CCWA MUN

General Assembly

The General Assembly (GA) is the central organ of the UN, and is composed of representatives from every Member State. The GA discusses and composes resolutions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members, and budgetary matters. Each Member State gets one vote, and decisions require a 2/3 majority for passage. The GA receives reports from the Security Council and other major UN organs, as well as from the Secretary-General. While the decisions of the GA are not legally binding, they carry the weight of world opinion on major international issues, and express the moral attitude of the global community.

Because it is called upon to consider a large number of questions on a diverse range of issues, the General Assembly has seven main committees that each deal specifically with questions from certain areas. They are:

● Disarmament and International Security (DISEC)

● Economic and Financial Committee (ECOFIN)

● Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM)

● Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL)

● Administrative and Budgetary Committee

● Legal Committee

Security Council

The Security Council (SC) is the main guardian of world peace. When a complaint concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the Council’s first action is usually to recommend that the conflicting parties try to reach an agreement through peaceful means. When a dispute leads to fighting, the Council’s objective is to bring it to an end as soon as possible. It can issue cease-fire directives or authorize the deployment of peace-keeping forces to help reduce tensions in troubled areas, keep opposing forces apart, and create conditions of calm.

The SC has 15 members, five of whom are permanent (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and ten of whom are elected for two-year terms.

For the SC to pass a resolution, nine members must vote “yes.” However, if any of the five permanent members vote “no,” the resolution is vetoed and cannot pass.

Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has 54 members who are elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms. It is concerned with economic problems, such as trade, transport, industrialization, and economic development, as well as social issues like population, drug use, women’s rights, and racial discrimination. It promotes higher standards of living, international cultural and educational communication, and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights.

ECOSOC has many special agencies and commissions that initiate studies an advise the Council on special problems of different geographical areas. In addition, they work with other specialized U.N. Agencies and Programmes to carry out specific projects

Trusteeship Council

When the UN was founded, there were some parts of the world where inhabitants could not choose their own governments. Those areas were designated as “Trust Territories” and placed under special protection of the UN. The Trusteeship Council supervises the social advancement of the people in these Territories as they move toward self-government or independence.

The Trusteeship Council is made up of the five permanent members of the Security Council: China, France, The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on November 1, 1994 when Palau, the last remaining UN Trust Territory, achieved independence.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal UN judicial organ for handing down legal judgments. Only countries — not individuals — can bring cases before the ICJ, and once a country agrees to let the ICJ act on a case, it must promise to abide by the ICJ’s decision.

The Court sits in at The Hague (Netherlands), and is permanently in session. It is comprised of 15 judges who are elected by the General Assembly and Security Council. No two judges can come from the same country, and 9 out of 15 judges have to agree on a case in order for a decision to be handed down.

Secretariat

The Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General, is the international staff that carries out the day-to-day operations of the U.N. Some 29,000 people — 7,000 of which are located at the UN Headquarters in New York — make up the Secretariat staff, and include economists, editors, librarians, translators, and experts in many other fields. These men and women work “behind the scenes” to service and administer policies instituted by other UN organs and agencies, administer peace-keeping operations, survey economic trends and problems, and prepare studies on international issues of world-wide concern.

The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly for a period of five years on the recommendation of the Security Council. The Secretary-General has been given the same type of political power as that belonging to the head of a member country. He or she can bring to the attention of the Security Council any problem that he or she feels may threaten world peace, and the Secretary-General can propose issues for discussion at the General Assembly, or at any other U.N. organ. The Secretary-General also frequently acts as a mediator in disputes between member countries.

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