General Assembly, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. It is made up of all the UN member nations, with each having one vote. According to the UN Charter, the General Assembly may discuss any question or matter brought before it and may make recommendations to member nations and also to the Security Council; the assembly may not, however, make recommendations on matters that the council has under consideration, except at the request of the council. The most important and frequently misunderstood aspect of the General Assembly is that, according to the charter, its resolutions are not legally binding; the force of its recommendations rests on their representation of world public opinion. The assembly meets in one regular session each year, opening on the third Tuesday of September and ordinarily concluded by Christmas. It may also meet in special sessions at the request of a majority of the members. On the basis of the "Uniting for Peace" resolution of November 1950, the assembly may also meet in emergency session on 24-hour notice, at the request of a majority of the members of the Security Council, in matters in which a council decision has been blocked by a Great Power veto. The assembly passes resolutions by simple majority, except on important questions, such as recommendations on peace and security; election of members to any of the other five UN organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; and budgetary matters. Decisions in these matters require a two-thirds majority. The assembly elects a president and 21 vice presidents for each session. The agenda, which rarely contains less than 100 items, is distributed among seven main committees. Two of these committees deal with political and security questions while the remaining committees deal with economic and financial matters; social, humanitarian, and cultural issues; trusteeship; administrative and budgetary problems; and legal questions. The organization of the work of each session is the task of the General (Steering) Committee, which consists of the president, the 21 vice presidents, and the chairpersons of the seven main committees (who are elected by those bodies). A nine-member Credentials Committee passes on the validity of accreditations. The assembly is assisted by two standing committees and may set up ad hoc bodies. The General Assembly has exclusive authority to set the UN budget, paid for by all members according to an agreed-upon quota.
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, composed of representatives of 54 countries. Each year 18 members are elected by the UN General Assembly for three-year terms. ECOSOC's early activities were directed towards providing aid to war-ravaged countries of Europe and Asia. Today, the problems of developing nations are its major concern. The council carries out studies on international economic, social, humanitarian, cultural, educational, and related matters, and coordinates the activities of the UN's specialized agencies in these areas. ECOSOC operates mainly through its various standing committees, functional commissions, and regional commissions. The decisions reached at council meetings, where each member has one vote and a simple majority rules, are sent as recommendations to the General Assembly. The six functional commissions deal with problems relating to social development, human rights, the status of women, narcotic drugs, population, and national and international statistics. There are also five standing committees and assorted expert bodies that deal with such matters as natural resources, development of science and technology, and crime prevention. Five regional commissions are currently in operation within the council. They are modelled after the parent body and reflect the geographic diversity of resources and needs. Each one is headed by an executive secretary. The Economic Commission for Europe, based in Geneva, has 42 members; and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, headquartered in Bangkok, has 45 full members and 8 associate members; both were established in 1947. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, with 41 full members and 6 associate members, was set up in 1948 in Santiago, Chile. In 1958 the Economic Commission for Africa was established at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; it has 52 participating member nations and 2 associate members. The Economic Commission for Western Asia, with 13 members, was organized in 1973 in Beirut, Lebanon; its headquarters was subsequently moved to Baghd?d, Iraq, because of the war in Lebanon. A regional commission may make recommendations to any member government but can act only with the consent of that government. Regional cooperation has stimulated progress in agriculture, industry, education, housing, electric power, trade, transport, and environmental protection issues. ECOSOC is also involved with other UN organs, participating in their work or electing board members for numerous specialized agencies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Children's Fund.
International Court of Justice, United Nations, also known as World Court, principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was created in 1945 under the UN Charter as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice under the League of Nations. The court functions in accordance with its own statute, which forms an integral part of the UN Charter. Its main task is to decide legal cases between nations; people may not bring private cases before the court. All members of the UN are parties to the statute of the World Court, as are the three nonmember states, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and San Marino. A nation that is not a party to the statute may use the court if it accepts, either in general or in a given case, the obligations of a member of the UN.

Activities

Under Article 94 of the UN Charter, disputes are brought before the court in two ways. The first is by a special agreement, under which all parties agree to submit the matter to the court. The second is by a unilateral application by one party involved in a dispute; for example, a country might claim that its adversary was obliged by the terms of a particular treaty to accept the authority of the court in such a dispute. A provision in the statute of the court also permits, but does not require, nations that are parties to the statute to declare in advance their acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the court in certain types of international controversy. If two parties to a dispute have filed such declarations, and if the dispute between them falls within the bounds of the declarations, then either party may bring the case before the court. In October 1985 President Ronald Reagan formally withdrew the United States from its long-standing policy of automatic compliance with World Court decisions; this action left only 43 nations that accepted the court's compulsory jurisdiction. The US action weakened the court, which was already handicapped by the refusal of many major powersюincluding the Soviet Union, China, France, West Germany (now part of the united Federal Republic of Germany), and Italyюto accept its authority. However, its decisions can set important moral precedents, as with the June 1996 ruling which declared that the use of nuclear weapons in warfare was illegal except in "extreme circumstances". The court renders judgments according to the general principles of international law recognized by civilized nations, as well as international customs and rules of treaties and conventions recognized by the disputing parties. The court also refers to past judicial decisions and the writings of experts in international law. The judgment of the court, which must contain the reasons for the decision, is final and binding, and no appeal may be made. The UN Security Council is empowered to take measures to enforce the decision of the court if the parties to the dispute fail to enforce it themselves. In effect, however, the World Court has little power to enforce its rulings. In 1980, for example, when the court ordered Iran to release 53 American hostages, Iran simply ignored the ruling. In addition to deciding disputes between nations, the court gives advisory opinions on legal questions to the General Assembly, the Security Council, and other specialized agencies that have been authorized by the General Assembly to ask for such opinions. An example is the judgment of the court in 1962 that peacekeeping expenses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (now Zaire) and the Middle East constituted "expenses of the organization" to be paid by member states as apportioned by the General Assembly.

