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The United Nations
Global History and Geography IV
Formation of the United Nations
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Officially came into
existence on October
24, 1945 when the UN
Charter was ratified by a
majority of the original
51 Member States
Day now celebrated
each year around the
world as
United Nations Day
Aims of the United Nations:
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Keep peace throughout the world.
Develop friendly relations between nations.
Work together to help people live better lives
• eliminate poverty, disease and illiteracy in the
world
• stop environmental destruction
• encourage respect for each other's rights and
freedoms
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To be a centre for helping nations achieve
these aims
Principals of the United Nations
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All Member States have sovereign equality.
All Member States must obey the Charter.
Countries must try to settle their differences by
peaceful means.
Countries must avoid using force or threatening to
use force.
The UN may not interfere in the domestic affairs of
any country.
Countries should try to assist the United Nations.
Early International Organization
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The International Telecommunication Union
was founded in 1865 as the International
Telegraph Union
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The Universal Postal Union was established in
1874. Both are now United Nations specialized
agencies.
Foundation Building
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In 1899, the International Peace Conference
was held in The Hague to elaborate
instruments for settling crises peacefully
• Sought to prevent wars and codified rules of
warfare
• Adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement
of International Disputes
• Established Permanent Court of Arbitration, which
began work in 1902
The Predecessor:
The League of Nations
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Founded immediately after the First World War
Originally consisted of 42 countries
• 26 were non-European
• At its largest, 57 countries were members
• Created because people in France, South Africa, the UK
and the US believed a world organization of nations could
keep the peace and prevent war
An effective world body seemed possible
• communications were better
• increasing experience of working together in international
organizations
• Coordination and cooperation for economic and social
progress were becoming important
Two Basic Aims of League
1. It sought to preserve peace through collective
action.
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Disputes referred to the League's Council for
arbitration and conciliation
If necessary, economic and then military
sanctions could be used
In other words, members undertook to defend
other members from aggression
2. Aimed to promote international cooperation in
economic and social affairs
The Covenant of the League of Nations
begins...
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“In order to promote international cooperation and to
achieve international peace and security by the
acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the
prescription of open, just and honorable relations
between nations, by the firm establishment of the
understandings of international law as the actual rule
of conduct among Governments, and by the
maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for
all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized
peoples with one another, Agree to this Covenant of
the League of Nations."
Ineffectiveness of the League
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As the Second World War unfolded, it became
clear that the League had failed in its chief aim
of keeping the peace.
Had no military power of its own
Depended on its members' contributions
Members not willing to use sanctions,
economic or military action
Moral authority was insufficient
Big Powers Failed to Support League
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The United States never joined
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Germany was a member for only seven years from
1926
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The USSR was a member for only five years from
1934
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Japan and Italy both withdrew in the 30s
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League then depended mainly on Britain and France,
who were hesitant to act forcefully
INTER-ALLIED DECLARATION
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Signed in London on 12 June 1941
• Agreement “to work together, with other free
peoples, both in war and in peace”
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Each representative pledged not to sign a separate
peace document and declared: "The only true basis of
enduring peace is the willing cooperation of free
peoples in a world in which, relieved of the menace
of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social
security…. “
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Ten days later, Hitler launched his attack against the
Soviet Union.
