RANIGANJ LIONS J.D.M.C. D.A.V PUBLIC SCHOOL, RANIGANJ.W.B.

SUBJECT: POLITICAL SCIENCE CLASS- XII

CHAPTER –5 UNITED NATIONS AND ITS ORGANISATIONS

INFORMATION BOOKLET – 4

AGENCIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS

(I) THE UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL

ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

a. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was
established on 4th November, 1946. UNESCO has 193 member states and 11 associate
members. Its headquarters is in Paris, France.

b. UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) whose main objective is to
promote education, natural science, society and anthropology, culture and communication.
UNESCO also seeks to encourage the free exchange of ideas and knowledge by organizing
conferences and providing clearing-house and exchange services.

c. During the past several years, the special work done by UNESCO has been to promote
literacy, building of peace, eradication of poverty, sustainable development, protecting the
natural environment, technical and educational training and independent media etc. all
across its member nations. UNESCO seeks to build a culture of peace and inclusive
knowledge societies through information and communication.

d. UNESCO assists in translating and disseminating world literature, common cultural

heritage, establishing international co-operation agreements to secure "World Heritage
Sites” of cultural and natural importance, preserving human rights, and bridging
 the worldwide digital divide. It also launched and leads the “Education for All” movement
and lifelong learning.

(II) THE UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)

a. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is a United

Nations agency established in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly, responsible
for collecting emergency funds for children and providing humanitarian and developmental
aid to children all across the world.

b. Apart from this, the UNICEF helps and encourages the works that promote children’s
health and better life in all parts of the world. In keeping with this strategy, UNICEF also
provides funding for health services, educational facilities, and other welfare services.

c. UNICEF's activities include immunizations programmes and disease prevention,

administering treatment for children and mothers with HIV/AIDS, enhancing childhood
and maternal nutrition, improving sanitation, promoting education, and providing
emergency relief in response to disasters.

d. With its headquarters in New York City, United States, it is among the most successful,
widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in
193 countries and territories. UNICEF had received recognition for its work, including
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 and the Indira Gandhi Prize in 1989. During the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic UNICEF published along with the World Health Organization
guidance about healthy parenting.

(III) INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO)

a. The International Labour Organization (ILO), founded in October 1919 under the League
of Nations, is the first and oldest specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to
improving labour conditions and living standards throughout the world. The ILO has 187
member states.

b. With its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland, ILO is a body of the United Nations which
aims to promote efficient conditions of social justice and work for workers through
international labour standards at the global level. The ILO also works towards the
elimination of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour, and the
elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
c. In addition, there is an incentive for women and male workers to engage in productive work
and to create safety, parity and self-respectful conditions for them in the workplace. The
ILO is subsequently a major contributor to international labour law.

d. In 1969, the ILO received the Nobel Peace Prize for improving fraternity and peace among
nations, pursuing decent work and justice for workers, and providing technical assistance
to other developing nations.

(IV) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

a. World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations,

established on 7th April 1948 which is commemorated as World Health Day. The World
Health Organization works with 194 member states, which includes most of the countries
around the world. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with six semi-autonomous
regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.

b. The WHO is concerned with improving international public health and preventing or
controlling communicable diseases on a worldwide basis through various technical projects
and programs. The WHO's broad mandate includes advocating for universal healthcare,
monitoring public health risks, coordinating responses to health emergencies, and
promoting human health and well being.

c. It provides technical assistance to countries, sets international health standards and

guidelines, and collects data on global health issues through the World Health Survey. The
WHO also serves as a forum for summits and discussions on health issues.

d. The WHO has played a leading role in several public health achievements, most notably
the eradication of smallpox, the near-eradication of polio, and the development of an Ebola
vaccine. Its current priorities include communicable diseases,
particularly HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and tuberculosis; non-communicable
diseases such as heart disease and cancer and substance abuse. In 2020, the World Health
Organization notably helped coordinate international efforts to control and prevent the
corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
(V) THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)

a. The IMF is an international organisation with headquarters in Washington DC. The IMF
has 189 member countries (as on 1 September 2018). It was formed in 1944 at the Bretton
Woods Conference, and it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries.

b. The organisation oversees those financial institutions and regulations that act at the
international level.

c. Although the IMF has 189 members, but they do not enjoy an equal say. The top ten
countries have more than 55 per cent of the votes. They are the G-8 members (the US, the
UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia), China and Saudi Arabia.

d. The US alone has 17.4 per cent voting rights while India has 2.7 percent voting rights.

