CIVICS CHAPTER 20 || The United Nations

Q1) What is League of Nations?

The horror and tragedy of First World War led to passionate and universal desire for
peace. Out of this desire was born an international organization called the League of
nations
Q2) Write a short note on the Atlantic Charter?
Ans) Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Franklin D. Roosevelt,
the President of the United States of America met abroad a battleship off
Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean. They signed a document called the Atlantic
Charter on 14th August 1941. It was agreed that when the war ended, humans must be
guaranteed the basic rights or the four freedoms. The basic rights included:
Freedom from want
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religious belief
Freedom from fear.
Q3) Write about the San Francisco Conference and the establishment of United Nations.
Ans) In June 1945, 50 nations met in San Francisco to sign Atlantic Charter. Poland ,
which was not represented at the conference, signed it later and became one of the
original 51 member states. On 24th October 1945, the United nations was established to
save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights.
Q4) With Reference to the United nations discuss:
The UN Flag.
Ans) The UN Flag depicts two bent olive branches which are open at the top with a
world map between them. The white olive branches and the world map are on a light
blue background. The branches symbolize peace.
Objectives of UN as outlined in the Preamble of UN Charter.
Ans) The objectives of the UN have been outlined in the Preamble of the UN Charter.
They are:
(1) To maintain international peace and security
(2) To develop friendly relations among nations on the basis of equality.
(3) To achieve international cooperation in solving economic, social cultural and
humanitarian problems.
(4) To promote human rights and fundamental freedom for the people of the world.
(5) To act as a common platform for harmonizing the activities of various nations for
the attainment of the objectives of the UN.
(6) To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which has twice
brought suffering to humans.
The obligations of all nations that follow from these objectives.
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(1) The obligations of all nations :
(2) All nations big or small are equal.
(3) They must all obey the charter.
(4) All disputes must be settled peacefully
(5) No force should be used.
Q5) List down the organs of the UN
Ans) The UN has six main organs:
The General Assembly
The Security Council
The Economic and Social Council
The Trusteeship Council
The International Court of Justice
The Secretariat
Q6) Write briefly about General Assembly and its functions?
Ans) All the members of the UN are members of the General Assembly. Each member
nation can send up to five representatives, but they are entitled to one vote per nation.
The General Assembly meets once a year but special sessions can be held during times
of crisis. The important functions of General Assembly are:
To discuss international problems and make recommendations for their solution.
To make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
To consider and approve the UN budget.
To elect non-permanent members of Security Council, members of the Economic
and Social Council.
Q7) What is Security Council?
Ans) The Security Council, the most important organ of the UN, is often referred to as
the enforcement wing of the UN. It consists of 15 members. Five of them are permanent
members. They are
(1) USA
(2) UK
(3) France
(4) People’s Republic of China
(5) Russian Federation
The 10 non- permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for a
term of 2 years.
Q8) Explain the veto power of Security Council.
Ans) The Security Council decides by a majority vote of atleast nine members
including all the five permanent members. A negative vote by any one of the permanent
members would lead o cancellation of the resolution. This right to prevent action from
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being taken is known as the right to veto. This means that any resolution becomes
ineffective if one of the permanent members votes against it. This means that all
decisions have to be taken with consent of all the permanent members.
Q9) What happens when Security Council cannot take any action because of the veto?
Ans) When no action can be taken by the Security Council because of the veto, the
General Assembly can deal with the crisis. It can take whatever action may seem
appropriate to restore and maintain world peace.
Q10) State three important functions of Security Council?
Ans) The important functions of Security council are:
(1) To investigate International disputes and recommend ways of settling such
disputes peacefully.
(2) To call on member states to apply economic sanctions against the aggressor.
(3) To take military action against the aggressor if necessary.
Q11) What is Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC)?
Ans) The Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC) consists of 54 members elected by
General Assembly for a three year term. The main objective of the ECOSCO is to free the
world from “Want”.
Q12) Discuss functions of the Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC)?
Ans) The main functions of ECOSCO are:
(1) To promote economic growth and social progress.
(2) To create a spirit of respect for human rights.
(3) To solve problems related to health, illiteracy, drugs, employment, status of
women, etc
(4) To supervise the work of various specialized agencies such WHO,
UNESCO,UNICEF , ILO EAO etc.
Q13) Why was Trusteeship Council established?
Ans) When UN was first formed, a large number of countries were not free. Many
were affected by war. The Trusteeship Council was established to look after the
territories that were under foreign rule and to help them attain self government. All
Trust Territories have achieved their independence. The Trusteeship Council suspended
operations in 1994.
Q14) Discuss the composition and functions of the International Court of Justice.
Ans) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) consists of 15 Judges from different
countries, elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Each judge has a 9
year term. No two judges can be from the same country. All matters are decided
according to international law. The ICJ is located at The Hague, Netherlands (Holland)
The main functions of this court are:
To settle disputes brought to it by member nations
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To give Legal advice to the other organs of the UN, on request.
Q15) Write briefly about The Secretariat of the UN.
Ans) The Secretariat is the Chief Administrative organ of the UN. It is staffed with 70
workers from different nations including interpreters, photographers, and security
personnel. It is headed by the Secretary General, elected by General Assembly for a five
year term
Q16) State two achievements of United Nations?
Ans) The two achievements of United nations are:
(1) It has worked consistently for the protection and preservation of human rights
around the world.
(2) It has achieved great success in the fields of labor, health,welfare of children and
education by fighting poverty, ignorance, malnutrition, hunger and disease
through its specialized agencies
Q17) Fill in the Blanks:
(1) The League of Nations was formed in 1920 after the end of First World War.
(2) Each member state of the UN can send up to five representatives to General
Assembly
(3) The Security Council is often referred to as the Enforcement wing of the UN.
(4) The five permanent members of UN are USA , UK, France, People’s Republic of
China and Russian Federation
(5) The objective of the ECOSCO is to free the world from “Want”.
(6) The WHO is a specialized agency of the UN.
(7) Today UN has 193 members.
(8) The UN is headquartered at New York City
(9) The 24th of October is celebrated as United Nations Day.
(10) The Six official languages of the UN are English, French, Spanish,
Russian, Chinese and Arabic.
(11) The UN is financed by the member nations.
(12) WHO stands for World Health Organization.
(13) UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
organization.
(14) The UNICEF stands for United Nations Children’s Fund.
(15) The ILO stands for International Labor Organization.
(16) The FAO stands for Food and Agricultural Organization.
(17) António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations,
took office on 1st January 2017.
(18) Peter Thomson of Fiji has been elected as the United Nations General
Assembly President of its 71st session beginning in September 2016.