The UNO General Assembly adopted the UNO flag on October 20, 1947.

The white UNO emblem is superimposed on a light blue background. The UNO flag is not to be subordinated to any other flag in the world. The emblem consists of the global map projected from the North Pole and embraced in twin olive branches (symbol of peace). The colour blue also stands for Peace.

WHAT IS THE UNO ? The UN is an international organization that aims to promote peace and understanding between nations. It tries to fight poverty and disease around the world and encourages respect for human rights. The UN sends peacekeeping forces to trouble spots around the world, and provides food, clothes and other emergency supplies for people affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods

IMMEDIATE EVENTS LED TO THE FORMATION OF THE UN

1. Aftermath of the war. 2. Strong need to ensure world peace and to prevent any more destructive wars in the future. 3. Need to involve more countries in Post war union of the countries

FORMATION OF UNO
Conference of the representatives of 46 countries in San Francisco (USA). Formed UN CHARTER/LAW 26/06/1945, 6 more countries signed the Charter. 1945 October 24th The UN CHARTER came into existence.

The founding members of the UN are 51, India is also a founding member. The allied powers became the Permanent members in the Un Security Council.

UN IS ALSO KNOWN AS The Custodian of Peace The Mirror of the World Parliament of Nations

= Delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco on April 25, 1945, for what was officially known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization. = During a two-month period, they completed a charter consisting of 111 articles, based on the draft developed at Dumbarton Oaks. = The charter was approved on June 25 and signed the next day; it became effective on October 24, 1945,

1.Maintain international peace and security.

2.Developed friendly relations among nations.

3.Cooperate in solving international, economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems. 4.To promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

1.To settle differences among nations by peaceful means.

2.Not to use any threat or force against any state. 3.Give the united nations every assistance in any action, especially war. 4. Fulfill the charter obligations with all sincerity.

As on 2007, there are 192 United Nations member states, Montenegro on 28 June 2006, encompassing almost every recognized independent nation.

From its headquarters in New York City, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout each year.

The organization is divided into administrative bodies, including the 1.General Assembly, 2.Security Council, 3.Economic and Social Council, 4.International Court ofJustice 5.Trusteeship council 6.Secretariat

Additional bodies deal with the governance of all other UN System agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure is the Secretary-General. The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who assumed the post on 1 January 2007.

The UN has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The Secretariat uses two working languages, English and French.

The UN General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. It is made up of all United Nations member states and meets in regular yearly sessions. (on the third Tuesday of
September every year.)

As the only UN organ in which all members are represented, the assembly serves as a forum for members to discuss issues of international law and to make decisions regarding the functioning of the organization.

The main functions of the UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY are

To discuss the power and functions of other organs. To elect ten non-permanent members to the security council. To elect Judges to the International court of Justice. Admit new members. Appointing the SecretaryGeneral, who controls the Secretariat.

The UN Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the United Nations only make recommendations to member governments, the Security Council has the power to make decisions that member governments must carry out under the United Nations Charter. The decisions of the Council are known as United Nations Security Council Resolutions. The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, consisting of five permanent seats and ten temporary seats. The permanent five are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. These members hold veto power (right to reject any decision of others) The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms with member states voted in by the UN General Assembly on a regional basis. These seats rotate on a geographical basis; five are elected from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; two from Western countries and two from Latin America; and one from Eastern Europe.

The presidency of the council is held for a month at a time by each of the members, in English alphabetical order by country. Consent of all permanent members is also known as GREAT POWER UNANIMITY

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which meets annually, has 54 members; 18 members are elected each year by the General Assembly for 3-year terms.
ECOSOC coordinates the economic and social activities of the UN along with and its specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The council carries out studies on international economic, social, humanitarian, cultural, educational, and related matters, and coordinates the activities of the UN's specialized agencies in these areas.

Trusteeship council often called the Protector of Dependent Peoples where responsible for the supervision of territories that are not yet able to govern themselves and were under the international trusteeship system, it was responsible with helping these areas achieve independence or self-government. The council consisted of the United States, as the single administering power, plus Russia, Great Britain, France, and China as non-administering permanent members of the Security Council. It was so successful that all of the original 11 trust territories have been dissolved. Some of these territories merged with neighboring states; some joined the UN as independent member nations.

By the early 1990s the only remaining trust territory was the Palau Islands, administered by the United States and originally part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. This became an independent nation in 1994. With the last trust territory now self-governing, the Trusteeship Council ceased to exist in.

International Court of Justice, also known as World Court, principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was created in 1945 under the UN Charter as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice under the League of Nations. Purpose of ICJ is to adjudicate disputes among states. related to war crimes, illegal state interference and ethnic cleansing, among others. The court renders judgments according to the general principles of international law recognized by civilized nations. In addition to deciding disputes between nations, the court gives advisory opinions on legal questions to the General Assembly, the Security Council, and other specialized agencies.

