The United Nations organs include the Secretariat, and it consists of the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international United Nations staff who carry out the daily work to achieve the goals of the United Nations. United Nations staff are recruited internationally and locally and work in headquarters and peacekeeping missions around the world.
??????The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the Organization, and is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a renewable five-year term. The Secretary-General is a symbol of the Organization’s ideals and defends the rights of all peoples of the world, especially the poor and vulnerable. Antonio Guterres, a Portuguese citizen, is the 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations. He took office on January 1, 2017, and on June 18, 2021, he was re-appointed for a second term. He pledged to continue to help the world chart a course out of the COVID-19 pandemic as one of his priorities.
??????The Charter of the United Nations states that “Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.” Every year, during September, the member states of the United Nations gather in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual session of the General Assembly and the general debate, which is attended by many leaders. The General Assembly annually elects a President for its session, who holds that position for a period of one year.
??????The United Nations has two types of funding sources. The first source is compulsory contributions, which are collected by the member states of the organization as a condition for membership. The financial amount that must be paid by each member varies according to the total national income and population. The second source is the voluntary contributions made by member states as assistance from them to the United Nations, and many United Nations organizations depend mainly on these contributions, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Food Programme (WFP). The UN uses six official languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French and Russian to ensure effective and transparent communication between all member states and participants in the various activities and sessions of the organization.
??????Since its founding more than seven decades ago, the United Nations has been facing new additional challenges such as climate change, global warming, refugees, migration, AIDS and other epidemics. The United Nations has also set the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 to achieve the best sustainable future for all people on the planet.
??????The United Nations has made many humanitarian and environmental pledges since its inception, such as providing food for 90 million people in more than 75 countries, assisting more than 34 million refugees, working with 140 countries to reduce the effects of climate change, and assisting around 50 countries in holding elections, as well as providing vaccinations for 58 percent of the world’s children, assisting nearly 30 million women annually through maternal health efforts, and protecting human rights with 80 treaties and declarations.
??????The strong and effective partnership between the United Nations Secretariat, the Security Council and the countries contributing peacekeepers enabled the successful completion of 55 peacekeeping operations in the world. More than two million peacekeepers have worked in 71 missions since 1948, providing assistance to countries to overcome the difficulties they faces in their path towards emerging from war and conflict. There are 12 United Nations peacekeeping missions, employing about ninety thousand people from one hundred and twenty-five countries, to support security, stability and the rule of law.
??????The United Nations peacekeeping forces began in 1948, when the Security Council authorized the deployment of United Nations military observers in the Middle East.
??????The United Nations is criticized from time to time for its policies, bureaucracy, and spending, but the majority of experts and international observers agree that the United Nations continues to play a crucial role in securing peace, stability, and prosperity around the world, providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, protecting human rights, and upholding international law.
Source: Qatar News Agency