PETER MAX WFUNA FDCS EARTH SUMMIT JUNE 1992 pop art very rare 22 ORIGINAL

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176283104114 PETER MAX WFUNA FDCS EARTH SUMMIT JUNE 1992 pop art very rare 22 ORIGINAL . 22 first day covers for the WFUNA UNITED NATIONS STAMP ISSUE earth summit   by PETER MAX. Each FDC AND STAMPS depicts PETER MAX'S artwork. 
Peter Max is a multi-dimensional creative artist. He has worked with oils, acrylics, water colors, finger paints, dyes, pastels, charcoal, pen, multi-colored pencils, etchings, engravings, animation cells, lithographs, serigraphs, silk screens, ceramics, sculpture, collage, video, xerox, fax, and computer graphics. He loves all media; even including mass media as a "canvas" for his creative expression.  Aside from his prolific creative output, Max is as passionate in his creative input. He loves to hear amazing facts about the universe and is as fascinated with numbers and mathematics as he is with visual phenomena.  "If I didn't choose art, I would have become an astronomer", states Max, who became fascinated with astronomy while living in Israel, following a ten year upbringing in Shanghai, China.  "I became fascinated with the vast distances in space as well as the vast world within the atom", says Max.  Peter's early childhood impressions has had a profound influence on his psyche, weaving the fabric that was to become the tapestry of his full creative expression.   It was a childhood filled with magic and adventure, an odyssey the likes of which few people have had, artists included. European born, Peter was raised in Shanghai, China, where he spent his first ten years. He lived in a pagoda style house situated amidst a Buddhist monastery, a Sikh temple and a Viennese cafe. And yet, with all that richness and diversity of culture, he still had a dream of an adventure yet to come; in a far-off land called America.   From American comic books, radio broadcasts and cinema shows, young Peter formed an impression of the land of Captain Marvel and Flash Gordon; of swing jazz and swashbucklers; of freedom and creativity.  But the American adventure was far in the future. In the decade to follow, Peter would discover many other fascinating worlds that fanned the fires of his imagination.  At the age of ten, Peter and his parents traveled across the vast expanse of China to a Tibetan mountain camp at the foothills of the Himalayas. Then they journeyed 9000 feet up to a beautiful, white turreted hotel in a mountain paradise that seemed like Shangri-La.   The retreat in Tibet had been blissful, until it was learned that Mao Tse-Tung and his army were advancing towards Shanghai. The family left Tibet at once and returned to Shanghai. They immediately gathered what they could and arranged for passage on a boat to Israel. The voyage lasted 48 days with a stopover in India. At the Suez Canal there was a conflict between the Arabs and the fledgling state of Israel, and the ship had to reverse course and sail around the continent of Africa.  Peter arrived in Israel right after it won its independence in 1948.  There he lived and attended school near Mount Carmel in Haifa. It was during the next few years that he discovered his life pursuit as an artist and developed a love and fascination for astronomy.  In 1953, Peter's family emigrated to America via a six-month visit to Paris. Though it was a relatively short stay, Peter enrolled in an art school and absorbed the culture and art heritage of Paris. At the age of sixteen, Peter realized his childhood vision and arrived in America.   After completing high school he continued his art studies at The Art Student's League, a renowned, traditional academy across from Carnegie Hall in Manhattan. Here Peter learned the rigid disciplines of realism and developed into a realist painter.   When he left art school, Max had become fascinated with new trends in commercial illustration and graphic arts, from America as well as Europe and Japan. He decided to try his hand at it and within a short period of time, he won awards for album covers and book jackets, which combined his own brand of realism with graphic art techniques.  Max also admired the work of contemporary photographers such as Bert Stern, Richard Avedon, and Irving Penn which led to his photo collage period, in which he had captured the psychedelic era of the mid '60s.  As the '60s progressed, the photo collages gave way to his famous "Cosmic '60s" style, with its distinctive line work and bold color combinations.  This new style developed as a spontaneous creative urge, following Max's meeting with Swami Satchidananda, an Indian Yoga master who taught him meditation and the spiritual teachings of the East. Max's Cosmic '60s art, with its transcendental imagery captured the imagination of the entire generation and catapulted the young artist to fame and fortune.  He was suddenly on numerous magazine covers, including Life Magazine, and appeared on national TV. Max's visual impact on the '60s has often been compared to the influence the Beatles had with their music.   In the 1970s, Max gave up his commercial success and went into retreat to begin painting in earnest. He submersed himself in his art for several years, and was only induced to come out of retreat on occasion through special commissions by the Federal government agencies; for U.S. Border murals, the first 10¢ U.S. postage stamp, and projects for the Federal Energy Commission.   For July 4th, 1976, Max created a special installation and art book, Peter Max Paints America, to commemorate America's bicentennial. It was the year Max also began his annual July 4th tradition of painting the Statue of Liberty. In 1982, Max painted six Liberties on the White House lawn, and then personally helped to actualize the monument's restoration, which was completed in 1986.   In the years that followed, Max developed his new atelier, with a primary focus on paintings, mixed media works and limited graphic editions. Of the thousands of requests that came in for posters, Max was drawn to those that synchronized with his own concerns; environmental, and human and animal rights.   He began a series of works called the Better World series, and created a painting called "I love the World", depicting an angel embracing the planet, inspired by his backstage experience at the Live Aid concert.    In 1989, for the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, Max was asked to create world's largest rock and roll stage for the Moscow Music Peace Festival.  Soon after the festival, in October, 1989, Max unveiled his "40 Gorbys", a colorful homage to Mikhail Gorbachev. As if it had prophetic overtones, a few weeks later, Communism fell in Eastern Europe and Max was selected to receive a 7000 pound section of the Berlin Wall, which was installed on the battleship Intrepid museum. Using a hammer and chisel, Max carved a dove from within the stone and placed it on top of the wall to set it free.  In 1991, Max's one-man retrospective at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersberg, drew the largest turnout for any artist in Russian history, over 14,500 people attended!  In 1991, Max paid homage to another great world figure, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, with an installation of 108 portraits of the Tibetan leader. The following year, in 1992, Max created two 150 ft. murals for the U.S. Pavilion at the World's Fair in Seville, Spain.  As a painter for four previous U.S. Presidents, Carter, Ford, Bush and Reagan, in 1993, Max was approached by the inaugural committee to create posters for Bill Clinton's inauguration. He was later invited to the White House to paint the signing of the Peace Accord.  Max is always ready to apply his creative talent to important global events and has produced posters for the Summit of the Americas, Gorbachev's State of the World Forum, and the United Nations Earth Summit, for which he had designed a series of twelve stamps that became the best-selling stamps in U.N. history.  For the U.N.s 50th anniversary, Max produced an installation of fifty paintings in different color combinations of the famous United Nations building   A lover of music, Max has been designated Official Artist for the Grammys, The 25th Anniversary of the New Orleans Jazz Festival and the Woodstock Music Festival. In the sports arena, Max has been Official Artists for five Super Bowls, The World Cup USA, The U.S. Tennis Open and the NHL All-Star Game.  Always an optimist, Max sees a fabulous new age for the new millennium, filled with enormous possibilities. He also sees a need for a greater responsibility to our planet, and he is ever ready to serve as the "Global Artist".          Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is an American artist known for using bright colours in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Childhood 1.2 1950s 1.3 1960s 1.4 1970s 1.5 1980s–present 2 Work 3 Personal life 4 References 5 External links Biography Childhood In 1938, Max's parents fled Berlin, Germany, his place of birth, to escape the fomenting Nazi movement, settling in Shanghai, China, where they lived for the next ten years. In 1948, the family moved to Haifa, Israel where they lived for several years. From Israel, the family continued moving westward and stopped in Paris for several months—an experience that Max said greatly influenced his appreciation for art. 1950s Max and his parents first settled in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in 1953 where he attended Lafayette High School, where he was classmates with future actor Paul Sorvino. In 1956, Max began his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan, studying anatomy, figure drawing and composition under Frank J. Reilly who had studied at the League alongside Norman Rockwell.[1] 1960s In 1962, Max started a small Manhattan arts studio known as "The Daly & Max Studio," with friend Tom Daly. Daly and Max were joined by friend and mentor Don Rubbo, and the three worked as a group on books and advertising for which they received industry recognition. Much of their work incorporated antique photographic images as elements of collage. Max's interest in astronomy contributed to his self-described "Cosmic '60s" period, which featured what became identified as psychedelic, counter culture imagery. Max's art was popularized nationally through TV commercials such as his 1968 "un cola" ad for the soft drink 7-Up which helped drive sales of his art posters and other merchandise.[2] Peter Max invited Satchidananda Saraswati to New York in 1966[citation needed] for a two-day visit which turned into a permanent residence for Satchidananda, who became surrounded by many students who formed Integral Yoga International. Max appeared on The Tonight Show on August 15, 1968.[3] He was featured on the cover of Life magazine's September 5, 1969 edition under with the heading "Peter Max: Portrait of the artist as a very rich man."[4] 1970s U.S. postage stamp featuring Max's artwork commemorating Expo '74 In 1970, many of Max's products and posters were featured in the exhibition "The World of Peter Max," which opened at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.[5] The United States Postal Service commissioned Max to create the 10-cent postage stamp to commemorate the Expo '74 World's Fair in Spokane, Washington, and Max drew a colorful psychedelic scene with a "Cosmic Jumper" and a "Smiling Sage" against a backdrop of a cloud, sun rays and a ship at sea on the theme of "Preserve the Environment."[6] July 4, 1976, Max began his Statue of Liberty series leading to his efforts with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca to help in the restoration of the statue.[7] In 1976, "Peter Max Paints America" was commissioned by the ASEA of Sweden. The book project commemorated the United States Bicentennial and included the following foreword: "Peter Max Paints America is based on works of art commissioned by ASEA of Sweden on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, in sincere recognition of the historic bonds of friendship between the people of Sweden and the people of the United States, recalling that Sweden was one of the first countries to extend its hand in friendship to the new nation."[8] 1980s–present One of Max's art galleries, at The Forum Shops at Caesars in 2008 Max has been the official artist for many major events, including the 1994 World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl and others.[1] In 2000, Max designed the paint scheme Dale Earnhardt drove at the Winston all-star race, deviating from Earnhardt's trademark black car.[9] He was also the Official Artist of New York City's 2000 Subway Series, the World Series of Major League Baseball, between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.[10] Max first painted Taylor Swift's portrait as a gift to the singer for her Grammy-winning albums Fearless and Speak Now, and has recently painted new portraits of Taylor Swift to commemorate her worldwide success.[11] Max is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.[12] In 1989, Max designed the cover photo - as well as the 45 (single) picture-sleeve photo - of Aretha Franklin's 'Through The Storm' album. In 1990, Max purchased a collection of Chevrolet Corvettes for an intended art project,[13] but never used them and let them rot in a series of garages.[14] In 1994, Max designed the artwork for progressive rock band Yes's fourteenth studio album, Talk. In 2012, he was chosen to paint the hull art of the New York themed ship Norwegian Breakaway by Norwegian Cruise Line.[15] In 2017, Max did the cover art for the Aug/Sept issue of AARP magazine.[16] Work Max's art work was first associated with the counter culture, neo-expressionism,[17] and psychedelic movements in graphic design during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He is known for using bursts of color, often containing much or all of the visible spectrum. His work was influenced by others. Max's repeated claims, varying in detail, to have worked on Yellow Submarine have been denied by the production team.[18] Max works in multiple media including painting, drawing, etchings (including aquatint), collage, print making, sculpture, video and digital imagery. He also includes "mass media" as being another "canvas" for his creative expression.[1] Max often uses American icons and symbols in his artwork. He has created paintings of presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush in addition to his 100 Clintons—a multiple portrait installation. Additional commissions have included the creation of the first "Preserve the Environment" postage stamp, in honor of the World's Fair in Spokane, WA, border murals at the entry points Canada and Mexico by the US General Services, and exhibitions in over 40 museums and 50 galleries worldwide.,[17] He often features images of celebrities, politicians, athletes and sporting events and other pop culture subjects in his artwork.