UNITED NATIONS

1 January 1942 || The name "United Nations" is coined

24 October 1945 || The United Nations officially comes into existence

 

Mission and work | ACUNs Meeting 2022 | MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2013 (Syria) | Origins

 

MISSION and WORK  
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945.  It is currently made up of 193 Member States. The mission and work of the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.

Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, such as peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and more.

The UN also provides a forum for its members to express their views in the General Assembly, the Security Council (*) , the Economic and Social Council, and other bodies and committees. By enabling dialogue between its members, and by hosting negotiations, the Organization has become a mechanism for governments to find areas of agreement and solve problems together.

The UN's Chief Administrative Officer is the Secretary-General.

2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations.
(*) The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members, and each Member has one vote. Under the Charter of the United Nations, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.
Small States in the United Nations Security Council: The United Nations Charter is based on the sovereign equality of all its members. It calls for “respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples”. Small states are on the frontlines of global crises, including the widening impact of the war in Ukraine. Countries in the region are directly affected by the arrival of refugees. But even those far from Europe are faced with skyrocketing food, fertilizer and energy prices as a result of the war. Small states have an essential role at the United Nations. They rely for their security on the norms in the Charter, and the body of international law.
    The Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) unites people who are active in the work and study of the UN, to better understand and address the most pressing global issues of our time. The United Nations was founded in 1945 to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

 

ACUNs Meeting 2022  
During ACUNs Meeting 2022 one of the themes discussed was ROAD TO 2023: Our Common Agenda and the Pact for the Future

To do a better job of preventing armed conflict and helping its victims, avoiding runaway climate change, averting cross-border economic shocks, and harnessing the ideas, networks, and capabilities of governments, civil society, and the private sector, the world needs a new kind of leadership and vision, combined with new norms, tools, and institutions.

Building directly upon recent Stimson Center research, including Beyond UN75: A Roadmap for Inclusive, Networked, and Effective Global Governance (2021) and UN 2.0: Ten Innovations for Global Governance (2020), this proposed panel will showcase the finding and recommendations from the new (June 2023) report “Road to 2023: Our Common Agenda & Beyond.” Specifically, it will offer twenty innovative global ideas to inform preparations for the September 2023 Summit of the Future during UNGA High-Level Week in New York, including by elaborating upon ten of the most innovative proposals introduced in Secretary-General António Guterres’ new Our Common Agenda report.

In doing so, the report seeks to contribute to the renewal and reinvigoration of our global governance system to better meet twenty-first-century threats, challenges, and opportunities. It will further present a bold, yet practical roadmap in the lead-up to the 2023 Summit, designed to mobilize a wide range of actors and constituencies and to produce results at the intersection of global security and justice.
 
And another theme Global Governance Innovation
  • GOVERNANCE
  • INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
  • INTERNATIONAL LAW

This roundtable discussed the opportunities, strategies, and spoilers for ambitious global governance reform proposals in the current geopolitical climate that is marked by great power tensions and the common challenges ranging from COVID recovery to climate change. The roundtable draws on the Global Governance Innovation Network’s (GGIN) policy brief series, which aims to bridge the research-policy divide in debates on global governance.

The session featured authors from the first wave of forthcoming GGIN policy briefs, covering topics such as mainstreaming climate in peacebuilding, deepening G20-UN cooperation, new issue-specific Security Councils, and previewing an innovative Global Governance Index. Building on the UN75 Declaration and the Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda (OCA) report, which was published in September 2021, the roundtable participants will address how the UN75 Declaration’s commitments and OCA report’s proposals in the run-up to the proposed September 2023 Summit of the Future can be advanced and how global governance can be reformed more fundamentally, with an emphasis on making it more inclusive, networked, and effective.


   

 

  MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2013
On September 7, 2013, the “Centenary Peace Palace Model United Nations” attracted a total of 250 participants who gathered to simulate the United Nations Security Council in it efforts to shape a peaceful Resolution for the conflict in Syria. After the keynote speech by Mr Richard Dictus (UNV Bonn), several Masterclasses on UN topics, and a tour through the Peace Palace (incl. the main Court Room), the specially designed Model United Nations started.

The Security Council resolution was rejected after a veto by the Russian Federaton. China had abstained from voting.
MUN Peace Palace masterclass diplomatic negotations (photo by Vesna Faassen/NVVN2013) Peace Palace 7 September 2013 MUN: all diplomacy possible, no military (photo by Vesna Faassen/NVVN2013) participants of Peace Palace MUN (photo by Vesna Faassen/NVVN2013)

Thursday 12/09/13, the United Nations has received a letter of notification of Syria for the Chemical Weapons Convention. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is still not satisfied with the commitment of Syria, and said that the U.S. can still proceed to military intervention. He stated in presence of Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Geneva. According to Lavrov 'cleaning up the Syrian chemical arsenal makes any attack on the country superfluous'.(letter 13 September 2013 to SG UN from OPCW and WHO, belonging to the report on the investigation of the alleged use of chemical weapons on 21 August 2013 in the Ghouta area of Damascus, S.A.R.)

Security Council adopted 27 September unanimously resolution 2118, which requires scheduled destruction of Syria’s Chemical Weapons.

 

ORIGINS  
 
The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was first used in the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.
 
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944.


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