what is the united nations un 
the united nations un is an international nonprofit organization formed in 1945 to increase political and economic cooperation among its member countries there are more than 190 member states in the un all of which are part of the un s general assembly headquartered in new york the organization is guided by a charter and headed by its secretary general it focuses on peace security human rights and other issues the un is part of the larger united nations system understanding the united nations un the united nations was formed in 1945 in the wake of world war ii to reduce international tension promote human rights and lower the chance of other large scale conflicts it came out of the league of nations which was established after wwi in 1920 to promote international relations and cooperation the league could not prevent the war in europe and asia in the 1930s the u s wasn t part of the league of nations 12headquartered in new york and led by the secretary general the un has 193 member states representing almost every country in the world there are five permanent u n members the u s russia france the u k and china when a new state applies to join the un it only takes one permanent member to veto the application 3a few states lack un membership though countries exercise de facto sovereignty in some cases the international community doesn t recognize non members as independent such as tibet somaliland and abkhazia 4 some countries were blocked from being admitted taiwan and kosovo among others by more powerful member states 56the un coordinates its work with the funds programmes specialized agencies and other organizations of the un system 7 some of the key focus areas include the united nations charter which is the founding document of the organization was signed on june 26 1945 and went into effect on oct 24 1945 it was amended three times between 1963 1965 and 1973 8 you can read the full text here structure of the united nations un the un is made up of five principal bodies the un general assembly the un secretariat the international court of justice the un security council and the un economic and social council a sixth the un trusteeship council has been inactive since 1994 9this is the un s main deliberative body in which all members have equal representation it is headquartered in new york city and its responsibilities include setting the un s budget appointing rotating members to the security council and passing non binding resolutions that express the opinions of the international community 10the un secretariat is the executive wing of the un charged with implementing policies set by its deliberative bodies its head the secretary general is the un s top official the secretariat which is based in new york city includes the department of peacekeeping operations which dispatches un soldiers known as blue helmets on missions authorized by the security council 11the international court of justice is based in the hague and has two main functions to settle disputes submitted by member states according to international law and to issue advisory opinions on legal questions submitted by un agencies there are 15 judges and the court s official languages are french and english appeals are not allowed making the judgments final 12the un s secretary general is ant nio guterres the secretary general acts as a diplomat advocate civil servant and chief executive officer ceo guterres assumed the role in 2017 and was sworn in for a second term in 2022 1314the un security council is charged with maintaining international security it authorizes peacekeeping missions accepts new u n members and approves changes to the un charter 15 the security council s structure allows a few powerful member states to dominate the un russia the u k france china and the u s hold permanent seats on the council and enjoy veto power the security council s other 10 seats rotate on a staggered two year schedule these seats are occupied by algeria 2025 ecuador 2024 guyana 2025 japan 2024 malta 2024 mozambique 2024 south korea 2025 sierra leone 2025 slovenia 2025 and switzerland 2024 the years in parentheses indicate the end of their terms on the council 16the un economic and social council coordinates the activities of the un s 15 specialized agencies these include the 