Norway High School - Caduceus Yearbook (Norway, ME)

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26 THE CADUCEUS THE UNITED NATIONS The United Nations, with headquar- ters in New York City, was founded Oc- tober 24, 1945. The organization is eight years old and still very effective. It is an association of sixty independent national states, formed by victorious nations of the Second World War to keep the peace that their efforts had won. The supreme goal of the United Nations is to end war. In the United Nations there are six main divisions: the General Assembly, Security Council, Secretariat, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council and International Court of Justice. The General Assembly is the largest of the six divisions. The assembly meets annually and sometimes there are special sessions. A President is elected at each session. The President this year is Madam Vijaya Pandit of India. The Assembly appoints the Secretary General. It considers and approves the United Nations' budget, receives reports from the other divisions and agencies in the United Nations, and makes recommendations for settlement of disputes in cases not handled by the Security Council, which is responsible for maintaining peace and security in the world. It can use force to stop aggression and keep peace. There are eleven members in the Se- curity Council, of which five are perma- nent members: China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. Each of these Nations supplies one member to the Council. The other six nations are elected for 'two year terms by the General Assembly. Each member has one vote. Usually questions can be decided with a two-thirds majority. There are some decisions that within the majority vote, must include all votes of the permanent nations. Any one of the permanent nations has the right to veto it and the question is discarded. This power of veto has been a big prob- lem to the Security Council. The Secretariat has a permanent staff of three thousand workers who come from all parts of the world. The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary General who is appointed by the Gener- al Assembly for a five-year term. Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden was appoint- ed to this ofiice in April, 1953. The Secretary General has to make an an- nual report to the General Assembly on the work of the organization. The staff is appointed by the Secretary Gen- eral under regulations of the General Assembly. The Economic and Social Council con- sists of eighteen members of the United Nations elected by the General Assem- bly. Each member of the Economic and Social Council may have one repre- sentative. The Trusteeship Council adopts its own rules of procedure, in- cluding the method of selecting its president. The council meets as re- quired in accordance with its rules, which provide for the convening of meetings on the request of a majority of the members. Each member of the Council has one vote. Decisions will be made by a majority of the members. The International Court of Justice is the principal Judicial organ of the Unit- ed Nations. In the United Nations there are many specialized agencies. Here are some of the well-known ones: 1- FAO--Food and Agriculture Or- ganization, established October 16, 1945, to raise nutritional levels and liv- ing standardsg to make improvements in production and distribution of food. 2. UNESCO--United National Edu-

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THE CADUCEUS 27 cational, Scientific and Cultural Organ- ization, November 4, 1946, was organ- ized to promote collaboration among nations through education, science, and culture in order to further justice. 3. WHO-World Health Organiza- tion, was formed April 7, 1948, to aid attainment by all peoples to the highest possible level of health. Here are some of the problems the United Nations has faced. The Korean War began in June 1950. Less than twenty-four hours after North Korea invaded South Korea, the Security Council met in a special ses- sion calling for a cease fire within twen- ty-four hours. On June 27, it was obvi- ous that the North Koreans were going ahead with the invasion. American air and naval forces were ordered to help South Korea. Within the next twen- ty-four hours, forty-seven nations said that they would send aid. Thus the Korean War became a United Nations project. Now the lighting has stopped after three years, and the prisoner exchange is carried out. India and Pakistan engaged in limited warfare in 1948 to decide which coun- try should control the state of Kashmir. The United Nations obtained a truce early in 1949. It failed. Two more attempts were made and failed. Fin- ally India and Pakistan were persuaded to withdraw their troops from Kashmir and let the people of Kashmir decide which country they wanted to join. People who visit the United Nations in New York City, may think that this is the only place where it functions, but many of the organs hold meetings in other parts of the world. During the past year the United Na- tions gave milk to children in the Bel- gian Congo and opened a library in In- dia. It fought against malaria in Afri- ca and helped Arab refugees in Pales- tine. United Nations experts travel all over the world to help those who are poorly clothed and sick and hungry. -Marilyn Dudley, '57 The United Nations is a world organ- ization which hopes to bring peace to the world. It was organized in 1945 with Hfty member nations whose repre- sentatives helped to write its charter. At that time World War II was being fought-which the League of Nations had failed to stop. The charter mem- bers of this organization hoped to write a charter which would guide the nations to lasting world peace. The United Na- tions is now eight years old and has made much progress in helping coun- tries who have been partially or totally destroyed by war. Its many special- ized agencies and organizations such as UNICEF and UNESCO have done much in the progress of the United Nations. In the United Nations the main parts are the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly, and the Security Council. There are three other main branches in the United Nations. They are the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat and the Trusteeship Council. These all branch from the General Assembly. From the Econom- ic and Social Council, the General As- sembly, and the Secretariat come UNICEF. This is the United Nationa Interna- tional Children's Emergency Fund, one of the most important of the United Nation's specialized agencies. It, in co- operation with WHO, has examined millions of children for tuberculosis and is fighting the disease by giving them shots. It was organized in 1946 to help feed, clothe, and doctor needy children