The United Nations

2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations in 1945. Since its inception at the end of the Second World War, the United Nations has become a wide-ranging transnational organisation with a number of key decision making forums and subsidiary bodies. There are six main organs of the UN: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. This Note provides a general overview of the work of these bodies, as well as a more in depth look at the General Assembly, the Security Council and the International Court of Justice.

This Note also examines a selection of the funds, programmes, specialised agencies and other subsidiary bodies, known collectively as the ‘UN family’. In particular, the paper focuses on the International Monetary Fund; the World Bank Group; the World Health Organisation; and the International Atomic Energy Agency.