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The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, and human rights issues. It was founded in 1945 with the signing of the United Nations Charter by 51 countries.

The UN was founded after the end of World War II (October 24,1945) by the victorious Allied Powers in the hope that it would act to intervene in conflicts between nations and thereby avoid war. The organization's structure still reflects in some ways the political power-structure of when it was founded. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, each of which has veto power on any UN resolution, are the main victors of World War II or their successor states: the People's Republic of China (formerly the Republic of China), France, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, and the United States.

There are currently 193 United Nations member states, including the majority of internationally recognized independent state. From its headquarters in New York City, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout each year. The United Nations is divided into five major administrative organs - the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the Economic and Social Council. Additional bodies deal with the governance of all other United Nations system organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure is the Secretary-General, currently Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who attained the post on 1 January 2007. The newest Member State is South Sudan, added on July 2011.

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United Nations peacekeeping missions have helped countries torn by conflict to create conditions for sustainable peace since the UN's founding in 1945. The peacekeepers—soldiers and military officers, civilian police officers and civilian personnel from many countries—monitor and observe peace processes that emerge in post-conflict situations and assist ex-combatants in implementing the peace agreements they have signed. Such assistance comes in many forms, including confidence-building measures, power-sharing arrangements, electoral support, strengthening the rule of law, and economic and social development. Peacekeeping operations are authorized by the Security Council, under the Charter of the United Nations.

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George McGovern (19 July 1922– 21 October 2012) was a former United States Representative, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee. McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election in a landslide to incumbent Richard Nixon. As a decorated World War II combat veteran, McGovern was noted for his opposition to the Vietnam War.

During his time as Director of the US Food for Peace Programmes, McGovern proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme, which resulted in the creation of the United Nations World Food Programme in 1960. A longtime leader in ensuring nutrition and food security and fighting hunger and poverty, McGovern was appointed United Nations Ambassador on World Hunger in 2001. In 2008, he and Senator Bob Dole were named the 2008 World Food Prize Laureates for their work to promote school-feeding programs globally.

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The 62nd General Assembly

President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, gives the inaugural speech at the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations in 2007.

Photo credit: United States Federal Government

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If the United Nations is to survive, those who represent it must bolster it, those who advocate it must submit to it, and those who believe in it must fight for it.

— Norman Cousins, political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate

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...that the Palais des Nations (pictured) in Geneva was the headquarters of the UN's predecessor organization, the League of Nations?
...that the term "United Nations" was first used by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II to mean the Allied powers?
...that the 2005 World Summit at the UN headquarters was the largest gathering of world leaders in history?

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Related WikiProjects:
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International development	International development
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