The United Nations : A Complete Guide for UPSC

The United Nations: A Complete Guide for UPSC Aspirants

The UN appears across GS Paper 2 (International Relations), Prelims (current affairs, polity, international organisations), the Essay paper, and even Ethics. Examiners rarely ask "what is the UN?" They ask about structure, voting rules, reforms, India's role, and current developments. This blog covers the facts and concepts in an exam-oriented order.

1. Origins and Evolution

Before the UN: the League of Nations (1920-46). Born out of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, it failed to stop aggression by Japan, Italy and Germany. Its weaknesses were the absence of the USA, a unanimity rule, and no enforcement machinery. It was dissolved in 1946.

Road to the UN:

• 1941: Atlantic Charter (Roosevelt and Churchill)

• 1 January 1942: Declaration by United Nations (the term was coined by US President Roosevelt). India signed as a British colony.

• 1943: Moscow and Tehran conferences

• 1944: Dumbarton Oaks Conference (proposals for structure)

• 1945: Yalta Conference (veto formula for the Security Council)

• April-June 1945: San Francisco Conference. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by 50 states, and Poland signed later, making 51 original members.

• 24 October 1945: Charter came into force after ratification by the P5 and a majority of other signatories. UN Day is celebrated on 24 October.

India is an original member of the UN, even though it was not yet independent.

2. Basic Facts

Membership (Article 4): Open to "peace-loving states" that accept the Charter obligations. Admission is by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council (so the P5 veto applies). Expulsion and suspension are covered by Articles 5 and 6.

Amendments (Articles 108 and 109): Need a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of members, including all P5. The Charter has been amended a few times, for example to expand the Security Council from 11 to 15 (1965) and ECOSOC from 18 to 27 (1965) and then to 54 (1973).

3. Purposes and Principles

Purposes (Article 1):

1. Maintain international peace and security

2. Develop friendly relations among nations based on equal rights and self-determination

3. Achieve international cooperation on economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and promote human rights

4. Be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations

Principles (Article 2), the most quoted ones:

• Sovereign equality of all members

• Fulfilment of Charter obligations in good faith

• Peaceful settlement of disputes

• Article 2(4): No threat or use of force against territorial integrity or political independence

• Article 2(7): Non-intervention in matters "essentially within the domestic jurisdiction" of states (does not apply to Chapter VII enforcement)

Key chapters to remember:

• Chapter VI: Pacific settlement of disputes (recommendatory)

• Chapter VII: Action on threats to peace, breaches of peace and acts of aggression (binding, includes sanctions and use of force; Article 51 recognises the right of self-defence)

• Chapter VIII: Regional arrangements

• Chapters XI-XIII: Non-self-governing territories and the trusteeship system

4. The Six Principal Organs

A. General Assembly (UNGA)

• All 193 members, one vote each. Often called the "parliament of nations", though it has no legislative power.

• Regular session opens in September, and the President is elected annually, rotating among the five regional groups.

• Voting: Simple majority for ordinary matters. Two-thirds of members present and voting for "important questions" (Article 18) such as peace and security recommendations, elections to organs, admission of members, and budget.

• Resolutions are generally non-binding, though they carry moral and political weight. The budget decisions are binding on members.

• Six Main Committees:

  1. First: Disarmament and International Security

  2. Second: Economic and Financial

  3. Third: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural

  4. Fourth: Special Political and Decolonisation

  5. Fifth: Administrative and Budgetary

  6. Sixth: Legal

• Functions: Approves the budget, elects non-permanent members of the UNSC, members of ECOSOC, and judges of the ICJ (along with the UNSC), and appoints the Secretary-General on the UNSC's recommendation.

• Uniting for Peace Resolution (1950): Allows the General Assembly to take up matters if the UNSC is deadlocked due to a veto. It has been invoked in emergency special sessions, including on Ukraine.

• Veto initiative (2022): Requires the General Assembly to meet within 10 working days after any veto is cast.

B. Security Council (UNSC)

• 15 members: 5 permanent (P5: USA, UK, France, Russia, China) and 10 non-permanent elected for two-year terms (five each year). Non-permanent seats are distributed regionally: 3 Africa, 2 Asia-Pacific, 2 Latin America and Caribbean, 2 Western European and Others, 1 Eastern Europe.

• Presidency rotates monthly, in English alphabetical order.

• Voting: Procedural matters need 9 votes. Substantive matters need 9 votes including the concurring votes of all P5, so a negative vote by any P5 member is a veto. Abstention does not count as a veto.

• Only organ whose decisions are binding on all members (Article 25).

• Powers: Determine threats to peace, impose sanctions, authorise peacekeeping and use of force, recommend the Secretary-General and new members, and elect ICJ judges along with the General Assembly.

• The seat of "China" was transferred from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the People's Republic of China in 1971 (Resolution 2758). Russia took over the USSR's seat in 1991.

C. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

• 54 members elected for three-year terms (one-third retire each year).

• Coordinates the economic and social work of the UN and specialised agencies. Provides consultative status to NGOs (Article 71).

