United Nations Organisation

United Nations Arabic: الأمم المتحدة Simplified Chinese: 联合国 French: Organisation des Nations unies Russian: Организация Объединённых Наций Spanish: Naciones Unidas
Flag Emblem
Map showing the member states of the United Nations
Headquarters	New York City (International territory)
Official languages	Arabic Chinese English French Russian Spanish
Type	Intergovernmental organization
Membership	193 member states 2 observer states
Leaders
• Secretary‑General	António Guterres
• Deputy Secretary-General	Amina J. Mohammed
• General Assembly President	Peter Thomson
• Economic and Social Council President	Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava
• Security Council President	Matthew Rycroft
Establishment
• UN Charter signed	26 June 1945 (1945-06-26)
• Charter entered into force	24 October 1945 (1945-10-24)
Website www.un.org www.un.int

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.

The UN Charter was drafted at a conference between April–June 1945 in San Francisco, and was signed on 26 June 1945 at the conclusion of the conference; this charter took effect 24 October 1945, and the UN began operation. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in major actions in Korea and the Congo, as well as approving the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. The organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s, and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military and peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of success.