[1] One of Continental Airlines' Boeing 777-200ER aircraft (registered N77014) sported a livery designed by Max.[19] His artwork was featured on CBS's The Early Show where his "44 Obamas," commemorating Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was debuted.[20] Harper Collins in 2013 published a book of the artist's memoirs and thoughts called The Universe of Peter Max. In it, he relates stories of his life as well as descriptions and thoughts surrounding of some of his artwork.[21] Personal life Max is an environmentalist, vegan and supporter of human and animal rights.[22][23] Max had a nine-year-long relationship with musician and model Rosie Vela that ended in 1985.[24] In November 1997, Max pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal district court to charges of concealing more than $1.1 million in income from the Internal Revenue Service in connection with the sales of his works between 1988 and 1991. The plea came two days before he was to go on trial on an 11-count conspiracy and tax fraud indictment. Under the deal, he pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and a charge of tax evasion, telling a federal judge that he had taken payments in cash, deposited customers' checks into his personal account and arranged other transactions to avoid tax liability.[25] In June 1998, he was sentenced to two months in prison and a $30,000 fine. The federal judge ordered Max to pay the taxes he owed and to perform 800 hours of community service.[26] In 2002, Max contributed to rescue efforts for Cincinnati Freedom, a cow that escaped from an Ohio slaughterhouse. The cow jumped over a six-foot fence while the slaughterhouse workers were on break and eluded capture for eleven days. Max donated $180,000 worth of his art to benefit the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, part of a chain of events which finally led to the cow being sent to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York, a permanent home where the cow remained for the rest of its life.[27] Max lives in New York City and has two adult children, Adam Cosmo Max and Libra Astro Max. Birthday: October 19, 1937 Nationality: American Famous: Artists  American Men Age: 81 Years, 81 Year Old Males Sun Sign: Libra Also Known As: Peter Max Finkelstein Born In: Berlin Famous As: American Artist Family: Spouse/Ex-: Mary Max Father: Jacob Max Mother: Sala More Facts A pop culture icon who revolutionized the concept of modern art in the U.S., Peter Max is a graphic artist known for his psychedelic style of painting and use of bright, vibrant colours. Regarded as one of the most popular among all living American artists, he played a significant role in shaping the way contemporary America views art. As a child, he traveled all around the world with his family and was exposed to various exotic locations in Tibet, Africa, and Europe before finally settling in the U.S. He began his artistic career in the 1960s by opening a small arts studio with his friend. He developed a unique style of art combining antique photographic images, bold colours, and collages. His studio became very popular among business houses and his art was soon appearing on posters and walls of the colleges in the U.S. He incorporated into his paintings elements of astronomy—a science he had a deep love for—and ushered in the ‘Cosmic 60s’ period which was characterized by psychedelic, counter culture imagery. He became very famous for his unique symbolism and expressionism and his art works appeared on several television commercials which made him a national icon. He is a vegetarian and a strong supporter of human and animal rights, and has dedicated several of his paintings to these causes. Peter Max Recommended Lists: American Artists American Artists & Painters Childhood & Early Life He was born in Berlin, Germany to Salla, a fashion designer and her husband. The family moved to Shanghai, China in 1938 to escape Nazism in their home country. They remained in China for ten years during which the young Peter was exposed to the rich art and traditions of the Chinese which greatly influenced him during his career as an artist. Over the next few years the family traveled and stayed at various exotic locations all over the world including Israel, Tibet, Africa, and Europe before finally settling in the U.S. While at Paris where the family stayed for several months he took classes at the Louvre Museum. When he was in Israel, he studied with the Austrian expressionist, Professor Honik who introduced him to the paintings of artists like Henri Matisse, Max Beckmann and Maurice Vlaminck. He also had an early interest in astronomy and attended evening astronomy classes at the Technion Institute. His family settled at Brooklyn in 1953 and Peter attended Lafayette High School in New York City. He began his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in 1956 under Frank Reilly, a realistic painter. He studied anatomy, figure drawing and composition. Max worked relentlessly with oil paint, watercolors, pastels, and charcoal. He spent his spare time at museums studying the techniques of great artists. He observed and learnt various nuances of art from the paintings of Rembrandt, Valesquez, and Sargent. Recommended Lists:Male Artists & PaintersLibra Artists & PaintersLibra Men Career He started a small arts studio called ‘The Daly & Max Studio’ with his friend Tom Daly in 1962. His works caught the eye of an Art Director for a record company who asked him to do a painting for a record album cover for the blues piano player, Meade Lux Lewis. The cover won several awards and accolades and helped him progress his career. From 1964 to 1967 he worked extensively on collages—a concept that was being popularized by the counterculture of the 1960s. He developed a unique technique of collage making using antique photographs in kaleidoscopic patterns. During this time, the print media industry was also expanding and this meant the wonderful opportunity to convert his original art work into posters and make his work known all over the country. His posters marked by vivid colours and bold strokes were soon a rage among the youth and could be found in college campuses all over the U.S. An exhibition ‘The World of Peter Max’ was held in 1970 in which many of his posters and paintings were featured. The exhibition opened at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. He was invited by President Reagan to paint six Liberty portraits at the White House in 1981. He has also painted for five U.S. Presidents: Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. He served as the official artist for several international games and events including New Orleans Jazz Festival, Woodstock in 1994 and Super Bowl and Grammy Awards in 1995. Major Works Peter Max is one of the most popular living artists who has held more than 40 international museum exhibitions and more than 50 gallery shows worldwide. He is credited to have revolutionized the art of the 1960s with his ‘Cosmic 60s’ style and deeply influenced the American counterculture. Awards & Achievements He was honoured by The Black Alumni of Pratt (BAP) with the prestigious Pinnacle Alumni in Art and Design Award in 2010 for his contributions to the art world and for his considerable humanitarian work. Personal Life & Legacy He is married to Mary Max. He is a vegetarian and a strong supporter of human and animal rights. He often dedicates his art work to these causes and has donated art work worth $180,000 to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Trivia The art of this great modern artist is featured on one of Continental Airlines' Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. eter Max was born in Berlin in 1937 but his family moved to China when he was still very young. In fact the young Max would move frequently with his family, learning about a variety of cultures throughout the world while traveling from Tibet to Africa to Israel to Europe until his family moved to the U.S. In American Max was trained at the Art Students League, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts, all in New York. After closing his design studio in 1964, Peter began creating his characteristic paintings and graphic prints. From visionary pop artist of the 1960's, to master of dynamic neo Expressionism, Peter Max and his vibrant colors have become part of the fabric of contemporary American culture. In the 1960's Max rose to youthful prominence with his now-famous "Cosmic '60s" style, a bold linear type of painting which employed  Fauvist use of color and depicted transcendental themes. Peter Max revolutionized art of the 60’s just as the Beatles transformed the music of the decade. As his expressionistic style evolved, becoming more sensuous and painterly, Max’s unique symbolism and vibrant color palette have continued to inspire new generations of Americans throughout the decades. Peter Max is a passionate environmentalist and defender of human and animal rights, often dedicating paintings and posters for these noteworthy causes. He has celebrated our nation's principles of freedom and democracy with his famous paintings of American icons of freedom including Lady Liberty and the American Flag. Peter Max has received many important commissions including the creation of the first "Preserve the Environment" Postage Stamp commemorating the World's Fair in Spokane, Washington; 235 Border Murals at entry points to Canada and Mexico commissioned by the U.S. General Services; and a painting of each of the 50 states, resulting in a book, "Peter Max Paints America" in celebration of the Bicentennial. In 1981 he was invited by President and Mrs. Reagan to paint six Liberty portraits at the White House. Max has painted for five U.S. Presidents - Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Max has exhibited in over 40 international museums and over 50 galleries, worldwide. His work can be found in many prominent museum and private collections around the world.  In 1981 he painted six liberty portraits for the America President and Mrs. Reagan, and in 1993, his famous ‘100 Clintons’ installation. Max has painted for five American presidents; Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. Max has had approximately forty museum shows internationally, and more than fifty gallery shows worldwide. His works appear in the prominent collections of many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. One of the most famous of all living artist's, Peter Max is also a pop culture icon. His bold colors, uplifting images and an uncommon artistic diversity have touched almost every phase of American culture and has inspired many generations. Peter Max has painted for six U.S. Presidents and his art is on display in Presidential Libraries and in U.S. Embassies. Max has painted our Lady Liberty annually since America's Bicentennial and in 2000 a collage of his Liberties adorned over 145 million Verizon phone books. Max has been named an official artist of the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He has also been Official Artist of 5 Super Bowls, World Cup USA, The World Series, The U.S. Open, The Indy 500, The NYC Marathon and The Kentucky Derby. In 2002 Abrams Books published what would become one of the best-selling art books ever,  "The Art Of Peter Max". His art has flown the skies on a Continental Airlines Boeing 777 Jet. His art installations include an amazing 600-ft stage for the Woodstock Music Festival, a giant mural for the Winter Olympics and 10-ft guitars for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A Magical Childhood Adventure The childhood of Peter Max is the material from which a sweeping James Michener novel or a Steven Spielberg movie is made: exotic locations, a cast of fascinating international characters, and the creative freedom to experiment and discover oneself. His life’s adventure began in Germany where he was born in 1937. He and his family fled the Nazis in 1938 and moved to Shanghai, China, where they lived for the next ten years. His adventures from then on can be mapped across China, Tibet, Israel and France, before he reached his ultimate destination - America. With a pan-cultural background such as this for a budding artist, it was inevitable that his work would become so rich and diverse. Max’s rise to prominence as an American icon actually began in his childhood home in Shanghai— a pagoda house, where on one side there was a Buddhist monastery, and on the other, a Sikh temple. In the morning he would watch the Buddhist monks painting Chinese characters on vast sheets of rice paper with large bamboo brushes and at night, he would listen to the beautifully sung prayers of the Sikhs. Shanghai was a colorful, magical place; there were always parades going by with dragons floating in the sky, chimes ringing and gongs echoing. Max was incredibly artistic from the moment he was born, enamored by color and constantly searching for ways to draw on everything. For Peter, color was paired with sound – an intense synesthesia. The ripple of crayons on a steamer trunk was the first memorable experience for the artist where he truly realized his love for sound and color. Today, there are few works by Max created in silence. Early in his life, Max fell in love with three things: comic books, movies, and jazz – all uniquely American. Young Peter’s imagination raced as he was carried away to fantasies of other worlds and into the future through Comic books. Max’s early love for comic books hugely affected his style. The foreshortening of lines, bold colors, and the heavy black outline of the characters stayed with him. Peter also listened to American jazz on Shanghai radio and watched first run Hollywood movies over and over again at his friend’s father’s movie theater. There, in the ancient land of China, Peter Max became more immersed in contemporary American iconography than most children living in the U.S.A. at the time. Early Art Influences Peter’s mother, Salla, was a fashion designer in Berlin before the family moved to Shanghai. She cultivated her son’s innate talent by leaving various art supplies on all four balconies of their pagoda house— water colors, ink, brushes, pencils, crayons, colored papers, scissors, etc. She told him, “Choose any balcony and medium, make a big mess and we’ll clean up after you.” He and his family traveled through Tibet, southern Africa, India, Italy, and Israel, exposing the young Peter to more cultures and languages than many see in a lifetime. While in Tibet, Max was struck by the monks in meditation. They were carrying their walking sticks and chanting by the waterfall at sunset—an image that Max wouldn’t forget and one that often appears in his art.. Before he left China, the pillars of Max’s style had been constructed. His love for color, spirituality, graphic lines, and music formed the foundation on which he would create his future artwork. Peter’s artistic encouragement continued when the family traveled to Haifa, Israel in 1948. Peter learned fluent Hebrew and began delving more seriously into his art. There, he studied with Austrian expressionist, Professor Hunik, who introduced his student to the colorful world of Fauvism and the paintings and drawings of Henri Matisse, Maurice Vlaminck, Max Beckmann and Alexi Jawlensky. Professor Hünik enlightened Peter, changing the way he thought about color. He became the professor’s protégé for the next two years and began defining himself as a colorist. When he needed more assistance with his drafting, he turned to comic books, following their foreshortened lines and vivid style.  