Jim's Mailings

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

DUMBARTON OAKS CONFERENCE EB 2003

(Aug. 21–Oct. 7, 1944), was a meeting at Dumbarton Oaks, a mansion in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., where representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom formulated proposals for a world organization that became the basis for the United Nations.

This conference constituted the first important step taken to carry out paragraph 4 of the Moscow Declaration of 1943, which recognized the need for a postwar international organization to succeed the League of Nations. The Dumbarton Oaks proposals (Proposals for the Establishment of a General International Organization) did not furnish acomplete blueprint for the United Nations. They failed to provide an agreed arrangement on such crucial questions as the voting system of the proposed Security Council and the membership provisions for the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. These issues were resolved at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, which also resulted in the proposal of a trusteeship system under the new agency to take the place of the League mandate system. The proposals, as thus supplemented, formed the basis of negotiations at the San Francisco Conference, out of which came the Charter of the United Nations in 1945.

UNITED NATIONS (UN) EB 2003

international organization established on October 24, 1945. The United Nations was the second multipurpose international organization established in the 20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its predecessor, the League of Nations, was created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and disbanded in 1946. Headquartered in New York City, the UN also has offices in Geneva, Vienna, and other cities.

According to its Charter, the UN aims:

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,...to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,...to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.




In addition to maintaining peace and security, other important objectives include developing friendly relations among countries based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples; achieving worldwide cooperation to solve international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems; respecting and promoting human rights; and serving as a centre where countries can coordinate their actions and activities toward these various ends.

The UN formed a continuum with the League of Nations in general purpose, structure, and functions; many of the UN's principal organs and related agencies were adopted from similar structures established earlier in the century. In some respects, however, the UN constituted a very different organization, especially with regard to its objective of maintaining international peace and security and its commitment to economic and social development.

Changes in the nature of international relations resulted in modifications in the responsibilities of the UN and its decision-making apparatus. Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union deeply affected the UN's security functions during its first 45 years. Extensive post-World War II decolonization in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East increased the volume and nature of political, economic, and social issues that confronted the organization. The Cold War's end in 1991 brought renewed attention and appeals to the UN. Amid an increasingly volatile geopolitical climate, there were new challenges to established practices and functions, especially in the areas of conflict resolution and humanitarian assistance. At the beginning of the 21st century, the UN and its programs and affiliated agencies struggled to address humanitarian crises and civil wars, unprecedented refugee flows, the devastation caused by the spread of AIDS, global financial disruptions, international terrorism, andthe disparities in wealth between the world's richest and poorest peoples.

Principles and membership

The purposes, principles, and organization of the United Nations are outlined in the Charter. The essential principles underlying the purposes and functions of the organization are listed in Article 2 and include the following: the UN is based on the sovereign equality of its members; disputes are to be settled by peaceful means; members are to refrain from the threat or use of force in contravention of the purposes of the UN; each member must assist the organization in any enforcement actions it takes under the Charter; and states that are not members of the organization are required to act in accordance with these principles insofar as it is necessary to maintain international peace and security. Article 2 also stipulates a basic long-standing norm that the organization shall not intervene in matters considered within the domestic jurisdiction of any state. Although this was a major limitation on UN action, over time the line between international and domestic jurisdiction has become blurred.

New members are admitted to the UN on the recommendation of the Security Council and by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly. Often, however, the admittance of new members has engendered controversy. Given Cold War divisions between East and West, the requirement that the Security Council's five permanent members (sometimes known collectively as the P-5)—China, France, the Soviet Union (whose seat and membership were assumed by Russia in 1991), the United Kingdom, and theUnited States—concur on the admission of new members at times posed serious obstacles. By 1950 only 9 of 31 applicants had been admitted to the organization. In 1955 the 10th Assembly proposed a package deal that, after modification by the Security Council, resulted in the admission of 16 new states (4 eastern European communist states and 12 noncommunist countries). The most contentious application for membership was that of the communist People's Republic of China, which was placed before the General Assembly and blocked by the United States at every sessionfrom 1950 to 1971. Finally, in 1971, in an effort to improve its relationship with mainland China, the United States refrained from blocking the Assembly's vote to admit the People's Republic and to expel the Republic of China (Taiwan); there were 76 votes in favour of expulsion, 35 votes opposed, and 17 abstentions. As a result, the Republic of China's membership and permanent Security Council seat were given to the People's Republic.

Controversy also arose over the issue of "divided" states, including the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), North and South Korea, and North and South Vietnam. The two German states were admitted as members in 1973; these two seats were reduced to one after the country's reunification in October 1990. Vietnam was admitted in 1977, after the defeat of South Vietnam and the reunification of the country in 1975. The two Koreas were admitted separately in 1991.

Following worldwide decolonization from 1955 to 1960, 40 new members were admitted, and by the end of the 1970s there were about 150 members of the UN. Another significant increase occurred after 1989–90, when many former Soviet republics gained their independence. By the early 21st century the UN comprised nearly 190 member states.

posted by James E. Opfell @ 9:23 PM