International Organisations

FACTS THAT MATTER

1. International organisations help countries to cooperate to create
better living conditions all over the world and provide common
platform to discuss contentious issues and find peaceful
solutions, by a mechanism, rules and bureaucracy.
2. The United Nations was founded as a successor to ‘League of
Nations’ immediately after the Second World Charter by 51 states
on 20th October 1945 with the headquarter at New York.
3. The UN has 192 member states to prevent international
conflicts to facilitate co-operation. The UN’s main organs are the
General Assembly and Security Council. The UNSC consists of five
permanent members i.e. the US, Russia, France, China and the UK,
who enjoy Veto Power. The UN’s representative head is Secretary
General.
4. The UN consists of many specialised agencies to deal with
social and economic issues like WHO, UNDP, UNHRG, UNHCR,
UNICEF, and UNESCO to work in an efficient manner and to bring
world together.
5. After the Cold War, some of the changes occurred which
affected the functioning of the UN
i. e. collapse of Soviet Union, emergence of China and India as
rising powers, entry of new members, and confrontations with the
challenges like genocide, civil war, ethnic conflict, terrorism,
nuclear proliferation etc.
6. They faced two kinds of reforms over the time i.e. organisations
structure and processes and a review of the issues that fall within
jurisdiction of UN as why veto powers to permanent members
only, dominance of powerful countries and to play more effective
role in peace and security missions etc.
7. In 1992, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution over the
reform of UN complaining no longer representation by
contemporary powers, dominance of few countries based on
western values etc. Following these in January 1997, Kofi Annan,
UN Secretary General initiated on “How the UN should be
reformed?”
8. Since 1997 onwards, a new member to be added to the UN
should fulfil the parameters of being a major economic and
military power, contributor to UN Budget, a populous one, should
respect democracy and human rights and to make council more
representative.
9. In September 2005, the heads of all member states of the UN
took the steps to make the UN more relevant by creating peace
building commissions, human rights council, agreement to achieve
Millennium Development Goals, condemnation of terrorism,
creation of democracy fund and an agreement to wind up
Trusteeship Council.
10. India is a big supporter of restructuring of the UN to promote
development and cooperation among states, to composition of
Security Council arid to include more representation in council for
its political support.
11. Being a citizen of India, we would firmly support India’s
candidature for the permanent membership of UN Security
Council on the grounds to be second most populous country,
largest democracy, initiations in the UN, economic emergence and
regular financial contributor to the UN.
12. Some countries question India’s inclusion as permanent
members in the Security Council on the basis of its troubled
relationship with Pakistan, nuclear weapon capabilities, and if India
included, some emerging powers (Brazil, Germany, Japan, South
Africa) will also be accommodated. France and the USA advocate
that Africa and South America must be represented for they do not
have any representation in the present structure.
13. The UN can not serve as a balance against US dominance
because the US is the only Superpower after 1991 and may ignore
any international organisation economically and’ militarily, its veto
power also can stop any move damaging its interests as well as
enjoys a considerable say in the choice of Secretary General of the
UN.
14. Despite the above mentioned strong activities of the US, the
UN serves a purpose in bringing the world together in dealing with
conflicts and social and economic issues. The UN provides a
space within which arguments against specific US attitude and
policies are heard and compromised.
UN’S SIGNIFICANT AGENCIES
1. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
(a) At the international level, overseas financial institutions and
regulations.
(b) It consists of 180 members. Out of them, G-8 members enjoy
more powers i.e. the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy,
Canada and Russia except China and Saudi Arabia.
(c) The US alone enjoys 16.75% voting rights.
2. World Bank
(a) It was created in 1944.
(b) It works for human development, agriculture and rural
development, environmental protection, infrastructure and
governance and provides loans and grants to developing
countries.
(c) It is criticised for setting the economic agenda of poorer
nations, attaching stringent conditions to its loans and forcing free
market reforms.
3. WTO-World Trade Organisation
(a) An international organisation to set the rules for global trade
which was set up in 1995 as a successor to General Agreement on
Trade and Tariffs (GATT) and has 157 members, (as on 1
September 2012)
(b) Major economic powers such as the US, EU and Japan have
managed to use the WTO to frame rules of trade to advance their
own interests.