A Cosmic Awakening  While Peter studied painting, his creativity became stimulated by another source. One day, he visited the Mt. Carmel Observatory and his earlier childhood fascination with astronomy got reawakened. He was so eager to learn about space that his parents enrolled him, at once, in an evening astronomy class at the Technion Institute. Learning about the vastness and wonders of the universe was a revelation to Peter. He became so absorbed by the subject, that he began to study art and astonomy simultaneously. His immense passion for space continues to this day, and celestial elements often appear in his works, especially his art of the late 1960s— a period appropriately coined, “The Cosmic ‘60s.” The next destination of wonder was Paris, where the Max family spent nine months in 1953 before settling in America. Peter became captivated with the grand scale and painstaking perfection of Classical art and Realism, particularly the paintings of French artist, Bouguereau. Once again, his quest for creative self-expression was so strong that his parents enrolled him into art classes at the Louvre. But ultimately, it was New York City, with its growing pop art culture of fashions, automobiles, movie theaters, and towering over them all, the Empire State Building, that had taken a young man who had grown up in ancient lands and suddenly catapulted him into the future. The Realism Period (1958-1962) The Max family settled in Brooklyn. Max began his formal art studies at the Art Students League in Manhattan under the tutelage of Frank Reilly, a realistic painter. Reilly was trained by George Bridgeman, who was considered to be one of the great anatomists of the twentieth century. Reilly’s classmate, who studied alongside him, turned out to be one of America’s favorite artists— Norman Rockwell. “Reilly was a great technician,” says Max. “He was a scientist of light and shadow. He would have his students paint the same face forty times in as many types of light or angles as could be imagined.” Max’s desire to master realism was intense. From the early morning sketch classes at 8 A.M. until the last class in the evening at 8 P.M., he worked constantly, studying anatomy, figure drawing, perspective, light and shadow, fabrics and textures, and composition. He worked with oil paint, watercolors, pastels, and charcoal. After classes and on weekends, Max spent all his spare time at museums studying the techniques of the masters. From Rembrandt, he learned light and composition; from Valesquez, the meticulous representation of form; from Bouguereau, photographic exactitude; and from Sargent, confident and stylistic brushstrokes. Of this rigorous discipline, Max says, “It gave me the gift of observation— the purity of seeing a thing clearly as it was.” Max discovered, however, that by painting so photo-realistically, he was closing off his imagination, limiting his options. Pushing toward abstraction, color fielding, and many of the styles in vogue, Max eventually found a place as a “neo-fauvist” and a “neo-expressionist,” allowing his creative spirit to blossom. The Graphic Arts Period (1962-1964) After leaving the Art Student’s League, Max began looking for a gallery to exhibit his work. By chance, an Art Director for a record company, saw Max’s paintings at a photo copy service, where he had left them to make prints. He immediately contacted Max and commissioned him to do a painting for a record album cover for Meade Lux Lewis, the blues piano player. The album cover won the annual Society of Illustrators award and many other commissions and awards followed. Max started a graphic design studio with friends, finding almost overnight success in the design industry. Throughout the sixties, Max developed his signature “psychedelic” style (his ongoing fusion of eastern yogi philosophy, astronomy, comic books, studies in color, and music) expressed through posters, advertising, and his graphic works. The look he achieved was sought-after by companies across the country and agencies, magazines, and national publications placed Max at the center of the youth movement.  The Collage Period (1964-1967) Excited by the mid-’60s counterculture explosion, Max turned to the medium of collage to capture the zeitgeist of the era and create a mind-expanding psychedelic vision. The art of collage has a distinguished history in Modern art, extending back to the cubist work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. But Max’s collages had more in common with the Dadaists— Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp— as well as the surrealists— René Magritte and Salvador Dali. Although collage was already established as a great technique of Modernism, the use of photographic images in kaleidoscopic patterns was pioneered by Max.  The Peter Max Poster Revolution Just as Max felt the oncoming impact of the ‘60s underground Cultural Revolution, he also saw the print industry expanding with four-color web presses. To Peter, this print media explosion meant one thing— he could turn his original art works into posters and share them with the youth of America. A new world of possibilities opened for Max. He created color combinations right on the printing press, utilizing a “split fountain” technique that enabled him to blend colors as they were going through the ink rollers. He lyrically described the process as playing a printing press like an electric piano. “In the sphere of printmaking, the many technical and artistic breakthroughs of this magnitude are the doorways to originality,” says Charles Reilly. Soon, Max’s posters were hanging in college dorms all across America with several million sold in nine months. His posters were to the ‘60s what MTV was to the early ‘80s – radical, revolutionary and in demand. “Peter Max’s posters show him to be a visionary fascinated by time, space and evolution,” wrote reporter Don McNeil - Village Voice, Aug. 31, 1967. The story behind his poster for the Central Park “Be In” on Easter of 1967 was even adapted for the Academy Award-winning director Milos Forman’s film, “Hair.” Max was at the center of a cultural revolution, magnified by his unique graphic style. He was featured on The Tonight Show and on the cover of LIFE Magazine. His posters were on the walls of every college dorm-room, and he had become an iconic artist and designer. Peter Max’s Cosmic 60’s To the youth of America, the “sixties” was more than just another decade; it was the great American renaissance. The Beatles sang about it; the musical, Hair, brought it to the Broadway stage. One artist, above all - Peter Max - visually captured its creative spirit and its promise of the dawning of “The Age of Aquarius.” Max’s signature style of cosmic characters, meticulously painted against bold, vibrant colors, were among the most influential graphic sources of the 1960s. Capturing the zeitgeist of the era, Max’s art was often cited by journalists and art critics as the visual counterpart to the music of The Beatles. Like the Beatles, Max also made his TV debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. He also appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and made the cover of Life Magazine with an eight-page feature cover story. Max’s art was so much in synch with the times that it was licensed by 72 corporations, from General Electric clocks to Burlington Mills socks. Within a three-year period, the line of products had generated more than $1 billion in retail sales. In 1968, while working on a film in Paris, Max met Swami Satchidananda. That moment was life-changing for the artist. Introducing him to yoga and a deeper understanding of Eastern spirituality, Max invited the swami to stay with him in the United States, helping him establish the Integral Yoga Institute, spreading the teachings of yoga throughout America’s youth. With more than 70 branches in each state today, plus 21 other nations, Max helped introduce yoga to a greater portion of the world, enlightening young and creative minds. Max today For most of the 1970s, Max shut down his graphic workshop. Intensely focused on his getting back to the paint, he took himself off the radar for almost 18 years, only spending time painting. Throughout the ‘70s, even while retreating somewhat from the spotlight, Max stayed busy, the subject of an exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco called “The World of Peter Max.” He was also commissioned by the U.S. Post Office to make the first ever environmental 10 cent stamp, commemorating the 1974 World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington. In 1976, he worked with Lee Iacocca of Chrysler to save the Statue of Liberty, creating a series that generated enough funding to restore the desperately worn landmark. His style changed during this 18-year retreat, adapting his technique to the paint rather than a graphic medium. His palette became softer and more diverse and his strokes became broader and more textured. Thematically, he began to develop new imagery, like The Dega Man, Zero Megalopolis, and The Umbrella Man. American icons, especially the Statue of Liberty, appeared over and over in his works and, by the time he returned to the public scene in the ‘80s, Max’s style has transformed into something dramatic and almost politically charged. He re-opened his studio, creating a 40,000 square foot space for administration, painting, production, and gallery tours, just across the street from Lincoln Center in Manhattan. From that point on, Peter Max has stayed in the public eye, using his art to express his creativity while raising awareness on environmental and humanitarian issues. In his global causes, Max is a passionate environmentalist and defender of human and animal rights. He has done paintings and projects for Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. In 1994, Max created a “Peace Accord” painting for the White House to commemorate the historic signing. Max has completed his fourth Grammy Award poster, redesigned NBC’s symbolic peacock, was appointed as the official artist for five Super Bowls, the World Cup USA, Woodstock, the U.S. Tennis Open, and the NHL all-star game. Recently, he created six poster images in response to the September 11th attacks. Proceeds from the sale of these works were donated to the September 11th, Twin Towers, and Survivors Relief Funds. In October 2002, Max created 356 portrait paintings of the firefighters who perished in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Each painting was presented to the surviving families of the firefighters at a ceremony at Madison Square Garden. Also in 2002, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. published a new hardcover book, “The Art of Peter Max,” written by Charles Riley III, Ph. D. Today, Max has evolved from a visionary pop artist of the 1960s to a master of neo-expressionism. His vibrant and colorful works have become a lasting part of contemporary American culture. Peter Max One-Man Museum Exhibitions: -        Moscow Academy of Fine Art -        Berlin Kunsthalle Museum -        Modern Art museum, Munich -        Parco Museum, Japan -        Tennessee State Museum -        Corcoran Gallery, DC -        Smithsonian Institute, DC -        El Paso Museum of Arts, TX -        Museum of Fine Arts, Houston -        Phoenix Museum of Art, AZ -        Fort Wayne Museum of Art -        Jacksonville Art Museum, FL -        Denver Art Museum, CO -        Colorado Springs Art Centre -        Wichita Art Museum, KS -        Newport Harbor Art Museum -        St Petersburg Museum, FL One of the most famous living artists, Peter Max is a pop culture icon. His bold colors, uplifting images and an uncommon artistic diversity have touched almost every phase of American culture and has inspired many generations.    1937 Peter is born in Berlin, Germany.     1938 Peter and his parents, Salla and Jacob, travel to Shanghai, China-a rich, living tapestry of ancient Asian culture, Europeans, and imported American media of comic books, jazz radio, and Hollywood movies.   1948 Peter and his family travel to the new independent state of Israel, where Peter studies painting and colorization with a Viennese Fauve Expressionist.   1951 Peter’s fascination with the cosmos is stimulated when he discovers the wonders of astronomy. He now has two passions: art and astronomy. Throughout his youth he embraces both as sources of inspiration. He retains them both- bringing cosmic elements into his art.   1953 En route to America, the family stops in Paris for 6 months, and Peter’s mother sends him to take sketch classes at the Louvre.   Peter Max arrives in New York City and marvels at the colossal-sized automobiles, the billboards of Broadway, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge.   1956 Max attends the distinguished Art Students League and studies realism painting under the tutelage of Frank Reilly, who studied at the League himself, beside Norman Rockwell. After the League, Max becomes interested in the avant-garde and attends the progressive School of Visual Arts.   1962 With art school friend, Tom Daly, Max starts a small Manhattan arts studio, which wins numerous awards for book cover illustrations and graphic design.   Max combines his realism and abstraction skills in a painting of blues pianist Meade Lux Lewis, for a Riverside Records album cover. It wins a gold Medal at the Society of Illustrators annual exhibition.   Max creates posters and a catalogue for “Bettmann Panopticon”-an exhibition of New York’s most creative visual artists, utilizing the photo collection of the Bettmann Archives.     General Electric commissions Max to create a line of art clocks, and over the next few years, Max’s art embellishes seventy-two product lines.    