United Nations

United Nations

United Nations

Leaders from around the world convene for the opening of the General Assembly, the United Nations' main representative body, in New York each September. How much do you know about the world's most prominent international organization?

Multiple Choice

The United Nations was officially established in which year?

• 1918

• 1945

• 1962

• 1991

In 1945

The United Nations emerged from the United Nations Conference on International Organization, which took place in San Francisco from April to June 1945, near the end of World War II. The conference produced the UN charter, the organization’s founding document, which was signed on June 26.

Multiple Choice

How many member states make up the United Nations today?

• 86

• 122

• 193

• 217

193 countries

From fifty-one original members in 1945, the UN’s membership grew to 193 by 2011, where it remains. The growth stems primarily from the independence of new countries through decolonization and other means.

Multiple Choice

How many official languages does the United Nations have?

• 1

• 3

• 4

• 6

6 languages

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish are the official languages of the United Nations. Generally, documents produced by the organization are translated into all six. Some UN departments and agencies use a shorter list of working languages for day-to-day operations.

Multiple Choice

What is the title of the chief administrative officer of the United Nations?

• President

• Secretary-General

• First Minister

• Director-General

Secretary-General

Chapter XV of the UN charter names the secretary-general as the organization’s “chief administrative officer.” The role today includes a wide range of responsibilities, from management of personnel to advocacy for the organization’s aims. Antonio Guterres of Portugal is the ninth and current secretary-general.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following main organs of the United Nations can impose binding obligations on the 193 member states to maintain peace?

• Security Council

• Secretariat

• General Assembly

• Trusteeship Council

Security Council

Within the UN system, the main responsibility for maintaining peace and resolving disputes falls to the Security Council. This body, made up of five permanent members and ten rotating members, is the only UN organ with the power to make decisions that member states must follow, according to the UN Charter.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following countries is not a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council?

• France

• China

• Russia

• Germany

Germany

The UN Charter establishes the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom (often called the P5) as permanent members of the Security Council. These countries were the primary victors of World War II, and their permanent status often sparks criticism that the Security Council’s power structure fails to reflect today’s world. The UN General Assembly elects ten additional members to join the Security Council for two-year terms.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is among the privileges held by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council?

• Authority to command the UN’s standing military force

• Ability to veto Security Council resolutions

• Exemption from contributing to the UN’s budget

• Right to act at any time as the Security Council president

Ability to veto Security Council resolutions

Any of the five permanent members can veto any Security Council resolution, other than those on procedural issues, which defeats the resolution even if it has the nine votes required. The Security Council presidency, meanwhile, rotates monthly among all members. Member states also contribute their own military and police personnel to UN missions, as the United Nations has no standing force of its own.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is among the powers granted to the United Nations Security Council by Chapter VII of the UN Charter?

• To decide whether a threat to peace exists

• To tell UN member states to cut off diplomatic relations with a given country

• To tell UN member states to use military force to restore peace

• All of the above

All of the above

Chapter VII of the UN Charter outlines the Security Council’s most muscular powers for responding to “threats of the peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression.” While Chapter VI allows the Security Council to use peaceful means to help resolve disputes, Chapter VII empowers it to order stronger measures, including military force. Security Council resolutions adopted under Chapter VII are generally considered legally binding.

Multiple Choice

Approximately how much was the United States assessed for the United Nations’ core budget in 2017?

• $72 milllion

• $180 million

• $611 million

• $1.2 billion

$611 million

The United Nations’ regular budget is paid by contributions from member states, which are assessed in line with the size of their economies and other factors. Peacekeeping and other activities are funded separately. The world’s least developed countries might pay only 0.001 percent of the regular budget; the United States is assessed at 22 percent, the maximum rate.

Multiple Choice

Approximately how many uniformed personnel are serving worldwide in United Nations peacekeeping operations?

• 15,000

• 69,000

• 90,000

• 143,000

90,000

A total of over 104,000 personnel are serving in the United Nations’ fourteen current peacekeeping missions: around 90,000 in uniform, 13,000 civilians, and 1,000 volunteers. The largest mission is MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has over 15,000 military personnel and around 3,000 civilians. More than 3,750 people have been killed while serving in peacekeeping operations since they began in 1948.