History of the United Nations

1. History of the United Nations 2006 1942 1945 1967 1993

2. Presentation content: • History • United Nations origin • Historical background • First steps • Flag • Current flag • Original flag • People that create UN • Founders • Role of Secretary – General • Secretary – Generals through the history

3. 1. a) United Nations origin The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. Wartime poster The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security." The International Labour Organization was also created under the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.

4. 1. b) Historical background States first established international organizations to cooperate on specific matters. The International Telecommunication Union was founded in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, and the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874. Both are now United Nations specialized agencies. Universal Postal Union initiators In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in 1902.

5. 1. c) First steps In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year. Flags in New York

6. 2. a) Current flag The flag of the United Nations was adopted on 20th October, 1947. It has the official emblem of the United Nations in white on a blue background. The emblem is composed of an azimuthal equidistant projection of a world map (less Antarctica) centered on the North Pole, anclosed in olive Branches -a symbol for peace. The whole map represents all the people of the world.White and blue are the official colors of the United Nations.

7. 2. b) Original flag A similar looking flag was first presented in a slightly different form from the present one at the Organisation Conference in San Francisco in April 1945, with the difference of the drawing of the Earth. The flag was distributed among delegates and the press. In 1946 a United Nations Organization committee got the task of makingadefinite design, whichwas presentedon2ndDecember1946 andadoptedby theplenarysession of theUNO on7th December 1946. The earlier version had the globe 90º turned eastward compared with the present flag. The change was made, according to press statements, to take North America from the center of the emblem.

8. 3. a) Founders A list of founders: • Alger Hiss • Harry Dexter White • Virginius Frank Coe • Dean Acheson • Noel Field • Laurence Duggan • Henry Julian Wadleigh • John Carter Vincent • David Weintraub • Nathan Gregory Silvermaster • Harold Glasser • Victor Perlo • Irving Kaplan • Abraham George Silverman • Soloman Adler • William L. Ullman • William H. Taylor Atlantic Card as a background of UN Harry Truman at founding UN

9. 3. b) Role of Secretary - General The Charter describes the Secretary-General as "chief administrativeofficer" of the Organization, who shall act in that capacity andperform "such other functions as are entrusted" to him or her by theSecurity Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council andother United Nations organs.

10. 3. c) Secretary – Generals through the history • Trygve Halvdan Lie was born on 16 July 1896, in Oslo, Norway. Was educated at Oslo University where he obtained a law degree in 1919. Was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1946 until 1952. 2. Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjold was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 10 April 1953 until 18 September 1961 when he met his death in a plane accident while on a peace mission in the Congo. He was born on 29 July 1905 in Jonkoping in south-central Sweden. He was brought up in the university town of Uppsala.

11. 3. c) Secretary – Generals through the history 3. U Thant, who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, was chosen to head the world body when Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in an air crash in September 1961. U Thant was born at Pantanaw, Burma, on 22 January 1909, and was educated at the National High School in Pantanaw and at University College, Rangoon. 4. Kurt Waldheim was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations for a five-year term beginning on 1 January 1972 until 1981. The Security Council had recommended the appointment on 21 December 1971 and the General Assembly approved it by acclamation on the following day. The Secretary-General was born at Sankt Andra-Wordern, near Vienna, Austria, on 21 December 1918. He graduated from the University of Vienna as a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1944. He is also a graduate of the Vienna Consular Academy

12. 3. c) Secretary – Generals through the history 5.Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar assumed office as Secretary-General of the United Nations on 1 January 1982. On 10 October 1986, he was appointed for a second term of office, which began on 1 January 1987. Mr. Perez de Cuellar was born in Lima, Peru, on 19 January 1920. He is a lawyer and a career diplomat, now retired. 6. Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali became the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations on 1 January 1992, when he began a five-year term. At the time of his appointment by the General Assembly on 3 December 1991, Mr. Boutros-Ghali had been Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt since May 1991 and had served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from October 1977 until 1991.

13. 3. c) Secretary – Generals through the history • Kofi Annan of Ghana is the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. The first Secretary-General to be elected from the ranks of United Nations staff, he began his first term on 1 January 1997 Mr. Annan joined the United Nations system in 1962 as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

14. Presentation authors: • Part 1.History and 2.Flag • Julia Malinowska and Anna Kucharska • Part 3.People that create UN • Magda Brachaczek • Visual setting and coordinating • Piotr Laszczak