• Has five regional commissions: ECA (Africa), ECE (Europe), ECLAC (Latin America and Caribbean), ESCAP (Asia-Pacific) and ESCWA (Western Asia). It also has functional commissions (Status of Women, Population and Development, Narcotic Drugs, Statistics, etc.).

• Hosts the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) to review SDG progress.

D. Trusteeship Council

• Supervised 11 Trust Territories to prepare them for self-government or independence.

• Suspended operations in 1994 after Palau, the last trust territory, became independent. It now meets only when required.

E. International Court of Justice (ICJ)

• Seat: the Peace Palace, The Hague. It is the only principal organ not located in New York.

• 15 judges, 9-year terms, elected by the General Assembly and Security Council independently (absolute majority in both; no veto applies). One-third retire every three years, and no two judges may share a nationality.

• Contentious jurisdiction: Only states can be parties, and jurisdiction is based on consent. Judgments are binding and final, with no appeal. Enforcement is through the UNSC (Article 94).

• Advisory jurisdiction: Opinions requested by UN organs and agencies are not binding.

• India and the ICJ: Justice Dalveer Bhandari was re-elected in 2017 after the UK withdrew its candidate. Notable cases include Kulbhushan Jadhav (India vs Pakistan, 2019), Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal vs India, 1960), and the Nuclear Weapons advisory opinion (1996).

• Do not confuse it with the ICC (International Criminal Court, Rome Statute, 2002, The Hague). The ICC is not a UN organ, tries individuals, and India is not a party to the Rome Statute.

F. Secretariat

• Headed by the Secretary-General (SG), appointed by the General Assembly on the Security Council's recommendation for a five-year renewable term. The SG is the chief administrative officer (Article 97).

• Past Secretaries-General:

  1. Trygve Lie (Norway)

  2. Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden), who died in a 1961 plane crash and was awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize

  3. U Thant (Burma)

  4. Kurt Waldheim (Austria)

  5. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru)

  6. Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt)

  7. Kofi Annan (Ghana), who shared the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize with the UN

  8. Ban Ki-moon (South Korea)

  9. António Guterres (Portugal), from 2017

• Current relevance: Guterres's term ends on 31 December 2026, and the selection of the next Secretary-General is under way. No woman has held the post so far, and there is a demand for a Latin American or a woman candidate. Check the latest news for the shortlist and UNSC straw polls.

5. UN System: Specialised Agencies, Funds and Programmes

Specialised Agencies are autonomous bodies linked to the UN through ECOSOC agreements (Articles 57 and 63):

Funds and Programmes (subsidiary organs of the General Assembly): UNDP (New York, publishes the Human Development Report), UNICEF (New York), UNEP (Nairobi), UNFPA, WFP (Rome), UNHCR (Geneva), UN-Habitat (Nairobi), UN Women, UNODC (Vienna), UNCTAD (Geneva).

Related but not part of the UN in the strict sense: IAEA (Vienna, reports to the UNGA and UNSC), WTO (Geneva, independent), OPCW (The Hague), CTBTO (Vienna), IOM.

Nobel Peace Prizes to the UN family: UN Peacekeeping (1988), UN and Kofi Annan (2001), UNHCR (1954 and 1981), UNICEF (1965), IAEA (2005) and WFP (2020).

6. Peace and Security: Key Concepts

Peacekeeping

• Not mentioned in the Charter and often called a "Chapter Six and a Half" activity.

• First mission: UNTSO (1948, Middle East). UNMOGIP (1949) monitors the ceasefire line in Kashmir, and India has long maintained that it is outdated after the Simla Agreement.

• Basic principles: Consent of parties, impartiality, and non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate.

• Funded through assessed contributions on a separate peacekeeping budget, and the troops are contributed voluntarily by member states.

• India has been among the largest troop contributors, with over 2.9 lakh personnel served in more than 50 missions. India also sent the first all-women Formed Police Unit (Liberia, 2007).

Other concepts

• Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacebuilding: Boutros-Ghali's An Agenda for Peace (1992) popularised these terms. The Peacebuilding Commission was created in 2005.

• Responsibility to Protect (R2P): Endorsed at the 2005 World Summit. States have a responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and the international community can act if a state fails. It was invoked in Libya (2011) and criticised for being selectively applied.

• Sanctions: Imposed by the UNSC under Chapter VII (for example on North Korea and Iran in the past).

• Disarmament framework: NPT (1968), CTBT (1996, India is not a signatory), TPNW (2017, India has not signed), Chemical Weapons Convention, and Biological Weapons Convention.

7. Human Rights Architecture

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): 10 December 1948, drafted under Eleanor Roosevelt. India's Hansa Mehta is credited with changing "all men" to "all human beings" in Article 1.

• International Bill of Human Rights: UDHR + ICCPR + ICESCR (both 1966, in force 1976).

• UN Human Rights Council (2006): Replaced the Commission on Human Rights. It has 47 members elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms, is based in Geneva, and runs the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

• OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) is in Geneva.

