UNITED NATIONS, A BRIEF OVERVIEW

UNITED NATIONS

The Name UN: 

• Coined by the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 1st used on 1 January, 1942 during 2nd world war in UN Declaration.

Officially Established: 

• In October 1945, when 50 countries got their representatives together at San Francisco and the UN Charter was formulated.
• These 50 states are often referred to as the "Original Members" or the "Founding Members" of the UN.

Total Member States: 193

Non-Member States:

• The UN Charter dictates as to who can be a member of the UN and who cannot.
• A total of 54 States are not full members of and are partially recognized by the UN.
• Some states worth mentioning here are as follows.

• Palestine and Kosovo are non members due to lack of International support. Palestine however was given the observer status by the UN in 2012.
• Taiwan, initially a part of the UN left in 1971 when the Republic of China became a member.
• Vatican City is a small state with a small population and holds permanent observer status at the UN and is not a member by its own choice.

Official Languages of the UN

The SIX languages that are officially the part of UN include the following.

1. English
2. French
3. Russian
4. Arabic
5. Chinese
6. Spanish

UN Logo

• Designed by a team lead by Oliver Lincoln Lundquist in 1945.
• The Emblem comprises of a World Map with a wreath surrounding it.
• It received approval on 7th December, 1946.

Nobel Peace Price

• Received Nobel Peace Prize 11 times since its inception.

Main Heads/Organs: 

• General Assembly

• Develops policies and all 193 nations are represented in it. It thus is the only organ occupying the status of Universal representation within the United Nations.           
• The annual General Assembly session is held in New York every year in September.

• Security Council

• Responsible for maintaining peace and security in the international realm.
• 15 members, out of which 5 hold permanent membership status while 10 are such members whose membership is temporary.
• Has a President that is changed every month.

• Economic and Social Council

• involved in reviewing policies, collaboration between the states, conducting discussions and talks on different issues and implementation of goals related to development.
• 54 members that are appointed for 3 year terms by the General Assembly.

• Trusteeship Council

• Created in 1945 for the sole purpose of supervising 11 Trust Territories.
• Aim was to make the Trust Territories independent and self reliant.
• The purpose was achieved by 1994 and the members agreed to meet only if deemed necessary.

• International Court of Justice (ICJ)

• The only body within the United Nations that is principally takes up the Judicial role.
• Located at the Peace Palace in Hague, Netherlands.
• Gives advice and verdict on international disputes and matters filed in or referred to it.

• Secretariat

• Responsible for carrying out the everyday tasks of the United Nations.
• Consists of a huge staff of over tens of thousands of people from all over the world and the Secretary General.
• The Secretary General if appointed by the UN General Assembly for five years. His term can be renewed.

BUILD YOUR VOCABULARY THE EASY WAY

Vocabulary enables us to Interpret and to express. If you have a limited vocabulary, you will also have a limited vision and a limited future.

(Jim Rohn)

Whether you need it for better understanding of literature, for improving your conversational abilities, for enhancing your perception of things, for an exam or for grooming your personality, Building vocabulary requires a dedicated effort. 

Determination and Perseverance is the key

Once you decide on improving your vocabulary, you need to make sure that you do so on a regular basis, Starting and giving up immediately or losing interest will not benefit you in any way and so once you have made up your mind, you need to keep your nose to the grindstone. This holds true not just for enhancing your linguistic skills but for anything that you wish to achieve in life. 

A few Tips and Tricks on enhancing your vocabulary are listed below.

1. Read Newspapers, Magazines and Books

• Develop a habit of reading. If you cannot read a lot or if you are not a fan of reading books and other stuff, just read one small paragraph at a time.
• Highlight an interesting word and note it down in your word journal or in an index card.

2. Using Post it Notes or keeping Flash or Index Cards in office or at home

This technique is what helped me the most in improving my vocabulary. 

