We the peoples of the United Nations determined to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish this aim and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of this end, says the United Nations Organisation in its charter adopted at the San Francisco Conference in 1945.
A number of specialized agencies having been established for the direct economic well-being of the people among which are the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) Bank or World Bank, International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Fund and World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The International Monetary Fund was established on December 27, 1945 when Articles drawn up at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944 came into force.
 |
| United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres |
The IMF began operations on March 1, 1947. The purposes of the IMF are to promote international monetary cooperation and expansion of international trade; to promote exchange stability; to assist in establishment of multi-lateral systems of payment in respect of current transactions between members. The International Monetary Fund is headquartered in Washington DC.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with headquarters in Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy, came into being on October 16, 1945 when its constitution became effective, its objectives being to raise nutrition standards; to secure improvements in production and distribution of food and agricultural products.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development established on December 27, 1945 when Articles drawn up at Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944 came into force began operations on June 25, 1946. Its purposes are to assist reconstruction and development of economies of members by making loans directly and promoting private foreign investment; to promote the balanced growth of international trade.
It also has its headquarters in Washington DC. An affiliate of the World Bank, IDA has the same officers and staff as the Bank. The purposes of IDA are to further economic development of its members by providing finance on terms which bear less heavily on the balance of payments of members than those of conventional loans. It is also headquartered in Washington DC.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) came into being when its charter came into force on July 30, 1956. Although it is affiliated with the World Bank, it is a separate legal entity and its funds are entirely separate from those of the Bank. However membership in the Corporation is open only to Bank members.
 |
| The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Headquarters in Rome, Italy. |
Its objective is to further economic development by encouraging the growth of productive private enterprise in its member countries, particularly in the less developed areas. It is empowered to invest in productive private enterprise in association with private investors, and without Government guarantee of repayment in cases where sufficient private capital is not available on reasonable terms; and to serve as a clearing house to bring together investment opportunities, private capital both foreign and domestic, and experienced management.
Its headquarters too are in Washington DC.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an intergovernmental organisation that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, Governments use the organisation to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade.
It officially commenced operations on January 1, 1995, pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, thus replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that had been established in 1948. The WTO is the world’s largest international economic organisation, with 164 member states representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP. The UN system also comprised more than 30 affiliated organisations, programmes, other funds and specialized agencies, with their own membership, leadership, and budget processes.
These entities work with and through the UN Secretariat to promote peace and prosperity. UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is the largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programmes in the world. The UNFPA helps women, men, and young people plan their families including the number, timing, and spacing of their children, go through pregnancy and childbirth safely, and avoid sexually transmitted diseases.
The UNFPA also combats violence against women and child marriage. UNFPA does not provide, support or advocate for abortion, nor does it support, promote, or condone coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides long-term humanitarian and development assistance to children and mothers, working to help increase the number of girls enrolled in school worldwide and providing clean water, sanitation, educational support, and nutritional assistance to children in disaster zones and war-torn regions around the world. UNICEF is also responsible for procuring vaccines that reach 45 percent of the world’s children, saving the lives of 2.5 million children each year.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, focusing on the challenges of democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and environment, and HIV/AIDS.
The UNDP is one of the implementing bodies for UN electoral assistance, helping to facilitate elections in around 60 countries every year, including nations undergoing sensitive post-conflict transitions.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency dedicated to the goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, the agency provides food aid, cash assistance, and nutrition support to 100 million people in 88 countries.
In 2020, in recognition of its lifesaving work, WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) coordinates the UN’s environment activities, developing international environmental conventions, assessing global environmental trends, encouraging new civil sector partnerships, and strengthening institutions so they might better protect the planet.
The UNEP covers international environmental issues impacting the US that no one nation working alone can adequately address, such as plastic pollution in our oceans, the transboundary movement of toxic chemicals, and combating illegal trade in wildlife.
The United Nations Organisation from its inception has been ably led by eminent men of sterling qualities, holding the world’s highest paid Civil Service post, in whose hands Mankind is unquestionably safe, such as the first Secretary General Trygve Halvdan Lie of Norway (1946-1952) and his successors Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden (1953-1961), U Thant of Burma, now Myanmar(1961-1971), Kurt Waldheim of Austria (1972-1981), Javier Pèrez de Cuèllar of Peru (1982-1991), Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt (1992-1996), Kofi Annan of Ghana (1997-2006), Ban Ki-moon of Korea (2007-2016).
António Guterres of Portugal, the ninth and current Secretary General of the United Nations, took office on January 1, 2017.
The Secretary General is assisted by a competent staff of honest, dedicated and selected International Civil Servants.
Our own Dr. Gamani Corea as Secretary General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Hamilton Shirley Amarasinghe, President of the United Nations General Assembly Thirty-first Session and President of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and others served the United Nations with distinction.
Add new comment