1966 Max travels to Paris to consult on a film and meets Swami Satchidananda, a Yoga master, whose dynamic spiritual presence affects him profoundly. Max invites him to visit New York, and helps him to found the Integral Yoga Institute. “The Swami and yoga taught me a whole new way to draw,” says Max. “It empowered me to feel the cosmic consciousness within, and to allow that to flow out of me into my art.”   1967 Max’s Be In poster inspires several hundred thousand “hippies” to gather in New York City’s Central Park, and immortalize the Summer of Love.   Max becomes a pop culture icon and appears on major TV shows, including The NBC Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where the set design features his poster art.   MAX’S ART CAPTURED THE SPIRIT OF THE SIXTIES AND WAS CITED BY ART CRITICS AS “THE VISUAL ARTS COUNTERPART TO THE MUSIC OF THE BEATLES.”   Max’s passion for inner and outer space fuse and give rise to his famous “Cosmic ‘60s” poster collection, which were seen everywhere from college dorms to corporate board rooms and recording studios.   Following the Beatles, Max appears on the ultimate TV showcase- The Ed Sullivan Show.   1969 Max appears on the cover of Life. “In Shanghai, I saw Life covers with five-star generals, and baseball and movie stars. I could never imagine that one day it would be me,” marvels Max.   1970 Max’s first one-man museum exhibition, “The World of Peter Max,” opens at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. It draws tens of thousands of visitors and as a result of its success, forty-six additional museum exhibitions are scheduled around the United States mounted by the Smithsonian Institute Exhibition Services.    Max’s magazine covers were ubiquitous, and in 1970 his art even adorned the cover of the New York City Yellow Pages (again in 1973 and 2001). Millions of telephone books were distributed in the New York metropolitan area, and Max could hardly walk down a street in Manhattan where someone wouldn’t recognize him and say, “Hey Max, I got your yellow pages.”   1971 Max withdraws from the public eye and takes a creative retreat to explore new directions in painting. During his sixties period, he worked mainly in line, adding colors on the printing press or silk-screen.   In his Realism period he worked in oils with small brushes. Now, he paints with acrylics and large brushes, even house-painting brushes, expressing himself with spontaneous, expressionistic brushstrokes.   Many of Max’s famous icons emerged during the 1970s: Umbrella Man, Sage with Cane, Dega Man and Zero Megalopolis.   “There is such a thing as a creative reservoir within; the more you work, the more you have access to it.” - Peter Max   1974 The First Environmental U.S. Postage Stamp. As Max’s poster art is associated with the spirit of ecology, the U.S. Postal Service commissions the artist to create the first ten-cent postage stamp commemorating Expo ’74 World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington. Max uses the line, “Preserve the Environment.”   1976 U.S. General Services asks Max to create 235 “Welcome to America” border murals, displayed at entry points between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico. The murals are seen by more than 260 million people a year and President Jimmy Carter holds simultaneous celebrations in each of the U.S. border towns at the unveiling. Soon after, Max and his family are welcomed to a White House celebration with the President and First Lady, Rosalynn Carter.   “Outside of my patriotic works in the ‘70s, I was in seclusion, just painting all of the time.” -Peter Max   Peter Max Paints America is published. With the artist in attendance, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden presents Max’s book of paintings and collages to commemorate the United States’ Bicentennial Celebration at the White House to President Jerry Ford on behalf of his country to the United States.   When Max returns to NYC that evening from the White house celebration, he is inspired to paint the Statue of Liberty and sets into play an annual July 4th Statue of Liberty painting tradition. “I wanted to honor this amazing democracy that the Statue of Liberty symbolizes,” Max says. He has continued his Liberty painting tradition to this day.   1981 President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan invite Max to the White House for Reagan’s first Fourth of July celebration as president. Max paints six eight-foot tall Statue of Liberty paintings at the White House Rose Garden for the President, First Lady Nancy Reagan, and assembled guests and dignitaries. On completion of the sixth Liberty painting, Max invites President Reagan to the painting stage and offers him a brush, asking him to honor him with the final brushstroke- much to the President’s delight.   Max spearheads a campaign to restore the Statue of Liberty and enrolls Lee Iacocca, Chairman of Chrysler Corporation, to become Chairman of the Liberty Renovation project. “Peter Max was the spark that lit the torch that ignited the Statue of Liberty renovation.” Mr. Iacocca said, on the project’s completion.     1985 Backstage at the Live-Aid Concert in Philadelphia, Max is so moved by the musicians’ charitable generosity that he draws a picture of an angel embracing the planet to capture the moment. He calls it “I Love the World.”   1986 The renovated Statue of Liberty is unveiled at a gala July 4th celebration on Governors Island with Peter Max as guest of honor. Inspired by the colors of the fireworks reflected on the statue’s face, Max paints eleven Liberty heads, continuing the tradition he began in 1976. One of the paintings, graces the July 4th U.S. News & World Report cover.   1987 No other artist has captured the essence of the Summer of Love like Peter Max. Consequently, on the twentieth anniversary of that monumental event, People magazine called on him to create a fold out cover for their commemorative June 22 issue. Interwoven in Max’s cosmic collage are ‘60s icons: the Beatles, Jerry Garcia, Allen Ginsberg, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Timothy Leary.   1988 Max emerges from his secluded painting retreat and opens an expansive 40,000- square-foot studio/atelier adjacent to Lincoln Center in Manhattan.   1989 To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, Max creates the world’s largest rock and roll stage for the Moscow Music and Peace Festival- a landmark rock-music event promoting world peace and international cooperation between the U.S. and Russia. “It was a thrill to join Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osborne, and other heavy metal bands and rock with hundreds of thousands of young Russians,” says Max.   The Recording Academy invites Max to be the official artist of the GRAMMYS® and he creates his first of five GRAMMY® posters.   1990 Max is selected to receive a seven-thousand-pound section of the fallen Berlin Wall on board the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, on the Hudson River, NYC. Using hammer and chisel, he carves out the shape of a peace dove from the concrete wall, paints it and places it on top, symbolically giving it freedom.   1991 Peter Max at The Hermitage A delegation of Russian officials, on behalf of Mikhail Gorbachev, invites Max to have a retrospective exhibition to tour Moscow and St. Petersburg. It opens at the Central Exhibition Hall of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). It is the largest museum art exhibition opening in Russian history, drawing a crowd of 14,500 people on its opening day. A subsequent exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Fine Art draws an opening crowd of more than 10,000 people.   So touched by perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev’s economic and government reform policy in the Soviet Union, Max creates a forty-portrait installation of the Soviet Premier, entitled “40 Gorbys.”   1992 President George H.W. Bush asks Max to create art for his 1000 Points of Light Program, a volunteer initiative. Soon after, Max is contacted by the U.S. pavilion committee for the World’s Fair in Seville, Spain, requesting a mural for the pavilion. Max creates a giant 250-foot-long by fifty-foot high vinyl billboard of his art. “I made it my canvas,” Max says.   The Clinton inauguration committee asks Max to create a commemorative poster for Bill Clinton’s 1993 Presidential Inauguration. Max is so inspired that he creates three posters and a one-hundred portrait installation,“100 Clintons,” which is unveiled on the Larry King CNN Presidential Special.   The Freunde der Stattlichen Kunsthallen of Berlin, Germany, organizes a major museum retrospective of Max’s work presented in their new pavilion, adorned with an 850-foot mural, that houses 300 of Max’s works spanning three decades.     1994 Max is named Official Artist for soccer’s World Cup USA and his colorful poster is seen on TV by more than 2 billion people.   1995 Max creates Earth Day’s twenty- fifth Anniversary poster, one of many that he creates over the years.   The NFL designates Max as first Official Artist in Super Bowl history, a position he holds for five years. Max is also Official Artist of the NYC Marathon, Kentucky Derby, NHL’s All Star Weekend, U.S. Open, and the World Series. Max also paints Dale Earnhardt’s NASCAR Millennium car.   1999 Woodstock producer Michael Lang, asks Max to create the world’s largest stage set for the 1999 Woodstock Music and Peace Festival. Previously, Lang commissioned Max to create posters and open the 1994 concert, in front of 400,000 people.   2000 Continental Airlines unveils Max’s painted fuselage of its new Boeing 777 super jet. Max’s plane is also designated as NYC’s Millennium Plane by NYC mayor, Rudy Giuliani.   2001 In response to September 11, Max creates six posters commemorating the spirit of America, with proceeds benefiting 9/11 charities.   2003 The Art of Peter Max coffee table art book is published by Abrams. A decade later, in 2013, The Universe of Peter Max, a colorful, illustrated memoir of the artist’s life, is published by Harper Design.   2005 Max paints Ringo Starr’s Baldwin piano to benefit the former Beatle’s charitable efforts for MusicCares, benefitting musicians in need of medical care.   2009 Max presents his “44 Obamas” installation to commemorate President Obama’s Inauguration as the 44th U.S. President on CBS’s The Early Show.   2010 In 2010 and 2013, Max paints portraits of Taylor Swift’s cover art from her first four hit albums. In 2013, he also paints portraits of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe, using the archives of the great fashion photographer Milton Greene.    2013 Norwegian Cruise Lines commissions Max to paint the hull of its Breakaway ship, the largest cruise ship to make New York City its home port. It’s the first time Norwegian has a well-known artist paint hull artwork for one of its ships.   2015 For the Frank Sinatra Centennial, Max paints Sinatra portraits and unveils them at his NYC studio with Sinatra’s daughter Nancy, grand daughter Amanda, and other celebrity guests. A selection are shown at the GRAMMY Museum® exhibition, “Sinatra: An American Icon,” at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.   The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum asks Peter to create posters and program cover art for it’s 30th annual induction ceremony.   NBC commissions Max to create portraits of the four coaches of The Voice, America’s highly-viewed, reality singing competition. His portraits of Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, and Pharrell Williams are featured in print and transit ads, billboards, and on The Voice’s iTunes, Facebook and Twitter pages. The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose purpose is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.[2] It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization.[3] The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City, and has other main offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague (home to the International Court of Justice). The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future wars, succeeding the rather ineffective League of Nations.[4] On 25 April 1945, 50 governments met in San Francisco for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which was adopted on 25 June 1945 and took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. Pursuant to the Charter, the organization's objectives include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development, and upholding international law.[5] At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; with the addition of South Sudan in 2011, membership is now 193, representing almost all of the world's sovereign states.[6] The organization's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its missions have consisted primarily of unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles.[7] UN membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization beginning in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the Trusteeship Council.[8] By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking a wide variety of complex tasks.[9] The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly; the Security Council; the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); the Trusteeship Council; the International Court of Justice; and the UN Secretariat. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies, funds and programmes such as the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and UNICEF. Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UN's work. The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general, currently Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres, who began his first five year-term on 1 January 2017 and was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won many Nobel Peace Prizes, though other evaluations of its effectiveness have been mixed. Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called it ineffective, biased, or corrupt. Contents 1 History 1.1 Background 1.2 Declarations by the Allies of World War II 1.3 Founding 1.4 Cold War Era 1.5 Post–Cold War 2 Structure 2.1 General Assembly 2.2 Security Council 2.3 UN Secretariat 2.4 International Court of Justice 2.5 Economic and Social Council 2.6 Specialized agencies 2.7 Other bodies 3 Membership 3.1 Group of 77 4 Objectives 4.1 Peacekeeping and security 4.2 Human rights 4.3 Economic development and humanitarian assistance 4.4 Other global issues 5 Funding 6 Evaluations, awards, and criticism 6.1 Evaluations 6.2 Awards 6.3 Criticism 6.3.1 Role 6.3.2 Representation and structure 6.3.3 Exclusion of countries 6.3.4 Independence 6.3.5 Bias 6.3.6 Effectiveness 6.3.7 Inefficiency and corruption 7 Model United Nations 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 10.1 Citations 10.2 Bibliography 11 Further reading 12 External links 12.1 Official websites 12.2 Others History Main article: History of the United Nations Background In the century prior to the UN's creation, several international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross were formed to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife.