The United Nations

The United Nations is an organization of sovereign nations representing almost all of humanity. It has as its central goal the maintenance of international peace and security. Additionally, its purposes call for the development of friendly relations among nations based on equal rights and self-determination of peoples and, through international co-operation, the solution of problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian nature.
The United Nations is the meeting-place where representatives of all member states — great and small, rich and poor, with varying political views and social systems — have a voice and an equal vote in shaping a common course of action.
The United Nations has played, and continues to play, an active role in reducing tension in the world, preventing conflicts and putting an end to fighting already under way.
There are six main organs of the United Nations — the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the Secretariat and the International Court of Justice. The Court has its seat at the Hague, Netherlands. All other organs are based at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Members of the General Assembly talk to each other in many languages, but officially there are only six - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The Secretariat services the other organs of the United Nations and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them. Over 20,000 men and women are employed by the United Nations with about one-third of them at the Headquarters and the other two-thirds stationed around the globe. Staff members are recruited primarily from member states and are drawn from more than 140 nations. As international civil servants, each takes an oath not to seek or receive instructions from any government or outside authority.
Working for the United Nations, mostly "behind the scenes" at the Headquarters, are linguists, econbmists, editors, social scientists, legal experts, librarians, journalists, statisticians, broadcasters, personnel officers, administrators and experts in all the varied fields of activity covered by the United Nations. They prepare the reports and studies requested by various bodies of the United Nations; they issue press releases and produce publications, broadcasts and films giving information about the United Nations; and they perform the administrative duties needed to implement resolutions adopted by the various organs. In addition, there are stenographers, clerks, engineers and technicians, tour guides and also a body of security officers in blue-grey uniforms who arc responsible for the security of the United Nations Headquarters. At the head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General.
The main Headquarters of the United Nations are based in New York. The United Nations Organization Secretariat occupies the higher building. The General Assembly is held in the lower building.