The Atlantic Charter of 14 August
1941
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British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt met aboard the USS Atlanta
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First indication that the two powers would strive for creation
of a new world organization once peace was restored
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Announced "certain common principles … of their respective
countries … for a better future for the world:
• the need for a secure peace
• the abandonment by all nations of the use of force
• theRoosevelt
disarmament of aggressors
Churchill,
• the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security
and the Prince of
Wales
Declaration of the United Nations
January 1, 1942
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"to a common program of purposes and principles embodied in
the … Atlantic Charter"
 Representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to
continue fighting together against the Axis Powers
 signed a declaration whose preamble called for subscription
 explicitly referred to need for promoting respect for human
rights on an international basis
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Phrase "united nations" was first used
 coined by FDR to express the unity of the signatory nations
in their determination to withstand the onslaught of the
Axis powers
 Declaration subsequently signed by 21 additional
governments
Conference of Allied Ministers of
Education
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Met in London in the Fall of 1942
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Drafted plans for a United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
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Formed the basis for a conference held in 1944
which drafted UNESCO constitution
United Nations Conference on
Food and Agriculture
Spring 1943
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Held in Hot Springs, Virginia
Set up Interim Commission on Food and
Agriculture
Drew up a Constitution for the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO)
FAO formally organized in October 1945
Moscow Declaration
October 30, 1943
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Constructed blue print of a new world body (General
Assembly) to replace the League of Nations
Met at a time when victory seemed in sight
Recognized
• "the necessity of establishing at the earliest
practicable date a general international
organization based on the principle of sovereign
equality of all peace-loving States, and open to
membership by all such States, large and small, for
the maintenance of international peace and
security."
Reaffirmed at the Tehran Conference December 1943
United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration
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Created in November 1943 by an agreement
signed by 44 nations (Washington D.C.)
Set up to provide assistance to victims of war
Formally first U.N. agency to come into being
Operated until 1949 when its functions were
divided among other agencies
• FAO, UNICEF, International Refugee
Organization
Bretton Woods Agreement
July 1944
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730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations gathered at
the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New
Hampshire
The United Nations Monetary and Financial
Conference
• Basis for the establishment of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD)
• Articles of agreement came into force in December 1945
Dumbarton Oaks Conference, Washington,
August 21st to October 7th, 1944
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First big-power
meeting convoked to
make concrete plans of
the structure and
functioning of the world
organization
Delegations offered widely differing
proposals, but eventually reached
agreement
1)
Favored a strong role for the General
Assembly in which all member states
would be represented (most
democratic)
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Agreement that a small Security
Council should be "primarily
responsible for the maintenance of
international peace and security"
3)
That the big powers should have the
right of veto in that body
4)
Deadlock developed over a Soviet
proposal that a big power might
exercise this right in disputes in
which it was itself involved
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Yalta Conference, February 1945
"Yalta formula" - compromise proposed by US and rejected by
the USSR at Dumbarton Oaks
 provided that if any of the Big Five powers was involved in a
dispute, it would not have the right to veto Security Council
recommendations for peaceful settlement of the issue but
would be able to veto a Security Council decision to invoke
sanctions against it
 Agreement
of the Trusteeship: formed to oversee
Attended
by Prime
decolonization
Minister
Churchill,of dependent territories to be placed under
international
trusteeship
President
Roosevelt,
and system as a successor to the League of
Nations
mandate system.
Marshal
Stalin
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SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE
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On 25 April 1945, delegates of 50 nations met
in San Francisco for the United Nations
Conference on International Organization.
Delegates drew up the 111-article Charter,
which was adopted unanimously on June 25,
1945 in the San Francisco Opera House
Next day, they signed charter in the Herbst
Theatre auditorium of the Veterans War
Memorial Building
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
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Established in 1945 by the UN Charter whose seat is at The
Hague, Netherlands
Principle judicial organ of the United Nations
• began work in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent
Court of International Justice
Has jurisdiction over all cases referred to it by parties
concerning matters within the Charter and over various treaties
or conventions in force
Submission of states is based on their consent, thus no force to
submit to cases
The Charter provides that Members of the United Nations may
entrust the solution of their differences to other tribunals
United Nations Day
October 24, 1945
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The United Nations charter was ratified by the five
permanent members of the Security Council and the
majority of other 51 signatories, and comes into
force.
The day is celebrated each year as United Nations
Day
January 10, 1946, the First General Assembly, with
51 nations represented opens in Central Hall,
Westminster, London.
First Official Meetings January 1946
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Security Council meets for the first time in
London, adopting its rules of procedure.
General Assembly adopts its first resolution.
• Main focus: peaceful uses of atomic energy and
the elimination of atomic and other weapons of
mass destruction.