[10] In 1914, a political assassination in Sarajevo set off a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I. As more and more young men were sent down into the trenches, influential voices in Britain and the United States began calling for the establishment of a permanent international body to maintain peace in the postwar world. President Woodrow Wilson became a vocal advocate of this concept, and in 1918, he included a sketch of the international body in his Fourteen Points to end the war. In November 1918, the Central Powers agreed to an armistice to halt the killing in World War I. Two months later, the Allies met to hammer out formal peace terms at the Paris Peace Conference. The League of Nations was approved, and in the summer of 1919 Wilson presented the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant of the League of Nations to the US Senate which refused to consent to the ratification. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally came into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect.[11] The League Council acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly's business. It began with four permanent members – the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Japan. Although the United States never joined the League, the country did support its economic and social missions through the work of private philanthropies and by sending representatives to committees. After some successes and some failures during the 1920s, the League proved ineffective in the 1930s. It failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria as in February 1933. Forty nations voted for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing from Manchuria.[12] It also failed against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, despite trying to talk to Benito Mussolini, but he used the time to send an army to Africa. The League had a plan for Mussolini to just take a part of Ethiopia, but he ignored the League and invaded Ethiopia. The League tried putting sanctions on Italy, but Italy had already conquered Ethiopia and the League had failed.[13] After Italy conquered Ethiopia, Italy and other nations left the league. But all of them realized that it had failed and they began to re-arm as fast as possible. During 1938, Britain and France tried negotiating directly with Hitler but this failed in 1939 when Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia. When war broke out in 1939, the League closed down, and its headquarters in Geneva remained empty throughout the war.[14] Declarations by the Allies of World War II 1943 sketch by Franklin Roosevelt of the UN original three branches: The Four Policemen, an executive branch, and an international assembly of forty UN member states The first specific step towards the establishment of the United Nations was the Inter-Allied conference that led to the Declaration of St James's Palace on 12 June 1941.[15][16] By August 1941, American president Franklin Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter to define goals for the post-war world. At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the eight governments in exile of countries under Axis occupation, together with the Soviet Union and representatives of the Free French Forces, unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and United States.[17][18] President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met at the White House in December 1941 for the Arcadia Conference. Roosevelt coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries. Churchill accepted it, noting its use by Lord Byron in the poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.[19][20] The text of the Declaration by United Nations was drafted on 29 December 1941, by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins. It incorporated Soviet suggestions but included no role for France. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted.[21][22] Roosevelt's idea of the "Four Powers", referring to the four major Allied countries, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Republic of China, emerged in the Declaration by United Nations.[23] On New Year's Day 1942, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Maxim Litvinov, of the USSR, and T. V. Soong, of China, signed the "Declaration by United Nations",[24] and the next day the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. During the war, "the United Nations" became the official term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis powers.[25] The October 1943 Moscow Conference resulted in the Moscow Declarations, including the Four Power Declaration on General Security which aimed for the creation "at the earliest possible date of a general international organization". This was the first public announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the League of Nations. The Tehran Conference followed shortly afterwards at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met and discussed the idea of a post-war international organization. Founding The UN in 1945: founding members in light blue, protectorates and territories of the founding members in dark blue The new international organization was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Allied Big Four at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference from 21 September to 7 October 1944. They agreed on proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the new international organization.[26][27][28] It took the conference at Yalta, plus further negotiations with Moscow, before all the issues were resolved.[29] By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed the Declaration by United Nations.[30] After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco, 25 April 1945, attended by 50 governments and a number of non-governmental organizations.[31][32][33] The Big Four sponsoring countries invited other nations to take part and the heads of the delegations of the four chaired the plenary meetings.[34] Winston Churchill urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major Power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The drafting of the Charter of the United Nations was completed over the following two months; it was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Jan Smuts was a principal author of the draft.[35][36] The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, upon ratification of the Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council—the US, the UK, France, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.[37] The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented,[a] and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946.[37] Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as the presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan, British forces in Greece and within days the first veto was cast.[40] British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as acting secretary-general. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory.[41] The Norwegian foreign minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN secretary-general.[37] Cold War Era Dag Hammarskjöld was a particularly active secretary-general from 1953 until his death in 1961. Though the UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping, the division between the US and USSR often paralysed the organization, generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts distant from the Cold War.[42] Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July 1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea, passed in the absence of the USSR,[37][43] and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953.[44] On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved a resolution to partition Palestine, approving the creation of the state of Israel.[45] Two years later, Ralph Bunche, a UN official, negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict.[46] On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis;[47] however, the UN was unable to intervene against the USSR's simultaneous invasion of Hungary following that country's revolution.[48] On 14 July 1960, the UN established United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC), the largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to the breakaway State of Katanga, restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964.[49] While traveling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld, often named as one of the UN's most effective secretaries-general,[50] died in a plane crash; months later he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[51] In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U Thant, deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, which would become one of the UN's longest-running peacekeeping missions.[52] With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the organization's membership saw an influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined the UN, 16 of them from Africa.[47] On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support of many Third World nations, the mainland, communist People's Republic of China was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China that occupied Taiwan; the vote was widely seen as a sign of waning US influence in the organization.[53] Third World nations organized into the Group of 77 coalition under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly became a dominant power at the UN.[54] On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the USSR and Third World nations passed a resolution, over the strenuous US and Israeli opposition, declaring Zionism to be racism; the resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War.[55][56] With an increasing Third World presence and the failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the Middle East, Vietnam, and Kashmir, the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its ostensibly secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange.[57] By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget. Post–Cold War Kofi Annan, secretary-general from 1997 to 2006 Flags of member nations at the United Nations Headquarters, seen in 2007 After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions in five years than it had in the previous four decades.[58] Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased more than tenfold.[59][60][61] The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War, launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia, and oversaw democratic elections in post-apartheid South Africa and post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia.[62] In 1991, the UN authorized a US-led coalition that repulsed the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.[63] Brian Urquhart, under-secretary-general from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed.[64] Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War, American and European critics of the UN condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption.[65] In 1984, US President Ronald Reagan, withdrew his nation's funding from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed by the UK and Singapore.[66][67] Boutros Boutros-Ghali, secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, initiated a reform of the Secretariat, reducing the size of the organization somewhat.[68][69] His successor, Kofi Annan (1997–2006), initiated further management reforms in the face of threats from the US to withhold its UN dues.[69] Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced a number of simultaneous, serious crises within nations such as Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the former Yugoslavia.[70] The UN mission in Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the US withdrawal following casualties in the Battle of Mogadishu. The UN mission to Bosnia faced "worldwide ridicule" for its indecisive and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing.[71] In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amid indecision in the Security Council.[72] From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN took a wider variety of forms. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised the NATO-led Kosovo Force beginning in 1999. The UN mission (1999-2006) in the Sierra Leone Civil War was supplemented by a British military intervention. The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen by NATO.[73] In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the organization's effectiveness.[74] Under the eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, the UN intervened with peacekeepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War.[75] In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 concluded that the organization had suffered "systemic failure".[76] In 2010, the organization suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake.[77] Acting under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, NATO countries intervened in the Libyan Civil War. The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century.[78] The three-day meeting was the largest gathering of world leaders in history, and culminated in the adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a commitment to achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction, gender equality, and public health. Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed the UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights, and global security.[79] The Sustainable Development Goals were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals.[80] In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global constituency.[81] In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016 the organization held its first public debate between candidates for secretary-general.[82] On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat António Guterres, who previously served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, became the ninth secretary-general. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration, including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping efforts, and streamlining the organization to be more responsive and versatile to global needs.