UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION (U.N.O)
The League of Nations which was established after the First World War (1914 – 1918) failed to deliver the goods. It was wound up. After the Second World War, major nations of the world felt the need for a similar body to maintain peace the world and the United Nations Organization came into being.
The Charter of the U.N.O. was signed on June 26, 1945 and came into effect on October 24, 1945. At present almost all countries of the world are its members. Every year 24th October is celebrated as the U.N.O Day throughout the world. The headquarters of the U.N.O. is in New York.
The U.N.O. is a committee of nations. The original need was for a world body to strive and keep peace in the world after M end of the Second World War. The brains behind the big move were the Big Three- Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. A conference was called at San Francisco which was attended by all the Allied Powers. It prepared a charter of international peace-The Atlantic Charter. Ironically enough, the Atlantic Charter was hammered home on the Pacific coast of San Francisco! The official languages of the U.N. are English French Chinese, Russian, Arabic and Spanish. The working languages are English and French only.
The first committee of the U.N.O. was the Security Council. It had five permanent members- the U.S.A., U.S.S.R. (now Russia), United Kingdom, France and Nationalist China-who were equally vested with the right of veto over any question, so that unless and until all these five Powers agreed upon a question, it could not be carried through in the Security Council. That precedent continues right up to now. Only that China is the Communist China represented there, but not the China of Chiang Kai-Shek ie Formosa (now Taiwan). The seating oil Communist China and the unseating of Formosa has been one of the most burning topics in the U.N.O.
The other units of the U.N.O are the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice and Trusteeship Council. Each member-nation is represented on the General Assembly but the Security Council has only 11 members of which the five are permanent and the rest elected by the General Assembly by rotation.
Another wing is the International Court of justice appointed by the General Assembly at The Hague. One of the most popular wings of the U.N.O. is U.N.E.S.CO. (United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) which has its headquarters at Paris. The U.N.O. itself has its headquarters at New York.
The U.N.O. shares great responsibilities without having equally great powers. It has done a solid job in Korea, Indochina, Suez and Congo in preventing major international conflicts and maintaining peace and order in the afflicted countries. Indian troops have played a great part in all these theaters of conflict and clash. In other fields, U.N.O. has equally proved beneficial to humanity. It is trying to give man freedom from ignorance and disease also. It takes care of the handicapped children throughout the world. Now it has near about 184 nations as its members. Its secretariat is in New York. The Secretary General is the Head of the Secretariat. He is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a period of five years at a time. Each member-nation contributes its share of the expenses of the U.N.O. — the big Powers, however, pay more than the small nations. The U.N. has become a subject of study in all the schools throughout the world. All this may lead to world citizenship and world government. It has been proposed that the U.N.O. should have an army of its own and it should also be entrusted with legislative powers for the whole world. But this dream is still to be realized. The U.N.O. has become a hot-bed of politics. Only the sanity in the world leaders can save this organization as well as the humanity.