(c) The developing countries often complain of non-transparent
procedure and being pushed around by big powers.
4. IAEA-International Atomic Energy Agency
(a) It was established in 1957 to implement US president Dwight
Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” proposal.
(b) It seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to
prevent its use for military purpose.
(c) IAEA teams regularly inspect nuclear facilities all over the world
to ensure that civilian reactors are not being used for military
purposes.
5. Amnesty International
(a) An NGO to campaign for the protection of human rights all over
the world.
(b) It prepares and publishes reports on human rights to research
and advocate human rights.
(c) Governments are not always happy with these reports since a
major focus of Amnesty is the misconduct of government
authorities.
6. Human Rights Watch
(a) Another international NGO involved in research and advocacy
of human rights.
(b) The largest international human rights organisation in the US.
(c) It draws the global media’s attention to human rights abuses.
(d) It helped in building international coalitions like the campaigns
to ban landmines, to stop the use of child-soldier and to establish
the international criminal court.
WORDS THAT MATTER
1. UN Charter: A constitution of the UN to deal with objectives of
the UN.
2. Veto: It is a negative vote to be enjoyed by five permanent
members of Security Council to stop a decision.
3. Secretary General: A representative head of the UN to prepare
an annual record of the UN activities.
4. WHO: World Health Organisation to deal with matters related to
health.
5. UNICEF: United Nation’s Children Fund to deal with child
welfare.
6. UNESCO: United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation to deal with promotion of education, science and
culture.
7. Peace Keeping Operation: A mechanism for restoring peace
and security by sending UN controlled troops in the affected area.
TIMELINE
1. August 1941: Signing of the Atlantic Charter by the US
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston S.
Churchill.
2. January 1942: 26 Allied nations fighting against the Axis
Powers meet in Washington D.C., to support the Atlantic Charter
and sign the ‘Declaration by United Nations’.
3. December 1943: Tehran Conference Declaration of the three
powers (US, Britain and Soviet Union)
4. February 1945: Yalta Conference of the ‘Big Three’ (Roosevelt,
Churchill and Stalin) decides to organise a United Nations
conference on the proposed world organisation.
5. April-May 1945: The 2-month long United Nations Conference
on International Organisation at San Francisco.
6. June 26, 1945: Signing of the UN Charter by 50 nations (Poland
signed on October 15; so the UN has 51 original founding
members)
7. October 24, 1945: The UN was founded (hence October 24 is
celebrated as UN Day).
8. October 30, 1945: India joins the UN.
UN SECRETARIES-GENERAL
1. Trygve Lie (1946-1952) Norway: Lawyer and foreign minister,
worked for ceasefire between India and Pakistan on Kashmir;
criticised for his failure to quickly end the Korean war, Soviet Union
opposed second term for him; resigned from the post.
2. Dag Hammarskjold (1953-1961) Sweden: Economist and
lawyer, worked for resolving the Suez Canal dispute and the
decolonisation of Africa; awarded Nobel Peace Prize
posthumously in 1961 for his efforts to settle the Congo Crisis,
Soviet Union and France criticised his role in Africa.
3. U Thant (1961-1971) Burma (Myanmar): Teacher and diplomat
worked for resolving the Cuban Missile crisis and ending the
Congo Crisis; established the UN Peacekeeping force in Cyprus;
criticised the US during the Vietnam war.
4. Kurt Waldheim (1972-1981) Austria: Diplomat and foreign
minister; made efforts to
resolve the problems of Namibia and Lebanon; oversaw the relief
operation in Bangladesh, China blocked his bid for a third term.
5. Javier Perez de Cuellar (1982-1991) Peru: Lawyer and
diplomat, worked for peace in Cyprus, Afghanistan and El Salvador;
mediated between Britain and Argentina after the Falklands war;
negotiated for the independence of Namibia.
6. Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1992-1996) Egypt: Diplomat, jurist,
foreign minister; issued a report, ‘An Agenda for Peace’; conducted
a successful UN operation in Mozambique; blamed for the UN
failures in Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda; due to serious
disagreements, the US blocked a second term for him.
7. Kofi A. Annan (1997-2006) Ghana: UN official, created the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; declared the
US-led invasion of Iraq as an illegal act; established the
Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council in
2005; awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.