[83] Structure Main article: United Nations System The United Nations is part of the broader UN system, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to the organisation are five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly (UNGA), the Security Council (UNSC), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN Secretariat.[84] A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council, suspended operations on 1 November 1994, upon the independence of Palau, the last remaining UN trustee territory.[85] Four of the five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the ICJ is seated in The Hague.[86] Most other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva,[87] Vienna,[88] and Nairobi;[89] additional UN institutions are located throughout the world. The six official languages of the UN, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.[90] On the basis of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, the UN and its agencies are immune from the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding the UN's impartiality with regard to host and member countries.[91] Below the six organs sit, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than the UN itself and operate with almost complete independence from it".[92] These include specialized agencies, research and training institutions, programs and funds, and other UN entities.[93] All organisations in the UN system obey the Noblemaire principle, which calls for salaries that will attract and retain citizens of countries where compensation is highest, and which ensures equal pay for work of equal value regardless of the employee's nationality.[94][95] In practice, the International Civil Service Commission, which governs the conditions of UN personnel, takes reference to the highest-paying national civil service.[96] Staff salaries are subject to an internal tax that is administered by the UN organizations.[94][97] Principal organs of the United Nations[98]vte UN General Assembly — Deliberative assembly of all UN member states — UN Secretariat — Administrative organ of the UN — International Court of Justice — Universal court for international law — UN General Assembly hall Headquarters of the UN in New York City International Court of Justice May resolve non-compulsory recommendations to states or suggestions to the Security Council (UNSC); Decides on the admission of new members, following proposal by the UNSC; Adopts the budget; Elects the non-permanent members of the UNSC; all members of ECOSOC; the UN Secretary-General (following their proposal by the UNSC); and the fifteen judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Each country has one vote. Supports the other UN bodies administratively (for example, in the organization of conferences, the writing of reports and studies and the preparation of the budget); Its chairperson—the UN Secretary-General—is elected by the General Assembly for a five-year mandate and is the UN's foremost representative. Decides disputes between states that recognize its jurisdiction; Issues legal opinions; Renders judgment by relative majority. Its fifteen judges are elected by the UN General Assembly for nine-year terms. UN Security Council — For international security issues — UN Economic and Social Council — For global economic and social affairs — UN Trusteeship Council — For administering trust territories (currently inactive) — UN security council UN Economic and Social Council UN Trusteeship Council Responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security; May adopt compulsory resolutions; Has fifteen members: five permanent members with veto power and ten elected members. Responsible for co-operation between states as regards economic and social matters; Co-ordinates co-operation between the UN's numerous specialized agencies; Has 54 members, elected by the General Assembly to serve staggered three-year mandates. Was originally designed to manage colonial possessions that were former League of Nations mandates; Has been inactive since 1994, when Palau, the last trust territory, attained independence. General Assembly Main article: United Nations General Assembly Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet general secretary, addressing the UN General Assembly in December 1988 The General Assembly is the main deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states, the assembly meets in regular yearly sessions, but emergency sessions can also be called.[99] The assembly is led by a president, elected from among the member states on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents.[100] The first session convened 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.[37] When the General Assembly decides on important questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, a two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required.[101][102] All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member country has one vote. Apart from the approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council.[99] Draft resolutions can be forwarded to the General Assembly by its six main committees:[103] First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) Second Committee (Economic and Financial) Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural) Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) Sixth Committee (Legal) As well as by the following two committees: General Committee – a supervisory committee consisting of the assembly's president, vice-president, and committee heads Credentials Committee – responsible for determining the credentials of each member nation's UN representatives Security Council Main article: United Nations Security Council Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, demonstrates a vial with alleged Iraq chemical weapon probes to the UN Security Council on Iraq war hearings, 5 February 2003 The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among countries. While other organs of the UN can only make "recommendations" to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25.[104] The decisions of the council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions.[105] The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states, consisting of five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly: Albania (term ends 2023), Brazil (2023), Gabon (2023), Ghana (2023), India (2022), Ireland (2022), Kenya (2022), Mexico (2022), Norway (2022), and the United Arab Emirates (2023).[106] The five permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing a permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five member states per year voted in by the General Assembly on a regional basis.[107] The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month.[108] UN Secretariat Main articles: United Nations Secretariat and Secretary-General of the United Nations Current secretary-general, António Guterres The UN Secretariat carries out the day-to-day duties required to operate and maintain the UN system.[109] It is composed of tens of thousands of international civil servants worldwide and headed by the secretary-general, who is assisted by the deputy secretary-general.[110] The Secretariat's duties include providing information and facilities needed by UN bodies for their meetings; it also carries out tasks as directed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies.[111] The secretary-general acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the UN. The position is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's "chief administrative officer".[112] Article 99 of the charter states that the secretary-general can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", a phrase that secretaries-general since Trygve Lie have interpreted as giving the position broad scope for action on the world stage.[113] The office has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues.[114] The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power. There are no specific criteria for the post, but over the years it has become accepted that the position shall be held for one or two terms of five years.[115] The current secretary-general is António Guterres of Portugal, who replaced Ban Ki-moon in 2017. Secretaries-general of the United Nations[116] No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office Notes - Gladwyn Jebb United Kingdom 24 October 1945 2 February 1946 Served as acting secretary-general until Lie's election 1 Trygve Lie Norway 2 February 1946 10 November 1952 Resigned 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Sweden 10 April 1953 18 September 1961 Died in office 3 U Thant Burma 30 November 1961 31 December 1971 First non-European to hold office 4 Kurt Waldheim Austria 1 January 1972 31 December 1981 5 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Peru 1 January 1982 31 December 1991 6 Boutros Boutros-Ghali Egypt 1 January 1992 31 December 1996 Served for the shortest time 7 Kofi Annan Ghana 1 January 1997 31 December 2006 8 Ban Ki-moon South Korea 1 January 2007 31 December 2016 9 António Guterres Portugal 1 January 2017 Incumbent International Court of Justice Main article: International Court of Justice The ICJ ruled that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not violate international law. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), sometimes known as the World Court,[117] is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice and occupies that body's former headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, making it the only principal organ not based in New York City. The ICJ's main function is adjudicating disputes among states; it has heard cases concerning war crimes, violations of state sovereignty, ethnic cleansing, and other issues.[118] The court can also be called upon by other UN organs to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law.[119] All UN member states are parties to the ICJ Statute, which forms an integral part of the UN Charter, and nonmembers may also become parties. The ICJ's rulings are binding upon parties and, along with its advisory opinions, serve as sources of international law.[117] The court is composed of 15 judges appointed to nine-year terms by the General Assembly; every sitting judge must be from a different nation.[119][120] Economic and Social Council Main article: United Nations Economic and Social Council The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic, social, and humanitarian co-operation and development.[121] It was established to serve as the UN's primary forum for global issues and is the largest and most complex UN body.[121] ECOSOC's functions include gathering data, conducting studies, advising member nations, and making recommendations.[122][123] Its work is carried out primarily by subsidiary bodies focused on a wide variety of topics; these include the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which advises UN agencies on issues relating to indigenous peoples; the United Nations Forum on Forests, which coordinates and promotes sustainable forest management; the United Nations Statistical Commission, which co-ordinates information-gathering efforts between agencies; and the Commission on Sustainable Development, which co-ordinates efforts between UN agencies and NGOs working towards sustainable development. ECOSOC may also grant consultative status to nongovernmental organizations;[122] as of April 2021, close to 5,600 organizations have this status.[124][125] Specialized agencies Main article: List of specialized agencies of the United Nations The UN Charter stipulates that each primary organ of the United Nations can establish various specialized agencies to fulfil its duties.[126] Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations and each other through the co-ordinating machinery of the Economic and Social Council. Each was integrated into the UN system through an agreement with the UN under UN Charter article 57.[127] There are fifteen specialized agencies, which perform functions as diverse as facilitating international travel, preventing and addressing pandemics, and promoting economic development.[128][b] Specialized agencies of the United Nations No. Acronym Agency Headquarters Head Established in 1 FAO Food and Agriculture Organization Italy Rome, Italy China Qu Dongyu 1945 2 ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization Canada Montreal, Quebec, Canada Colombia Juan Carlos Salazar 1947 3 IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development Italy Rome, Italy Togo Gilbert Houngbo 1977 4 ILO International Labour Organization Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland United Kingdom Guy Ryder 1946 (1919) 5 IMO International Maritime Organization United Kingdom London, United Kingdom South Korea Kitack Lim 1948 6 IMF International Monetary Fund United States Washington, D.C., United States Bulgaria Kristalina Georgieva 1945 (1944) 7 ITU International Telecommunication Union Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland China Houlin Zhao 1947 (1865) 8 UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization France Paris, France France Audrey Azoulay 1946 9 UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization Austria Vienna, Austria Germany Gerd Müller 1967 10 UNWTO World Tourism Organization Spain Madrid, Spain Georgia (country) Zurab Pololikashvili 1974 11 UPU Universal Postal Union Switzerland Bern, Switzerland Japan Masahiko Metoki [ja] 1947 (1874) 12 WBG World Bank Group United States Washington, D.C., United States United States David Malpass (president) 1945 (1944) 13 WHO World Health Organization Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland Ethiopia Tedros Adhanom 1948 14 WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland Singapore Daren Tang 1974 15 WMO World Meteorological Organization Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland Finland Petteri Taalas (secretary-general) Germany Gerhard Adrian [de] (president) 1950 (1873) Other bodies The United Nations system includes a myriad of autonomous, separately-administered funds, programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary bodies.[129] Each of these entities have their own area of work, governance structure, and budget; several, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), operate independently of the UN but maintain formal partnership agreements. The UN performs much of its humanitarian work through these institutions, such as preventing famine and malnutrition (World Food Programme), protecting vulnerable and displaced people (UNHCR), and combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic (UNAIDS).[130] Membership Main article: Member states of the United Nations All the world's undisputed independent states, apart from Vatican City, are members of the United Nations.[6][c] South Sudan, which joined 14 July 2011, is the most recent addition, bringing a total of 193 UN member states.