The court has 15 judges, each elected by an absolute majority of the Security Council and the General Assembly, The judges are elected for nine years and may be re-elected; no two judges may be nationals of the same country. A judge may be removed from the court only by unanimous vote of the other judges, who do not represent their countries but are elected on the basis of their knowledge of international law. The headquarters are at The Hague, in Netherlands

The United Nations Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It provides studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations bodies for their meetings. It also carries out tasks as directed by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies.

The secretary-general, appointed for a five-year term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council, is the chief administrative official of the UN and, under Article 99 of the charter, may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter that seems to threaten international peace and security.

Trygve Lie (Norway) - February 1946 until his resignation in November 1952 Dag Hammarskjld (Sweden) - April 1953 until his death in a plane crash over Africa in September 1961 U Thant (Burma) - November 1961 to December 1971 Kurt Waldheim (Austria) - January 1972 to December 1981 Javier Prez de Cullar (Peru) January 1982 to December 1991 Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt) January 1992 to December 1996 Kofi Annan (Ghana) - January 1997 to December 2006 Ban Ki-Moon (South Korea) January 2007 to present

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), agency of the United Nations (UN) devoted to the welfare of children. The organization was established by the UN General Assembly in 1946 to help children in post-World War II Europe and China. UNICEF currently focuses on establishing programmes that give long-term benefits to children everywhere, particularly those in developing countries who are in the greatest need.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), agency of the United Nations (UN), created in 1946 to promote world peace by focusing on the areas of culture communication education natural sciences and social and human sciences. The main priorities of UNESCO's programmes include achieving education for all, establishing a culture of peace through education promoting the free flow of information between countries, as well as freedom of the press, protecting natural and cultural heritage, and supporting the expression of cultural identities. Head quarter of UNESCO is in Paris. Preamble of UNESCO goes like this:SINCE WARS BEGIN IN THE MINDS OF MEN, IT IS IN THE MIND OF MEN THAT THE DEFENCES OF PEACE MUST BE RECONSTRUCTED.

International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency associated with the United Nations (UN), whose worldwide objectives are to improve, labour conditions, promote productive employment and social progress, and raise living standards.
The ILO sets standards that cover:child labour,disabled workers, discrimination, equality of treatment, freedom of association, human rights, maternity protection, pensions, and the elimination of forced labour. The ILO headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland;

Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations (FAO), specialized United Nations agency whose main goal is to afford freedom from hunger on a world scale. Among its activities, it educates about the use of soil, it spreads advances agricultural techniques, global exchange of plants, combat epidemics of animal diseases and provides technical assistance in the fields of nutrition and food management Its headquarter is in Rome, Italy

World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. WHO was established in 1948. The services of the agency may be either advisory or technical. Advisory services include aid in training medical personnel and in giving knowledge of various diseases The agency maintains health-demonstration areas for sustained application of modern techniques to improve general health conditions and to combat specific diseases interfering with agricultural productivity and overall economic development.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, also known as the World Bank, was established at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The chief objectives of the bank, as stated in the articles of agreement, are to assist in the reconstruction and development of territories of members nations. The bank grants loans only to member nations, for the purpose of financing specific projects. headquarters of the bank is in Washington, D.C.(USA).

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, resolution adopted unanimously in December 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The objective of the 30-article declaration is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The declaration proclaims the personal, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of humans, Among the rights cited by the declaration are the rights to to life, liberty, and security of person; to freedom from arbitrary arrest; to a fair trial; to be presumed innocent until proved guilty; to freedom from interference with the privacy of one's home and correspondence; to freedom of movement and residence; to asylum, nationality, and ownership of property; to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion, and expression; to association, peaceful assembly, and participation in government; to social security, work, rest, and a standard of living adequate for health and well-being; to education; and to participation in the social life of one's community.

Indias response to Human Rights :In 1931 at the Karachi session, the INC made the statement for the first time about the types of Socio-economic and Political rights, that the constitution of India should contain. The impact of UNDHR is evident during the drafting of the constitution as it provides, the fundamental rights, and the Directive Principals.

The Indian Preamble declares four rights, JUSTICE social, economic and political. LIBERTY thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. EQUALITY status and opportunity. FRATERNITY dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation. .

It guarantees six fundamental rights :Right to equality. Right to freedom. Right against exploitation Right to freedom of religion Cultural and educational rights Right to constitutional remedies

For the protection of Human Rights, India has set up a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in 1993, it deals for the protection of Rights of women, children, minorities, SC, ST, other backward classes and other socially and economically disadvantage groups.