deliberative body it can discuss and make recommendations on "any questions or any matters within the scope of the present Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided for in the present Charter." All the six organs of the United Nations submit reports to the General Assembly. The Trusteeship and Economic and Social Council operate under the authority of the General Assembly. Numerous ad hoc committees, seven main committees, and a Plenary provide the forum in which issues of the General Assembly are discussed, deliberated and resolutions are created and agreed upon. The General Assembly has final review of all decisions passed in committee, but in matters discussed in the Security Council, the General Assembly may not make recommendations unless requested to do so. Despite the broad scope of its authority, decisions of the General Assembly are only recommendations, and rely on the weight of world opinion for enforcement.

At the start of each regular session in February, the Assembly holds a general debate, in which members states express their views on a wide range of matters of international concern. An agenda is created and the questions to be discussed are forwarded to their respective committees for deliberation and resolution. Thus most critical decisions regarding global concerns are confronted in the General Assembly's six main committees:

• First Committee: Disarmament and Related International Security Matters
• Second Committee: Economic and Financial Matters
• Third Committee: Social, Humanitarian and cultural Matters
• Fourth Committee: Special Political and Decolonization Matters
• Fifth Committee: Administrative and Budgetary Matters
• Sixth Committee: Legal Matters

Voting in committees is by simple majority.

A Plenary is usually held at the end of a regular session. In this the General Assembly convenes as a forum and ratifies all proposed resolutions created in committees since all members nations have delegates in the committees. Some questions are considered on in Plenary meetings and in these special circumstances the General Assembly also becomes a committee.

Under the authority of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) coordinates the economic and social work of the U.N. and its large family of specialized and affiliated institutions. ECOSOC meets once a year, alternating between New York and Geneva, for a four-to-five-week plenary session. The 54 members of ECOSOC are elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms.

The Economic and Social Council consists of three basic parts: subsidiary bodies, non- governmental organizations and specialized agencies. Each of these is further divided.

The subsidiary bodies include:

• six functional commissions:
  Human Rights
  Narcotic Drugs
  Population
  Social Development
  Statistical
  Status of Women
• five regional commissions:
  Economic Committee for Africa
  Economic and Social Committee for Asia and the Pacific
  Economic Committee for Europe
  Economic Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean
  Economic Committee for Western Asia
• six standing committees:
  Human Settlement
  Natural Resources
  Non-Governmental Organizations and on Negotiations with Inter-Governmental Agencies
  Programme and Coordination
  Transnational Corporations
• Many standing expert bodies on topics such as:
  Crime Prevention and Control
  Development Planning
  International Co-operation in Tax Matters
  Transport of Dangerous Goods

Non-governmental organizations may be consulted by the Economic and Social Council if they are concerned with matters within the Council's competence. The over six hundred non-governmental organizations that have consultive status with the council are classified into three groups:

• Category I organizations
  concerned with most of the Council's activities
• Category II organizations
  have special competence in specific fields of the Council's activity
• Other organizations
  make occasional contributions to the Council, its subsidiary organs, or other United Nations bodies

Agencies known as "specialized agencies" report annually to the Economic and Social Council.

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• International Labor Organization (ILO)
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• World Health Organization (WHO)

The Security Council is entrusted with the primary responsibility for keeping world peace. Because of this awesome responsibility, only the Security Council can impose mandatory economic sanctions or use miliary force in order to enforce its decision. There are fifteen members of the Security Council. Ten members are elected for two year terms by the General Assembly. The five permanent members of the Security Council are:

• United Kingdom
• France
• Russian Federation
• United States
• Republic of China

Each of the five permanent members has the power to veto a substantive decision of the council. All decisions of the Council require nine votes in the affirmative in order to pass. Members of the United Nations agree to abide by the decisions of the Security Council when they join the organization.

The principal judicial body of the United Nations is the International Court of Justice. It has 15 judges, serving nine-year terms. Justices are elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council which vote independently. The Court sits in The Hague and gives both judgements in cases brought before it by the United Nations members, and legal opinions to the General Assembly and Security Council. No nation is forced either to take a case to the International Court of Justice or to accept its rulings. A few nations, by formal declaration, accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court in specified categories of disputes.

The administrative body of the United Nations is the Secretariat. The leader of the Secretariat is known as the Secretary-General and is elected by the General Assembly for a five year term. The Secretary-General appoints the staff of the United Nations. The staff prepares material for meetings, makes expert studies, and, in general, does the office work of the United Nations.

The Secretary-General often acts as an intermediary in international disputes. He is charged with bringing before the United Nations any matter that threatens international peace and security.

Supervision of the administration of the trust territories created by the League of Nations is conducted by the Trusteeship Council. Now all of the trust territories have attained independence except for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). According to the Charter, the Council is to be composed of United Nations members who administer trust territories (at the present, only the United States administers a trust territory), the permanent members other Security Council, and as many nonadministering members elected by the General Assembly as are necessary to ensure an equal number of administering and nonadministering members of the Council. Election is for three-year terms. Currently, the Council is made up only of the five permanent members of the Security Council.