(VI) THE WORLD BANK

a. The World Bank was created immediately after the Second World War in 1945. Its
activities are focused on the developing countries. It is an international financial institution
that provides loans and grants to the governments of the poor and under-developed
countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects.

b. The World Bank works for human development (education, health), agriculture and rural
development (irrigation, rural services), environmental protection (pollution reduction,
establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (roads, urban regeneration, and
electricity) and governance (anti-corruption, development of legal institutions). It provides
loans and grants to the member-countries.
c. In this way, it exercises enormous influence on the economic policies of developing
countries.

d. It is often criticised for setting the economic agenda of the poorer nations, attaching
stringent conditions to its loans and forcing free market reforms.

(VII) THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION (WTO)

a. It is an inter-governmental organisation which sets the rules for global trade and is
concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations.

b. This organisation was officially set up on 1st January 1995 as the successor to the General
Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) created after the Second World War. It has 164
members (as on 1 September 2018). It is the largest international economic organisation in
the world.

c. All decisions are taken unanimously but the major economic powers such as the US, EU
and Japan have managed to use the WTO to frame rules of trade to advance their own
interests.

d. The developing countries often complain of non-transparent procedures and being pushed
around by big powers.

(VIII)THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)

a. It is an international organisation established on 29th July 1957. It seeks to promote the

peaceful use of nuclear energy and to prevent its use for military purposes, including
nuclear weapons.

b. IAEA was established as an autonomous organisation. The IAEA reports to both the United
Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

c. IAEA teams regularly inspect nuclear facilities all over the world to ensure that civilian
IAEA reactors are not being used for military purposes. It came into being to implement
US President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” proposal.

d. The programs of the IAEA encourages the development of the peaceful applications of
nuclear energy, science and technology, provide international safeguards against misuse of
 nuclear technology and nuclear materials, and promote nuclear safety (including radiation
protection) and nuclear security standards and their implementations.

(IX) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (AI)

a. It is a Non-Governmental Organisations, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom.

Amnesty International campaigns for the protection of human rights all over the world. The
organisation says that it has more than eight million members and supporters all around the
world.

b. The stated mission of the organisation is to campaign for “a world in which every person
enjoys all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
other international human rights instruments.” It believes that human rights are
interdependent and indivisible.

c. It prepares and publishes reports on human rights. Governments are not always happy with
these reports since a major focus of Amnesty International has been the misconduct of
government authorities.

d. Nevertheless, these reports play an important role in research and advocacy on human
rights.

(X) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (HRW)

a. It is an international Non-Governmental Organisation involved in research and advocacy

on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City, USA.

b. It is the largest international human rights organisation in the US. It draws the global
media’s attention to human rights abuses.

c. The group pressurizes some governments, policy makers and human right abusers to
denounce abuse and respect human rights, and the group often works on behalf of refugees,
children, migrants and political prisoners.

d. It helped in building international coalitions like the campaigns to ban landmines, to stop
the use of child soldiers and to establish the International Criminal Court.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. State the functions of UNESCO as an important agency of the United Nations.

2. Elaborate the contributions of UNICEF towards development of children all across the
world.
3. What is the International Labour Organization? State its functions.
4. Explain the role of World Health Organization in improving international public health.
5. What is the International Monetary Fund? State its main functions.
6. Mention the important functions of the World Bank.
7. What role does the World Trade Organisation play in the global trade?
8. Discuss the role played by the International Atomic Energy Agency in implementing
“Atoms For Peace” proposal.
9. What is the Amnesty International? State its main functions.
10. State the objectives of the Human Rights Watch.

11. Name the international agency relating to environment programme.

Answer: The international agency relating to environment programme is United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). The agency holds international conferences to create
awareness on environmental consequences of economic growth. UNEP also promotes
detailed studies to get a more co-ordinated and effective response to environmental
problems.

12. Write the full form of the following UN bodies:

a. OPCW—Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
b. UNRISD—United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
c. WMO—World Meteorological Organization.
d. UNHCR—United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

13. Name one country each from the continents of America, Africa, Asia and Europe
wherein the UN Peace keeping Operations were administered.
Answer: America — Haiti in 2004.
Africa — Liberia in 2003.
Asia — India and Pakistan in 1949.
Europe — Georgia in 1993 and Cyprus in 1964.