The Judges

The court has 15 judges, each elected by an absolute majority of the Security Council and the General Assembly, voting independently of each other. The judges are elected for nine years and may be reelected; no two may be nationals of the same country. A judge may be removed from the court only by unanimous vote of the other judges, who do not represent their countries but are elected on the basis of their knowledge of international law. The composition of the court is supposed at all times to reflect the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world. In any dispute, if no judge is of the nationality of a party to the case, that country may choose a judge to sit on the case. Nine judges constitute a quorum, and questions before the court are decided by a majority of judges present. The court elects its own officers and appoints its registrar and other officials. The headquarters are at The Hague, the Netherlands.
Security Council, United Nations, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. It is the only UN organ that, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, can order enforcement action, ranging from economic sanctions to military measures, in established cases of aggression or breach of peace. The Security Council has 15 members, of which 5 are permanent: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China (represented by Nationalist China, or Taiwan, until November 23, 1971, when the seat was taken by the People's Republic of China). The other members are elected by the General Assembly to 2-year terms that may not run consecutively. These seats rotate on a geographical basis; five are elected from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; two from Western countries and two from Latin America; and one from Eastern Europe. The presidency of the council is held for a month at a time by each of the members, in English alphabetical order by country. Under the UN Charter the Security Council bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. Disputes and breaches of peace may be brought before it by any UN member nation; countries that are not members of the council, if affected by the issue at question, may be invited to participate in the discussion without vote. Nine affirmative votes are required to pass a resolution. In procedural decisions, any nine votes suffice, but on all substantive matters the negative vote of any of the five permanent powers prevents the adoption of any resolution, whether or not nine members voted in favour. This negative vote is known as the veto right of the great powers and has been a point of controversy since the establishment of the UN. The frequent use of the veto by the former Soviet Union, especially, has given rise to repeated complaints in the UN. In 1950 this Soviet use of the veto led to the adoption of the United for Peace resolution, which provides that the General Assembly may continue to consider a problem if the council is blocked on it by veto. Great Britain, France, the United States, and Nationalist China also used their veto rights. The Security Council also recommends to the assembly admission of new UN members and appointment of a new secretary-general; it participates equally with the General Assembly in electing judges to the International Court of Justice. The council has two standing committees and a Military Staff Committee, which is not currently functioning; the council may also establish ad hoc bodies.
Secretariat of the United Nations, administrative organ composed of a secretary-general and "such staff as the Organization may require", according to the United Nations Charter. The secretary-general, appointed for a 5-year term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council, is the chief administrative official of the UN and, under Article 99 of the charter, may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter that seems to threaten international peace and security. From the very beginning of the UN, this provision has given the secretary-general a measure of executive authority; this led, in turn, to the dissatisfaction of the Soviet Union with the first two chief officials of the UN. The first secretary-general was Trygve Lie of Norway, who, under relentless Soviet pressure, was forced to resign in November 1952. He was succeeded in April 1953 by Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden, who was reelected five years later. Hammarskjold was also sharply challenged by the Soviet Union over the UN intervention in the crisis in the Congo in 1960-1961. He died in an aeroplane crash in the Congo on September 17, 1961. On November 3, the assembly appointed U Thant of Burma as acting secretary-general; he was then elected, and in 1966 reelected, as secretary-general. When his second term expired in 1971, he was succeeded by Kurt Waldheim of Austria, who was reelected for a second term in 1976. In 1982 Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru succeeded Waldheim, serving for two terms but declining a third. He was active in peacekeeping missions and humanitarian relief efforts after such disasters as the earthquakes in Guatemala and Nicaragua. He was succeeded in 1992 by Boutros Boutros Ghali of Egypt. In 1977 the General Assembly adopted a resolution giving the secretary-general the authority to appoint a second in command, with the title director-general for economic development and international economic cooperation. The director-general is responsible for providing leadership to those UN agencies involved in economic and social fields. The staff of the UN is appointed by the secretary-general, who selects these international civil servants partly on the basis of their competence and integrity and partly in such a way that the composition of the Secretariat reflects the geographical variety of the UN itself. UN officials are responsible only to that organization; they may not seek or receive instructions from any government or other authority. The Secretariat is organized into various departments, including offices dealing with political, legal, financial, economic, trusteeship, and public information.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), an autonomous arm of the United Nations (UN), established by the General Assembly in 1965. The UNDP works with some 150 governments and 30 intergovernmental agencies to provide technical assistance to improve living standards and promote economic growth in the developing nations of Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. UNDP projects include programmes to increase literacy and provide vocational skills, to stimulate capital investments, and to develop technological capabilities. Financed by voluntary contributions from governments, the UNDP reports annually to the UN General Assembly and every six months to the Economic and Social Council. The organization's headquarters are in New York.
Trusteeship Council, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for the supervision of territories that were under the international trusteeship system. It was charged with helping these areas achieve independence or self-government. The council consisted of the United States, as the single administering power, plus Russia, Great Britain, France, and China as nonadministering permanent members of the Security Council. It was so successful that all of the original 11 trust territories have been dissolved. Some of these territories merged with neighbouring states; some joined the UN as independent member nations. By the early 1990s the only remaining trust territory was the Palau Islands, administered by the United States and originally part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. This became an independent nation in 1994. With the last trust territory now self- governing, the Trusteeship Council ceased to exist in 1994.

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