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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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Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld (29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish diplomat and the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961.

During his time in office, Hammarskjöld tried to smooth relations between Israel and the Arab states, negotiated the release of 15 U.S. pilots who had captured by the Chinese during the Korean War, established the United Nations Emergency Force, and intervened in the Suez Crisis. While overseeing the decolonization of Africa, he was strongly criticized by the Soviet Union for his decision to send a UN emergency force to keep the peace.

Hammarskjöld is still the only UN Secretary-General to die in office, and is the only person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. U.S. President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century".

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United Nations peacekeepers monitoring the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Photo credit: Dawit Rezenè, World66

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If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States

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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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