• Write the word and its meaning with an example on a Post it note and stick it where you can read it even if you don't want to. Like on the fridge, on the study table, etc.
• Write the word on a flash card and keep the card with you. You can read them even when doing some house or office chore, while watching TV or doing office work.

3. Maintaining a word Journal

• Grab a notebook, a small diary or if that is too much trouble then just use the notes app on your mobile phone and write down the words that you find interesting.
• Keep reading them everyday so that the words become a permanent part of your memory. 
• Try using them in sentences.

4. Write More

• Write Letters and use the new words in your sentences
• If not letters then write Articles or Essays. That will give you the added benefit of improving your writing skills.
• If you hate writing then at least you can Text. Instead of using slangs and abbreviations, use complete and proper words while writing texts to your family and friends and add new words wherever you can. 

5. Download a Vocab app

• An application on your phone that notifies you of a new word each day, such as the app by www.dictionary.com, which is easily available for downloading on most android and iOS devices, have a widget that gives you a new word to learn daily.

6. Watching English movies with Subtitles

• This is something that will serve a dual purpose. While providing entertainment, it enables to build your conversational skills and learn new words and ways of using those in sentences.

Building vocabulary needs constant revision of words because if you don't use the words, you forget them. Incorporating the newly learned words in your conversations, either they are face to face or on the phone, is what will help you in the long term. 

THE TIMELINE FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONVENTION (NWC)

A multilateral treaty that has been proposed to ban Nuclear Weapons is what the Nuclear Weapons Convention is all about. This is somewhat similar to the conventions on Biological and Chemical weapons. 

According to Arms Control Association Pakistan is a signatory to Biological and Chemical Weapons Convention but has not signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as yet.

FAILED ATTEMPTS

The cold war left all parties across the globe to end the creation and proliferation of Nuclear weapons. A few proposals were put forward at that time which did not lead to any favorable results. 

These include but are not limited to the following,

• Baruch Plan (1946)
• the Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting in Reykjavik (1986)
• Rajiv Gandhi’s action plan presented to the UN General Assembly (1988)

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS

Over the years, the following developments took place.

• During the 1950s, UK and the US continued conducting nucleur tests.
• In July 1955, Russell–Einstein manifesto was issued which warned of the hazards of using nuclear weapons.
• During the 1960s, France and China conducted Nuclear tests.
• On 1st July 1968, 1st Non Proliferation treaty was signed that lead to nuclear disarmament and a ban on future acquisition of nuclear weapons of the parties involved.
• During the 1970's India conducted a nuclear test and a Nuclear explosion in the South Indian Ocean possibly by South Aftrica took place.
• During the 1990s, South Africa, South East Asia, Africa and Ukraine turned into Nuclear free states.
• At the end of Cold War, UN General Assembly posed the following question and asked the International Court of Justice its opinion on the matter by adopting a resolution 49/46K on 15th December, 1994.

 Is there any circumstance in which the International law permits the threat of or the usage of Nuclear weapons?

The International court of Justice (IJC) responded on 8th July 1996 by announcing the following statement,

 “there exists a legal obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its respects.” 

• On 24th September, 1996 China, UK, France, United Nations, United States and Russia signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which India refused to put its signatures on.
• In the year 1997, a draft was made by a group of experts and was presented to the UN General Assembly by Costa Rica for discussion. It was updated and used in 2007 as the Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) and was based on different chemical and biological conventions.
• In the year 1998, India and Pakistan conducted Nuclear Tests.
• In 2006, 123 state parties including Pakistan and India asked for starting up negotiations in Nuclear Weapons Convention regarding banning the acquisition, manufacture, testing, stockpiling, transferring and usage, threat and proliferation of Nuclear weapons.
• In 2007, ICAN (International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons) created an improved model of Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC).
• in 2008, UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon presented a five point plan regarding disarmament of nuclear weapons by countries.
• In 2009, the first set of recommendations for Nuclear disarmament in a Nuclear convention were presented in draft form. It went unsuccessful.
• In May, 2009 a program of work, entitled “Cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament” was approved and thus adopted by the CD (Conference on Disarmament). 
• In September 2009, The United Nations adopted the Resolution 1887 which was proposed by the United States. Two more resolutions were adopted by the UN in the same year regarding Nuclear Disarmament.
• In 2010, member states of Nuclear Proliferation Treaty adopted the Final Document proposed by the NPT Review Conference.
• In 2013, "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act" was Introduced which called for elimination of Nuclear arms in all countries by 2020.
• In 2014, 164 member Inter Parliamentary union approved a resolution that urged countries to start negotiation regarding Nuclear disarmament as soon as possible.
• In 2016, different sessions of open-ended working group (OEWG) were held whereby proposals and negotiations on nuclear bans were carried out. Challenges regarding the imposition of the ban have been discussed as well.

