In 1945, after the event of World War II causing irreparable damage to many nations of the world, it was

a time where the world wanted peace. In the same year, 51 countries met at a conference held in San
Francisco to sign a document which was the United Nations Charter founding the United Nations
Organization (UNO). The United Nations Organization headquartered in San Francisco was created for
the purpose of maintaining international peace and security. Presently, there are 193 member states in
the UNO.

Principal organs of the United Nations

The united nations have six principal organs that were established when the
United Nations was founded. The Principal organs are:

General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is headquartered in New York and
all the member states of the United Nations have equal representation. The
member states gather to discuss various issues relating to international law,
security, peace, etc

Security Council
The Security Council has the responsibility to maintain international peace and
security whenever peace is threatened. It constitutes 15 members, having one
vote each and a residency rotating and changing every month.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

The ECOSOC promotes sustainable development with regard to economic, social
and environmental matters. It comprises of 54 members that are elected by
the General Assembly.

Trusteeship Council
the Trusteeship Council is dealt with under Chapter XII of the UN Charter. It
was established in order to supervise the 11 Trust Territories that were placed
under the administration of 7 member states. The Council suspended its
activities in the year 1994. All territories are now independent.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The International Court of Justice (also called the world’s court) established by
the United Nations Charter in the year 1945. The ICJ is the principal judicial
organ of the United Nations having its headquarters at Hague, Netherland being
the only organ among the six organs of the UN to be not situated in New York
(USA). It consists of a panel of 15 judges for a term of nine years. The judges
are elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council. ICJ succeeded
the Permanent Court of International Justice. It resolves disputes between the
member states of the UN.

United Nations Secretariat

The UN Secretariat comprises of a Secretary-General who is appointed by the
General Assembly on the Security Council’s recommendation. Other members of
the Secretariat are appointed by the Secretary-General as per the regulations of
the General Assembly. The Secretariat carries out the day to day work of the
UN such as preparing the report, making analysis, research, etc that the
General Assembly and other principal organs have mandated.

Purposes and Principle

Chapter I of the Charter lays down the purposes and principles of the United
Nations.

Article 1 of the UN Charter

Article 1 of the 1 UN Charter talks about the purposes of the United Nations.
They are:

 Maintaining international peace and security;

 Developing friendly relations amongst the nations;
 Achieving international cooperation to solve international issues of
social, economic, cultural or humanitarian nature;
 Being a centre to harmonize the actions of the state to accomplish
these common goals.
The main objective of these purposes was binding the organization and its
members to coordinate their activities in order to accomplish these common
goals.
Article 2 of the UN Charter
Article 2 talks about the principles of the United Nations. These principles are:

 Ensuring sovereign equality of all its members. This rule implies that all
the members of the UN have equal representation.
 All the members of the UN are required to fulfil in good faith the
obligations assumed by them in accordance with the Charter.
 All the members of the UN are obliged to settle their disputes by
peaceful and amicable means in such a manner as to not endanger or
jeopardize international peace, security, and justice.
 All the members of the UN are required to desist from giving treats or
using force over and against any states’ territorial integrity or political
independence.
 All the members of the UN are required to abstain from helping or
assisting any state against which the UN is taking preventive actions or
enforcement actions.
 Ensuring that non-members do not act inconsistently with the Charter.
This rule empowers the United Nations in order to maintain peace and
security to enforce obligation in the non-members of the state. Further,
a non-member state as per Article 35(2) is empowered to bring any
dispute before the General Assembly or the Security Council.
 Non-interference of the United Nations in matters relating to the
domestic jurisdiction of any state. This rule mandates the United
Nations not to interfere where the matter is solely of domestic
jurisdiction of a state.

Article 51 empowers the United Nations Security Councils to take measures

regarding the maintenance of peace and security. Article 51 provides that the
member states have an inherent right of self-defence (individually or
collectively) to defend any armed attack against a member of the UN

Article 13(1) empowers the General Assembly to initiate studies and make
recommendations to:

 Promote international cooperation in the political, social, cultural,

educational, economic, and health fields.
 Encourage progressive development of international law and
codification of international laws.
 Assist in the realization of Human Rights and fundamental freedom for
all.
 Non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, language, religion.
Function and Power of the UNO (United Nations
Organization)
The functions of the United Nations Organisation are as follows:

 To maintain security and international peace is at the

forefront.
 To endeavour to develop good and friendly relations among
different nations.
 To ensure respect for human rights and that they are not
violated by anyone and the universal fundamental freedom is
maintained.
 To arbitrate and garner cooperation to solve problems of socio,
economic, and cultural nature.
 The maintenance of international peace and security lead to
arms control and disarmament and eventually reduction of
weapons.
 To achieve international co-operation in solving international
problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian
character – deliver humanitarian aid.
 To promote and encourage respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race,
sex, religion, or language – promote sustainable development.
 To establish circumstances under which justice and respect for
the obligations appearing from treaties and other sources of
international law can be maintained – uphold international law.
 To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations[5].