[131] The UN Charter outlines the rules for membership: 1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states that accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations. 2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Chapter II, Article 4.[132] Under Sukarno, Indonesia became the first and only country to leave the United Nations. In addition, there are two non-member observer states of the United Nations General Assembly: the Holy See (which holds sovereignty over Vatican City) and the State of Palestine.[133] The Cook Islands and Niue, both states in free association with New Zealand, are full members of several UN specialized agencies and have had their "full treaty-making capacity" recognized by the Secretariat.[134] Indonesia is the first and the only nation to withdraw its membership from the United Nations, in protest to the election of Malaysia as a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 1965 during conflict between the two countries.[135] After forming CONEFO as a short-lived rival to the UN, Indonesia resumed its full membership in 1966. Group of 77 Main article: Group of 77 The Group of 77 (G77) at the UN is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the UN. Seventy-seven nations founded the organization, but by November 2013 the organization had since expanded to 133 member countries.[136] The group was founded 15 June 1964 by the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries" issued at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The group held its first major meeting in Algiers in 1967, where it adopted the Charter of Algiers and established the basis for permanent institutional structures.[137] With the adoption of the New International Economic Order by developing countries in the 1970s, the work of the G77 spread throughout the UN system. Similar groupings of developing states also operate in other UN agencies, such as the Group of 24 (G-24), which operates in the IMF on monetary affairs. Objectives Peacekeeping and security Main articles: United Nations peacekeeping and List of United Nations peacekeeping missions The UN, after approval by the Security Council, sends peacekeepers to regions where armed conflict has recently ceased or paused to enforce the terms of peace agreements and to discourage combatants from resuming hostilities. Since the UN does not maintain its own military, peacekeeping forces are voluntarily provided by member states. These soldiers are sometimes nicknamed "Blue Helmets" for their distinctive gear.[138][139] Peacekeeping forces as a whole received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.[140] A Nepalese soldier on a peacekeeping deployment providing security at a rice distribution site in Haiti during 2010 The UN has carried out 71 peacekeeping operations since 1947; as of April 2021, over 88,000 peacekeeping personnel from 121 nations were deployed on 12 missions, mostly in Africa.[141] The largest is the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which has close to 19,200 uniformed personnel;[142] the smallest, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), consists of 113 civilians and experts charged with monitoring the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. UN peacekeepers with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) have been stationed in the Middle East since 1948, the longest-running active peacekeeping mission.[143] A study by the RAND Corporation in 2005 found the UN to be successful in two out of three peacekeeping efforts. It compared efforts at nation-building by the UN to those of the United States, and found that seven out of eight UN cases are at peace, as compared with four out of eight U.S. cases at peace.[144] Also in 2005, the Human Security Report documented a decline in the number of wars, genocides, and human rights abuses since the end of the Cold War, and presented evidence, albeit circumstantial, that international activism—mostly spearheaded by the UN—has been the main cause of the decline in armed conflict in that period.[145] Situations in which the UN has not only acted to keep the peace but also intervened include the Korean War (1950–53) and the authorization of intervention in Iraq after the Gulf War (1990–91).[146] Further studies published between 2008 and 2021 determined UN peacekeeping operations to be more effective at ensuring long-lasting peace and minimizing civilian casualties.[147] The UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus was established in 1974 following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The UN has also drawn criticism for perceived failures. In many cases, member states have shown reluctance to achieve or enforce Security Council resolutions. Disagreements in the Security Council about military action and intervention are seen as having failed to prevent the Bangladesh genocide in 1971,[148] the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s,[149] and the Rwandan genocide in 1994.[150] Similarly, UN inaction is blamed for failing to either prevent the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 or complete the peacekeeping operations in 1992–93 during the Somali Civil War.[151] UN peacekeepers have also been accused of child rape, soliciting prostitutes, and sexual abuse during various peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[152] Haiti,[153] Liberia,[154] Sudan and what is now South Sudan,[155] Burundi, and Ivory Coast.[156] Scientists cited UN peacekeepers from Nepal as the likely source of the 2010–13 Haiti cholera outbreak, which killed more than 8,000 Haitians following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[157] In addition to peacekeeping, the UN is also active in encouraging disarmament. Regulation of armaments was included in the writing of the UN Charter in 1945 and was envisioned as a way of limiting the use of human and economic resources for their creation.[104] The advent of nuclear weapons came only weeks after the signing of the charter, resulting in the first resolution of the first General Assembly meeting calling for specific proposals for "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction".[158] The UN has been involved with arms-limitation treaties, such as the Outer Space Treaty (1967), the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968), the Seabed Arms Control Treaty (1971), the Biological Weapons Convention (1972), the Chemical Weapons Convention (1992), and the Ottawa Treaty (1997), which prohibits landmines.[159] Three UN bodies oversee arms proliferation issues: the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization Preparatory Commission.[160] Additionally, many peacekeeping missions focus on disarmament: several operations in West Africa disarmed roughly 250,000 former combatants and secured tens of thousands of weapons and millions of munitions.[161] Human rights One of the UN's primary purposes is "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion", and member states pledge to undertake "joint and separate action" to protect these rights.[126][162] Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1949 In 1948, the General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted by a committee headed by American diplomat and activist Eleanor Roosevelt, and including the French lawyer René Cassin. The document proclaims basic civil, political, and economic rights common to all human beings, though its effectiveness towards achieving these ends has been disputed since its drafting.[163] The Declaration serves as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations" rather than a legally binding document, but it has become the basis of two binding treaties, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.[164] In practice, the UN is unable to take significant action against human rights abuses without a Security Council resolution, though it does substantial work in investigating and reporting abuses.[165] In 1979, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, followed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.[166] With the end of the Cold War, the push for human rights action took on new impetus.[167] The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was formed in 1993 to oversee human rights issues for the UN, following the recommendation of that year's World Conference on Human Rights. Jacques Fomerand, a scholar of the UN, describes this organization's mandate as "broad and vague", with only "meagre" resources to carry it out.[168] In 2006, it was replaced by a Human Rights Council consisting of 47 nations.[169] Also in 2006, the General Assembly passed a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,[170] and in 2011 it passed its first resolution recognizing the rights of LGBT people.[171] Other UN bodies responsible for women's rights issues include United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, a commission of ECOSOC founded in 1946; the United Nations Development Fund for Women, created in 1976; and the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, founded in 1979.[172] The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, one of three bodies with a mandate to oversee issues related to indigenous peoples, held its first session in 2002.[173] Economic development and humanitarian assistance Millennium Development Goals[174] Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development Another primary purpose of the UN is "to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character".[162] Numerous bodies have been created to work towards this goal, primarily under the authority of the General Assembly and ECOSOC.[175] In 2000, the 192 UN member states agreed to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015.[176] The Sustainable Development Goals were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals.[80] The SDGs have an associated financing framework called the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The UN Development Programme (UNDP), an organization for grant-based technical assistance founded in 1945, is one of the leading bodies in the field of international development. The organization also publishes the UN Human Development Index, a comparative measure ranking countries by poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors.[177][178] The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), also founded in 1945, promotes agricultural development and food security.[179] UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) was created in 1946 to aid European children after the Second World War and expanded its mission to provide aid around the world and to uphold the convention on the Rights of the Child.[180][181] Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme reading the news that smallpox has been globally eradicated in 1980 The World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are independent, specialized agencies and observers within the UN framework, according to a 1947 agreement. They were initially formed separately from the UN through the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944.[182] The World Bank provides loans for international development, while the IMF promotes international economic co-operation and gives emergency loans to indebted countries.[183] In Jordan, UNHCR remains responsible for the Syrian refugees and the Zaatari refugee camp. The World Health Organization (WHO), which focuses on international health issues and disease eradication, is another of the UN's largest agencies. In 1980, the agency announced that the eradication of smallpox had been completed. In subsequent decades, WHO largely eradicated polio, river blindness, and leprosy.[184] The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), begun in 1996, co-ordinates the organization's response to the AIDS epidemic.[185] The UN Population Fund, which also dedicates part of its resources to combating HIV, is the world's largest source of funding for reproductive health and family planning services.[186] Along with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the UN often takes a leading role in co-ordinating emergency relief.[187] The World Food Programme (WFP), created in 1961, provides food aid in response to famine, natural disasters, and armed conflict. The organization reports that it feeds an average of 90 million people in 80 nations each year.[187][188] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), established in 1950, works to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless people.[189] UNHCR and WFP programmes are funded by voluntary contributions from governments, corporations, and individuals, though the UNHCR's administrative costs are paid for by the UN's primary budget.[190] Other global issues Since the UN's creation, over 80 colonies have attained independence. The General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960 with no votes against but abstentions from all major colonial powers. The UN works towards decolonization through groups including the UN Committee on Decolonization, created in 1962.[191] The committee lists seventeen remaining "Non-Self-Governing Territories", the largest and most populous of which is Western Sahara.[192] Beginning with the formation of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1972, the UN has made environmental issues a prominent part of its agenda. A lack of success in the first two decades of UN work in this area led to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which sought to give new impetus to these efforts.[193] In 1988, the UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), another UN organization, established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses and reports on research on global warming.[194] The UN-sponsored Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, set legally binding emissions reduction targets for ratifying states.[195] The UN also declares and co-ordinates international observances that bring awareness to issues of international interest or concern; examples include World Tuberculosis Day, Earth Day, and the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.[196] Funding Top 25 contributors to the United Nations budget for the period 2019–2021[197] Member state Contribution (% of UN budget)  United States 22.000  China 12.005  Japan 8.564  Germany 6.090  United Kingdom 4.567  France 4.427  Italy 3.307  Brazil 2.948  Canada 2.734  Russia 2.405  South Korea 2.267  Australia 2.210  Spain 2.146  Turkey 1.371  Netherlands 1.356  Mexico 1.292  Saudi Arabia 1.172   Switzerland 1.151  Argentina 0.915  Sweden 0.906  India 0.834  Belgium 0.821  Poland 0.802  Algeria 0.788  Norway 0.754 Other member states 12.168 The UN budget for 2020 was $3.1 billion,[198] not including additional resources donated by members, such as peacekeeping forces. The UN is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from member states. The General Assembly approves the regular budget and determines the assessment for each member. This is broadly based on the relative capacity of each country to pay, as measured by its gross national income (GNI), with adjustments for external debt and low per capita income.