With its complicated acronyms, technical vocabulary and confusing internal procedures, understanding the structure of the UN can seem like a daunting task. This article aims to shed some light on the various agencies of the UN, examine the roles they each perform and explain how they all fit together.
The UN system consists of five principal organs:
The General Assembly (GA)
The Security Council (UNSC)
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The UN Secretariat
The General Assembly
This is the deliberative assembly of the United Nations in which policy is decided. Every member state of the UN is entitled to sit in the GA and each is given one vote. The resolutions passed by the GA are non-binding recommendations and not compulsory orders. The GA is also in charge of admitting new members and setting the budget for operations. The GA is responsible for electing the non-permanent members of the UNSC, the members of ECOSOC, the UN Secretary-General and the fifteen judges of the ICC.
The Security Council
The UNSC is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. There are five permanent members: the UK, the USA, China, Russia and France. Each of these members has veto power over decisions taken by the UNSC. In addition to the permanent five, there are ten elected members that sit on the council for two years at a time, these are currently: Niger, Tunisia, South Africa, Vietnam, Indonesia, Estonia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominican Republic, Belgium and Germany. Unlike the permanent members, the non-permanent members are not given veto power. The UNSC is able to establish peacekeeping operations, enact sanctions and authorise military action. Unlike the GA, the UNSC can issue binding resolutions on member states.
The Economic and Social Council
ECOSOC is responsible for co-operation between states relating to economic and social matters. ECOSOC is in charge of various specialised agencies of the UN; there are fifteen specialised agencies, eight functional commissions and five regional commissions, all of which fall under the remit of ECOSOC. These include agencies such as the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation, the World Health Organisation and the International Monetary Fund. ECOSOC itself consists of 54 member states that are elected every year and certain NGOs are also granted consultative status to join in the committee discussions.
The International Court of Justice
The ICJ is the only one of the UN organs not to be located at the UN Headquarters in New York, as it is located in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICJ is the judicial organ of the UN, composed of 15 judges from different nations. The court resolves disputes between member states, hearing cases ranging from ethnic cleansing to war crimes to illegal state interference. The rulings of the ICJ serve as the sources of international law.
The Secretariat
The Secretariat is the administrative organ of the UN which supports all of the other UN bodies in terms of organisation, budget preparation and report writing. The chairperson of the UN Secretariat is known as the Secretary-General, who is the figurehead of the UN as a whole. Currently, this position is held by Antonio Guterres. The Secretariat sets the agenda for committees and is responsible for the implementation of the decisions reached. It is divided into offices and departments that are each responsible for different sectors of UN operations.
Hopefully this has helped you to get to grips with the complex structure of the UN. Refer back to this page when preparing for your MUN conference to find out where your committee fits into the overall structure of the UN.