have already read about this in an earlier chapter. As these countries became free, they faced a world greatly torn between Capitalism and Communism, between USA and USSR – and were constantly under pressure to choose between the two rather than follow their own paths of development. They also got an opportunity to negotiate by playing one power against the other. In this section, we will study about some of these issues in detail.
The principle Allied countries like Britain, France, USA, USSR and China drafted a Charter for the formation of the UNO even as the war drew to an end. The Charter not only emphasised the need to preserve peace and prevent wars, but also the need to ensure human rights, democracy and eradication of poverty and hunger for all people in the world. The UN thus started with a twin objective of ensuring lasting peace and human development. At the same time, it recognised the autonomy of states and promised not to interfere in any internal affairs of a country except in cases mandated by serious human rights violation or threat to world peace.
At the time of its establishment, UN had membership of 51 countries and today (2016 ) there are 193 countries. As countries liberated themselves from colonial powers in the decade that followed, they joined UN. The UN works through six different organs. Each of these organs has specific functions like maintaining peace and security, improving education and health facilities, alleviating poverty, providing justice in the context of international crimes and so on. Some bodies responsible for these functions include International Court of Justice located in Hague; the World Health Organisation located at Geneva, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation functioning from Paris, and United Nations Children's Fund functioning from New York.
In electing the Secretary General, the main officer of the UN, all nations participate and the post is rotated across different continents. The General Assembly is the main body where regular discussions between nations take place. However, decisions relating to war and peace are taken in the Security Council and five nations have special status within it. These are called permanent members of the Security Council and they are: China, France, United Kingdom; USSR (now Russia) and USA. Any decision taken by the Council can be vetoed (made invalid or rejected) by the intervention of even any one of these countries.
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