[199] The Assembly has established the principle that the UN should not be unduly dependent on any one member to finance its operations. Thus, there is a "ceiling" rate, setting the maximum amount that any member can be assessed for the regular budget. In December 2000, the Assembly revised the scale of assessments in response to pressure from the United States. As part of that revision, the regular budget ceiling was reduced from 25% to 22%.[200] For the least developed countries (LDCs), a ceiling rate of 0.01% is applied.[199] In addition to the ceiling rates, the minimum amount assessed to any member nation (or "floor" rate) is set at 0.001% of the UN budget ($55,120 for the two year budget 2013–2014).[201] A large share of the UN's expenditure addresses its core mission of peace and security, and this budget is assessed separately from the main organizational budget.[202] The peacekeeping budget for the 2015–16 fiscal year was $8.27 billion, supporting 82,318 troops deployed in 15 missions around the world.[143] UN peace operations are funded by assessments, using a formula derived from the regular funding scale that includes a weighted surcharge for the five permanent Security Council members, who must approve all peacekeeping operations. This surcharge serves to offset discounted peacekeeping assessment rates for less developed countries. The largest contributors for the UN peacekeeping financial operations for the period 2019–2021 are : the United States (27.89%), China (15.21%), Japan (8.56%), Germany (6.09%), the United Kingdom (5.78%), France (5.61%), Italy (3.30%), and Russia (3.04%).[203] Special UN programmes not included in the regular budget, such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme, are financed by voluntary contributions from member governments, corporations, and private individuals.[204][205] Evaluations, awards, and criticism Main articles: Reform of the United Nations and Reform of the United Nations Security Council See also: Criticism of the United Nations The 2001 Nobel Peace Prize to the UN—diploma in the lobby of the UN Headquarters in New York City Evaluations In evaluating the UN as a whole, Jacques Fomerand writes that the "accomplishments of the United Nations in the last 60 years are impressive in their own terms. Progress in human development during the 20th century has been dramatic, and the UN and its agencies have certainly helped the world become a more hospitable and livable place for millions".[206] Evaluating the first 50 years of the UN's history, the author Stanley Meisler writes that "the United Nations never fulfilled the hopes of its founders, but it accomplished a great deal nevertheless", citing its role in decolonization and its many successful peacekeeping efforts.[207] British historian Paul Kennedy states that while the organization has suffered some major setbacks, "when all its aspects are considered, the UN has brought great benefits to our generation and ... will bring benefits to our children's and grandchildren's generations as well."[208] Former French President François Hollande stated in 2012 that "France trusts the United Nations. She knows that no state, no matter how powerful, can solve urgent problems, fight for development and bring an end to all crises ... France wants the UN to be the centre of global governance".[209] In his 1953 address to the United States Committee for United Nations Day, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed the view that, for all its flaws, "the United Nations represents man's best organized hope to substitute the conference table for the battlefield".[210] UN peacekeeping missions are assessed to be generally successful. An analysis of 47 peace operations by Virginia Page Fortna of Columbia University found that UN-led conflict resolution usually resulted in long-term peace.[211] Political scientists Hanne Fjelde, Lisa Hultman and Desiree Nilsson of Uppsala University studied twenty years of data on peacekeeping missions, including in Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic, concluding that they were more effective at reducing civilian casualties than counterterrorism operations by nation states.[212] Georgetown University professor Lise Howard postulates that UN peacekeeping operations are more effective due to their emphasis on "verbal persuasion, financial inducements and coercion short of offensive military force, including surveillance and arrest", which are likelier to change the behavior of warring parties.[147] Awards A number of agencies and individuals associated with the UN have won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their work. Two secretaries-general, Dag Hammarskjöld and Kofi Annan, were each awarded the prize (in 1961 and 2001, respectively), as were Ralph Bunche (1950), a UN negotiator, René Cassin (1968), a contributor to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the US Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1945), the latter for his role in the organization's founding. Lester B. Pearson, the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, was awarded the prize in 1957 for his role in organizing the UN's first peacekeeping force to resolve the Suez Crisis. UNICEF won the prize in 1965, the International Labour Organization in 1969, the UN Peacekeeping Forces in 1988, the International Atomic Energy Agency (which reports to the UN) in 2005, and the UN-supported Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2013. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees was awarded in 1954 and 1981, becoming one of only two recipients to win the prize twice. The UN as a whole was awarded the prize in 2001, sharing it with Annan.[213] In 2007, IPCC received the prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."[214] Criticism Role Marking of the UN's 70th anniversary – Budapest, 2015 In a sometimes-misquoted statement, U.S. President George W. Bush stated in February 2003—referring to UN uncertainty towards Iraqi provocations under the Saddam Hussein regime—that "free nations will not allow the UN to fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant debating society."[215][216][217] In 2020, President Barack Obama in his memoir A Promised Land noted, "In the middle of the Cold War, the chances of reaching any consensus had been slim, which is why the U.N. had stood idle as Soviet tanks rolled into Hungary or U.S. planes dropped napalm on the Vietnamese countryside. Even after the Cold War, divisions within the Security Council continued to hamstring the U.N.'s ability to tackle problems. Its member states lacked either the means or the collective will to reconstruct failing states like Somalia, or prevent ethnic slaughter in places like Sri Lanka."[218][219] Since its founding, there have been many calls for reform of the UN but little consensus on how to do so. Some want the UN to play a greater or more effective role in world affairs, while others want its role reduced to humanitarian work. Representation and structure Core features of the UN apparatus, such as the veto privileges of some nations in the Security Council, are often described as fundamentally undemocratic, contrary to the UN mission, and as a main cause of inaction on genocides and crimes against humanity.[220][221] Jacques Fomerand states the most enduring divide in views of the UN is "the North–South split" between richer Northern nations and developing Southern nations. Southern nations tend to favour a more empowered UN with a stronger General Assembly, allowing them a greater voice in world affairs, while Northern nations prefer an economically laissez-faire UN that focuses on transnational threats such as terrorism.[222] There have also been numerous calls for the UN Security Council's membership to be increased, for different ways of electing the UN's secretary-general, and for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. Exclusion of countries After World War II, the French Committee of National Liberation was late to be recognized by the U.S. as the government of France, and so the country was initially excluded from the conferences that created the new organization. Future French president Charles de Gaulle criticized the UN, famously calling it a machin ("contraption"), and was not convinced that a global security alliance would help maintain world peace, preferring direct defence treaties between countries.[223] Since 1971, the Republic of China, or Taiwan, has been excluded from the UN and since then has always been rejected in new applications. Taiwanese citizens are also not allowed to enter the buildings of the United Nations with ROC passports. In this way, critics agree that the UN is failing its own development goals and guidelines. This criticism also brought pressure from the People's Republic of China, which regards the territories administered by the ROC as their own territory.[224][225] Independence Throughout the Cold War, both the US and USSR repeatedly accused the UN of favouring the other. In 1953, the USSR effectively forced the resignation of Trygve Lie, the secretary-general, through its refusal to deal with him, while in the 1950s and 1960s, a popular US bumper sticker read, "You can't spell communism without U.N."[226] Bias Critics such as Dore Gold, an Israeli diplomat, Robert S. Wistrich, a British scholar, Alan Dershowitz, an American legal scholar, Mark Dreyfus, an Australian politician, and the Anti-Defamation League consider UN attention to Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be excessive.[227] In September 2015, Saudi Arabia's Faisal bin Hassan Trad was elected Chair of the UN Human Rights Council panel that appoints independent experts,[228] a move criticized by human rights groups.[229][230] Effectiveness The United States has preferred a feeble United Nations in major projects undertaken by the UN so as to forestall UN interference with, or resistance to, United States policies, according to international relations scholar Edward Luck, former director of the Center on International Organization of the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University. "The last thing the U.S. wants is an independent U.N. throwing its weight around," Luck said. Similarly, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Patrick Moynihan explained that "The Department of State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. The task was given to me, and I carried it forward with not inconsiderable success."[231] In 1994, former special representative of the secretary-general of the UN to Somalia Mohamed Sahnoun published Somalia: The Missed Opportunities,[232] a book in which he analyses the reasons for the failure of the 1992 UN intervention in Somalia, showing that, between the start of the Somali civil war in 1988 and the fall of the Siad Barre regime in January 1991, the UN missed at least three opportunities to prevent major human tragedies; when the UN tried to provide humanitarian assistance, they were totally outperformed by NGOs, whose competence and dedication sharply contrasted with the UN's excessive caution and bureaucratic inefficiencies. If radical reform were not undertaken, warned Mohamed Sahnoun, then the UN would continue to respond to such crises with inept improvisation.[233] Some scholars even debate about the overall effectiveness of the UN. The realist scholars taking a pessimistic position argues that it is not an effective organization as it is dominated by great powers. The liberalist scholars on the other hand argues that that it is an effective organization because it has proved to be able to solve many problems.[234] Inefficiency and corruption Critics have also accused the UN of bureaucratic inefficiency, waste, and corruption. In 1976, the General Assembly established the Joint Inspection Unit to seek out inefficiencies within the UN system. During the 1990s, the US withheld dues citing inefficiency and only started repayment on the condition that a major reforms initiative be introduced. In 1994, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was established by the General Assembly to serve as an efficiency watchdog.[235] In 2004, the UN faced accusations that its recently ended Oil-for-Food Programme — in which Iraq had been allowed to trade oil for basic needs to relieve the pressure of sanctions — had suffered from widespread corruption, including billions of dollars of kickbacks. An independent inquiry created by the UN found that many of its officials had been involved, as well as raising "significant" questions about the role of Kojo Annan, the son of Kofi Annan.[236] Model United Nations Main article: Model United Nations The United Nations has inspired the extracurricular activity Model United Nations (MUN). MUN is a simulation of United Nations activity based on the UN agenda and following UN procedure. MUN is usually attended by high school and university students who organize conferences to simulate the various UN committees to discuss important issues of the day.[237] Today, Model United Nations educates tens of thousands on United Nations activity around the world. Model United Nations has many famous and notable alumni, such as former secretary-general of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon.[238] See also icon Politics portal World portal International relations List of country groupings List of current Permanent Representatives to the United Nations List of multilateral free-trade agreements United Nations in popular culture United Nations Memorial Cemetery United Nations television film series World Summit on the Information Society Spying on United Nations leaders by United States diplomats Notes  Poland had not been represented among the fifty nations at the San Francisco conference due to the reluctance of the Western superpowers to recognize its post-war communist government. However, the Charter was later amended to list Poland as a founding member, and Poland ratified the Charter on 16 October 1945.[38][39]  Some sources identify seventeen specialized agencies, taking into account the three specialized agencies that make up the World Bank Group, which is now treated as one organization: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).  For details on Vatican City's status, see Holy See and the United Nations.
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