The Nuclear Weapons Convention is still a matter of discussion at the United Nations and at the Conference of Disarmament (CD). More and more conferences are being conducted on the matter.

ORGANIZATIONS FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION (SAARC, SCO)

One of the most significant developments in the world trading system came up with the emergence of the phenomenon of Regional Cooperation during the 1990s.

This Regional Cooperation,

o   is a way of gaining economic security and developments within the regions involved.

o   helps group remote areas of the world so that the nations by entering into regional agreements can benefit from each other’s assets and resources.

o   facilitates competition among countries and helps them attract more investment and state of the art technology.

SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION (SAARC)

SAARC is an organization for both political and economic cooperation between eight member countries in the South Asian region. Its history and other important aspects are listed below.

1.     Establishment: At Dhaka in 1985

2.     Secretariat: Kathmandu, Nepal

3.    Secretary General: Arjun Bahadur Thapa

4.     Members:

·        India                   ·        Pakistan

·        Sri Lanka            ·        Bangladesh

·        Nepal                  ·        Bhutan

·        Maldives            ·        Afghanistan

5.     Observers:

· Australia, China, The European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and the United States of America.

6.     SAARC Recognized Bodies

·        SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry

·  SAARCLAW (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Law

·        SAFA (South Asian Federation of Accountants)

·        SAF (South Asia Foundation)

·    SAIEVAC (South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children

·        FOSWAL (Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature)

7.     Objectives of SAARC

•       To eliminate all forms of Corruption
•      To fast-track the growth of the economy
•     To promote cultural and social growth of the members
•   To Buildup trust between the regional states and creation of mutual reliance

SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION 

(SCO)

   SCO is basically an organization formed between the governments of six countries whereby Pakistan acts as an observer state. This organization has broadened its goals since the time of its inception and is considered as an essential forum for boosting confidence and strengthening friendly relations among the member states. 

1.    Initially Named as: Shanghai Five (Inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001 changed the number of member states to 6)

2.     Renamed to: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2001)

3.     Establishment: At Shanghai in 1996

4.     Two Headquarters:

·        Secretariat: Beijing, China

·Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS): Tashkent, Uzbekistan

5.     Secretary General: Dmitry Fyodorovich Mezentsev (Russian)

6.     Members: 6 member states

·        China             ·        Russia

·        Kazakhstan    ·        Kyrgyzstan

·        Tajikistan       ·        Uzbekistan
  2 Acceding States 
·         Pakistan 
 ·        India
(Signed memorandum of obligations on  24 June, 2016 at Tashkent)
(Expected to become full members by 2017)

7.     Observers: 4 observer states

·        Belarus          ·        Iran

·        Mangolia       ·        Afghanistan

8.     Objectives of SCO

·        To work on improving the security situation in the member states.

·  To fight the three evils, namely “Terrorism, Extremism and Separatism”.

·       To demilitarize the borders of member states and thus build confidence.

·        To share Intelligence between member states with the purpose of countering all anti state agents.

·        To promote economic initiatives in the region, e.g. Eurasian Economic Union (Lead by Russia) or Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative (Lead by China)

·       To collaborate in order to avoid international conflicts and offer and implement peace solutions.