The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization responsible for maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and being a center for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City; other main offices are in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna and The Hague.
The United Nations System consists of the United Nations, and the six principal organs of the United Nations: the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the UN Secretariat, specialized agencies, and affiliated organizations. The executive heads of some of the United Nations System organizations and the World Trade Organization, which is not formally part of the United Nations System, have seats on the United Nations System Chief Executives' Board for Coordination (CEB). This body, chaired by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, meets twice a year to co-ordinate the work of the organizations of the United Nations System.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The UNHRC has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The headquarters of UNHRC is in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Military Staff Committee (MSC) is the United Nations Security Council subsidiary body whose role, as defined by the United Nations Charter, is to plan UN military operations and assist in the regulation of armaments.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of experts that monitor and report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Katalin Annamária Bogyay is a Hungarian diplomat, currently serving as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations in New York since 1 January 2015-. She is the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Delegate of Hungary to UNESCO (2009–2014) and the President of the 36th session of UNESCO General Conference (2011–2013).
The Department of Peace Operations (DPO) is a department of the United Nations which is charged with the planning, preparation, management and direction of UN peacekeeping operations.
The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) is one of four major United Nations office sites where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. Established in 1996, it is the UN's headquarters in Africa.
Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) refers in arms control protocols to two main classes of man portable weapons.
The African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur is a joint African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission formally approved by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1769 on 31 July 2007, to bring stability to the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan while peace talks on a final settlement continue.
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) is a non-governmental organisation representing the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) at the United Nations in Geneva and New York City. Parent bodies of QUNO are the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), American Friends Service Committee and Quaker Peace and Social Witness. FWCC holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and the Quaker UN Offices in New York and Geneva operate on behalf of Friends worldwide through this status. The offices work closely on issues of Human Rights and refugees, peace and disarmament, human impacts of climate change, as well as peacebuilding and the prevention of violent conflict.
United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on Holocaust remembrance called for the establishment of a programme of outreach on the subject of the "Holocaust and the United Nations" and measures to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide. Since its establishment by the Department of Public Information in January 2006, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme has developed an international network of civil society groups and a multi-faceted programme that includes: innovative online educational products, youth outreach, DVDs, seminars and training programmes, a film series, book signings, a permanent exhibit at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, and the annual worldwide observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, a social scientist, served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The South Centre is an intergovernmental organisation of developing nations, established by an intergovernmental Agreement (Treaty), which came into force on 31 July 1995, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It functions as an independent policy think tank, whilst also holding Observer Status at the United Nations and other development agencies.
The President of the United Nations Security Council is the presiding officer of that body. The President is the head of the delegation from the United Nations Security Council member state that holds the rotating presidency.
Ameerah Haq is a Bangladeshi technocrat who served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Field Support, the highest-ranking Bangladeshi official at the United Nations, from April 2012 until her resignation in July 2014. Subsequently, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed her as one of the co-chairs of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. Haq also served as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Timor-Leste and Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in East Timor (UNMIT). Haq joined the UN in 1976.
Movses Abelian is an Armenian-Georgian diplomat and United Nations official. In June 2019, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed him as Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. He additionally appointed him, on 3rd September 2019, as UN Coordinator for Multilingualism. He was formerly Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, responsible for General Assembly affairs and conference management (2016-2019), and Director of the Security Council Affairs Division and Secretary of the United Nations Security Council (2011-2016). He served as Armenia's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 1998 to 2003 and as President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2001..Prior to joining the Foreign Service of Armenia in 1992, Mr. Abelian worked in academia as an Associate Professor at Yerevan State University. Mr. Abelian was educated in Armenia, the Russian Federation and the United States. He is married and has two children.
The Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 1999. This occurred after ten months of negotiations in the context of preparations for the International Year for the Culture of Peace.