• Core conventions include CERD, CEDAW, CAT, CRC and CRPD.

8. Development and Environment

• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): 8 goals, 2000-2015.

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 17 goals and 169 targets under the 2030 Agenda, adopted in 2015. NITI Aayog produces India's SDG India Index.

• Climate regime: UNFCCC (1992, Rio Earth Summit), Kyoto Protocol (1997), Paris Agreement (2015) with the 1.5°C aim, and annual COPs.

• Other key frameworks: CBD (biodiversity), UNCCD (desertification), Sendai Framework (disaster risk reduction), UNCLOS (1982, with ITLOS at Hamburg), and the BBNJ high seas treaty (adopted 2023).

• Pact for the Future (September 2024): Adopted at the Summit of the Future to reform global governance and address emerging technologies.

• UN80 Initiative (2025 onwards): Reform and cost-cutting drive amid a liquidity crisis, mainly caused by delayed payments and funding cuts from major contributors.

9. Financing

• Regular budget: Assessed on the "capacity to pay" formula (based on gross national income). The USA is the largest contributor (about 22%), followed by China. India contributes roughly 1%.

• Peacekeeping budget is separate, with the P5 paying a premium.

• Voluntary contributions fund most funds and programmes.

• Article 19: A member whose arrears equal or exceed its contributions for the preceding two full years loses its vote in the General Assembly.

10. UN Security Council Reform: A Favourite Topic

Why reform?

• The composition reflects 1945 realities. Africa and Latin America have no permanent seat, and India, the world's most populous country, is excluded.

• Concerns over the misuse of veto, as seen in Ukraine and Gaza.

• Legitimacy, representativeness and effectiveness are questioned.

Four pillars of negotiations: Categories of membership, question of the veto, regional representation, and size and working methods, all addressed in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process that started in 2008-09 and is criticised for lack of progress.

Groupings

• G4: India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, which support each other's bids for permanent seats.

• Uniting for Consensus ("Coffee Club"): Italy, Pakistan, Argentina, South Korea and others, which oppose new permanent members and favour longer-term semi-permanent seats.

• L.69 group: Developing countries from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

• African Group: Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration demand two permanent seats with veto for Africa.

India's case: Largest democracy, troop contributor, major economy, nuclear power, and elected eight times to the UNSC as a non-permanent member (1950-51, 1967-68, 1972-73, 1977-78, 1984-85, 1991-92, 2011-12, 2021-22). India has declared its candidature for 2028-29. The USA, UK, France and Russia have publicly backed India in various forms, while China's position remains ambiguous. Barriers: Need for two-thirds ratification including the P5, and opposition from rivals.

11. India and the United Nations

• Founding member, active on decolonisation, anti-apartheid (India was the first country to raise apartheid at the UN, in 1946) and disarmament.

• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman President of the UN General Assembly (1953).

• Non-Alignment and the Group of 77 (G-77) were used at the UN to champion developing countries. India is also a big voice for South-South cooperation.

• Initiatives: International Day of Yoga (21 June, adopted in 2014), International Year of Millets (2023), International Solar Alliance (framework agreement linked to the UN system, HQ Gurugram), and Mission LiFE.

• India's demands: Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), proposed in 1996 and still pending due to disagreement on defining terrorism.

• Kashmir: India took the issue to the UNSC in 1948 under Article 35 (Chapter VI), which led to UNCIP and UNMOGIP.

12. Criticisms and Challenges

1. Veto power: paralysis in Syria, Ukraine, and Gaza.

2. Unrepresentative structure of the Security Council.

3. Financial dependence on a few large donors and recurring liquidity crises.

4. Peacekeeping failures (Rwanda 1994, Srebrenica 1995) and misconduct allegations against peacekeepers.

5. Non-binding General Assembly and weak enforcement of ICJ verdicts.

6. Rise of parallel forums: G20, BRICS, QUAD and others sometimes bypass the UN.

7. Emerging issues: AI governance, cyber norms, space, and pandemics (a WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted in 2025).

8. Withdrawals and funding cuts: The USA has announced withdrawal from the WHO, and steps regarding UNESCO and the UNHRC.

13. Important Days (Quick Revision)

• 24 October: UN Day

• 10 December: Human Rights Day

• 8 March: International Women's Day

• 7 April: World Health Day

• 29 May: International Day of UN Peacekeepers

• 5 June: World Environment Day

• 21 June: International Yoga Day

• 16 October: World Food Day

14. Mnemonics and Memory Tools

• P5 = "CRUFUS"? Better: "US, UK, France, Russia, China", and remember that the first three are allies from 1945 and the veto formula came from Yalta.

• UNGA main committees run in the order D-E-S-P-A-L: Disarmament, Economic, Social, Political (special), Administrative, Legal.

• ICJ = 15 judges, 9-year term, 3-year staggering (15 x 9 x 3 pattern).

• UNSC = 5 + 10 = 15; 9 votes needed (9 out of 15, no P5 veto).