【明報專訊】Despite its imperfections, the United Nations (UN), which is celebrated today, is one of the most important intergovernmental organisations ever created.

◆Basic facts

Date: 24 October

Year of declaration: 1948

Proclaimed by: the United Nations General Assembly (聯合國大會)

Aim: To make known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations

◆Background

The United Nations was established after the Second World War had ended to replace the League of Nations (國際聯盟), which had not been able to prevent the war. The United Nations Charter, signed on 26 June 1945 at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference, took effect on 24 October 1945. When it was founded, the UN had 51 member states. It now has 193.

The United Nations' headquarters is in Manhattan, New York City. It has extraterritoriality. It has its other main offices in Geneva (日內瓦), Nairobi (內羅畢) and Vienna (維也納).

The UN's main bodies

The UN has six principal organs:

- the General Assembly, which is the UN's main deliberative assembly,

- the Security Council (安全理事會), which is tasked with making resolutions for peace and security,

- the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC, 經濟及社會理事會), which is tasked with promoting international economic and social co-operation and development,

- the Secretariat (秘書處), which is tasked with providing studies, information and facilities the UN needs,

- the International Court of Justice (國際法院), which is its primary judicial organ,

- the Trusteeship Council (託管理事會), which has been inactive since 1994.

The UN has other agencies including the World Bank Group (世界銀行), the World Health Organisation (世界衛生組織), the World Food Programme (世界糧食計劃署), UNESCO (教科文組織協會) and UNICEF (兒童基金會).

UN, China and Hong Kong

After the Second World War, the Republic of China (ROC, 中華民國) joined the UN as one of the victorious Allies (戰勝國). The ROC government retained its UN membership even after it had been defeated in the Chinese Civil War (國共內戰) and had moved to Taiwan. However, in 1971, the General Assembly Resolution 2758 was adopted, under which China's UN membership was transferred from the government of the ROC to that of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The next year, the PRC requested that Hong Kong, then a British colony, be removed from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The request was granted.

Praises and criticisms

The UN is praised for its achievements in many areas like promoting human rights, maintaining world peace, coordinating efforts to fight diseases and promoting education. Its peacekeepers (維和部隊), which are sent with the Security Council's approval, have achieved many successes over the years. The peacekeeping force received the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize. The UN itself received the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for ''its work for a better organized and more peaceful world".

The UN has drawn a lot of criticisms, though. One is that it is becoming increasingly bureaucratic and slow in dealing with development issues. Many organisations have overlapping mandates. The UN has so far failed to deal with the ongoing civil war in Syria, which has led to a humanitarian crisis. One reason is that proposals for interference have repeatedly been blocked in the Security Council by Russia, which is the Syrian government's ally.