The Cold War: Part III
The United Nations Organisation (UNO)
What is the UNO?
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 when the
UN Charter had been ratified by a majority of the original 51 member states
The purpose of the UNO is to bring all nations of the world together to
work for
o Peace and development
o Human dignity
o The well-being of all people
The UN Charter upholds human rights and proposes that
states should work together to overcome social, economic,
humanitarian and cultural differences
It afford the opportunity for every state to balance global interdependence
and national interests when addressing international problems
It is the sucessor to the failed League of Nations
o Its main aim to to restore a state of peace – the failure of the
League
The money to pay for their work comes from contributions from its
member states
o The richer you are, the more you pay
o The USA is the biggest contributor
Four Main Structures
The General Assembly
Meets once a year
Every Autumn each member sends a political leader to be their
representative
Every UN member has one vote
o At first strong countries did not want the small countries to have
too much of a say in world affairs
o This is why the Security Council has the real power
The Security Council
There are five permanent members (The P5)
o USA
o Russia
o China
o France
o Britain
There are ten other non-permanent members
o These rotate every two years
, The Security Council can be called in moments of emergency especially
when there is a threat of war
o They can then call on other members of the UN to lend soldiers for
their forces
However these have historically been ineffective and weak
The original rules stated that if a single member of the P5 vetoed an order
for action then the Security Council could not act
o During the Cold War, the Security Council was largely inactive
because the Western and Eastern blocs would use their right to
veto
The Secretariat
All the work of the UN is supervised and linked together by the Secretariat
This is a team of secretaries, clerks, translators and other officials who
organise the day to day work of the UN and see its decisions are being
carried out
The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary General who is currently Ban
Ki Moon from South Korea
Specialised Agencies
The job of the UN’s specialised agencies is to help people of the world
improve their lives
Each agency tackles human problems of a particular kind
o The World Health Organization fights diseases
o The Food and Agricultural organisation works out and teaches
better methods of farming
Peacekeeping Work
Historic Problems
Many wealthier nations argue that they have had to foot the bill for the
many smaller and poorer nations that have joined the UNO even though
they are the countries that are constantly under attack
They have been criticised for being slow and ineffective
o They have intervened too late
o They have sent too few troops
o The troops that are sent are from neighbouring countries and there
are often cultural biases and divisions that affect the quality of
peacekeeping missions
Past Peacekeeping Missions
The UN sent forces into Korea in the 1950s
They intervened in the Suez Crisis in 1956
UN soldiers have been called many times to keep peace between
quarelling nations in the Middle East
Examples of UNO Action During the Cold War
The United Nations Organisation (UNO)
What is the UNO?
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 when the
UN Charter had been ratified by a majority of the original 51 member states
The purpose of the UNO is to bring all nations of the world together to
work for
o Peace and development
o Human dignity
o The well-being of all people
The UN Charter upholds human rights and proposes that
states should work together to overcome social, economic,
humanitarian and cultural differences
It afford the opportunity for every state to balance global interdependence
and national interests when addressing international problems
It is the sucessor to the failed League of Nations
o Its main aim to to restore a state of peace – the failure of the
League
The money to pay for their work comes from contributions from its
member states
o The richer you are, the more you pay
o The USA is the biggest contributor
Four Main Structures
The General Assembly
Meets once a year
Every Autumn each member sends a political leader to be their
representative
Every UN member has one vote
o At first strong countries did not want the small countries to have
too much of a say in world affairs
o This is why the Security Council has the real power
The Security Council
There are five permanent members (The P5)
o USA
o Russia
o China
o France
o Britain
There are ten other non-permanent members
o These rotate every two years
, The Security Council can be called in moments of emergency especially
when there is a threat of war
o They can then call on other members of the UN to lend soldiers for
their forces
However these have historically been ineffective and weak
The original rules stated that if a single member of the P5 vetoed an order
for action then the Security Council could not act
o During the Cold War, the Security Council was largely inactive
because the Western and Eastern blocs would use their right to
veto
The Secretariat
All the work of the UN is supervised and linked together by the Secretariat
This is a team of secretaries, clerks, translators and other officials who
organise the day to day work of the UN and see its decisions are being
carried out
The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary General who is currently Ban
Ki Moon from South Korea
Specialised Agencies
The job of the UN’s specialised agencies is to help people of the world
improve their lives
Each agency tackles human problems of a particular kind
o The World Health Organization fights diseases
o The Food and Agricultural organisation works out and teaches
better methods of farming
Peacekeeping Work
Historic Problems
Many wealthier nations argue that they have had to foot the bill for the
many smaller and poorer nations that have joined the UNO even though
they are the countries that are constantly under attack
They have been criticised for being slow and ineffective
o They have intervened too late
o They have sent too few troops
o The troops that are sent are from neighbouring countries and there
are often cultural biases and divisions that affect the quality of
peacekeeping missions
Past Peacekeeping Missions
The UN sent forces into Korea in the 1950s
They intervened in the Suez Crisis in 1956
UN soldiers have been called many times to keep peace between
quarelling nations in the Middle East
Examples of UNO Action During the Cold War
