The following information was prepared by UNA-USA and published in their Spring, 1998 edition of The InterDependent. For more information on the UN and on Americans working to strengthen the US relationship with the UN, contact the United Nations Association of the USA by phone (212) 907-1300, via email at [email protected] or visit their great web site at http://www.unausa.org.

NOTE: Abridged versions of UN documents are under development.

United Nations Website

United Nations Development Program Website

I. What the United Nations IS...

• An association of sovereign member states formed in 1945 after World War II.
• Nearly every nation on earth - from 51 original members, the UN has expanded to 185.
• An organization composed of six main bodies:
  
  1. General Assembly, the UN's principal deliberative body, where each nation has one vote;
  2. Security Council, charged with maintaining international peace and security, where the US and four other permanent members have a veto;
  3. Economic and Social Council, which coordinates the UN's economic and social work;
  4. Trusteeship Council, which originally was given jurisdiction over 11 former colonies (all are now independent nations);
  5. International Court of Justice, which decides disputes between states that accept its jurisdiction;
  6. Secretariat, the international civil service that carries out the decisions of the other bodies.

  What we refer to as the United Nations system is made up of:
  

  • The six bodies listed above
  • Their subsidiary bodies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
  • A group of "specialized agencies" such as the World Health Organization and global financial institutions, which include the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund
  • Two other autonomous UN related bodies; the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Trade Organization.

• A world government
• A military force. Member states voluntarily contribute soldiers for peacekeeping missions. The US, as a permanent member of the Security Council, can veto any proposed peacekeeping mission, thereby calling it off entirely.
• Able to legislate, levy taxes, or borrow money. The UN has only the authority and resources provided to it by its members.

III. The US Role in the United Nations

• US President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the move to establish this world organization (it was he who dubbed it the United Nations) to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war"
• The United States Senate voted overwhelmingly for US membership in the UN.
• The US Congress voted unanimously to invite the UN to locate its headquarters in the US.
• Americans head a number of important UN agencies, including UNICEF, the UN Development Programme, and the World Food Programme. Americans hold more jobs in the UN Secretariat than any other national group.
• As the world's leading economic and military power, the UN's major financial contributor and host country, and a permanent member of the Security Council, the US is in a unique position to further its interest through the United Nations.

The UN benefits Americans in many ways,. Here are just a few:

1. Burden Sharing
   All of the UN's 185 members - nearly every nation on earth - contribute money to the United Nations to address problems that transcend geographic boundaries. The US spends approximately 1/10 of 1 percent of the federal budget on the entire UN system. This includes not only such bodies as the General Assembly, Security Council, Secretariat, and World Court, but also the world financial institutions and "specialized agencies".

2. Labor
   American working men and women benefit from international labor standards set by the International Labour Organization.

3. Environment
   Every single American - indeed, everyone under the sun - benefits from a treaty negotiated by the UN banning the production of gases that destroy the protective ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

4. Mail
   The regular flow of mail between the US and other countries is made possible by agreements on international mail delivery supervised by a UN specialized agency, the Universal Postal Union.

5. Health
   Americans traveling abroad no longer need a vaccination against smallpox, thanks to the successful World Health Organization-led effort to eradicate the disease. Today, with the HIV virus spreading almost everywhere in the world, a program called UNAIDS that mobilizes and coordinates the expertise and financial resources of six UN bodies is attacking this pandemic on every front: medical, public health, social, economic, cultural, and political.

6. Phone Calls
   Making it easier to place phone calls overseas is another specialized agency, the International Telecommunication Union, where governments and the private sector get together to coordinate global telecom networks and services.

7. Air Travel
   Americans, who make up 40 percent of international air travelers, can fly safely to other nations because still another UN specialized agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization has set safety standards.

8. Business
   The World Intellectual Property Organization promotes the global interests of US business by working to ensure respect for trademarks and copyrights.

9. Weather
   American farmers (and consumers in turn) benefit from reports of the World Weather Watch - a program of the World Meteorological Organization, another UN agency.

10. Nuclear Weapons
    Everyone benefits from the safeguards enforced by the International Atomic Energy Agency - an autonomous body established under UN auspices - that prevents the diversion of nuclear materials from peaceful use to weapons use.

11. Rule of Law
    By expanding the rule of law in international affairs, the UN helps to stabilize relations among nations. This stability facilitates international trade, providing markets for US goods and jobs for American workers.