About Us
One place where the world's nations can
gather together, discuss common problems
and find shared solutions.
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.
The UN has evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
But one thing has stayed the same: it remains the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity.
The World We Want - 75 photos curated from more than 50,000 images from over 130 countries in response to the Secretary-General’s call to hear directly from the peoples of the world about their priorities for the future.
Member
States
Main Bodies
The main bodies of the UN are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat.
All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.
UN Main Bodies
Secretariat
The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other main bodies.
The Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, which has tens of thousands of international UN staff members working at duty stations all over the world.
UN Secretariat
UN System
The United Nations is part of the UN system, which, in addition to the UN itself, comprises many programmes, funds and specialized agencies, each of which have their own area of work, leadership and budget.
The UN coordinates its work with these separate UN system entities, all of which cooperate with the Organization to help it achieve its goals.
UN System
UN Emblem and Flag
The UN’s symbol — who designed it? what does it mean?
UN History
- Overview
- Milestones in UN History
- The San Francisco Conference
- 51 countries sign the UN Charter creating a new organization
- Preparatory Years: UN Charter History
- Predecessor: The League of Nations
The League of Nations and the first international organizations
Events which led to the UN’s creation
The Charter that our founding 51 Member States signed 75 years ago to create the UN
Full text
Individual chapters and more
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) — widely recognized as having inspired the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties
Full text
History of, drafters, and more
Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — How is the Court constituted? How does it function?
Full text
The ICJ is the main judicial organ of the UN
