ABSTRACT

Figure 20.1 Preamble and chapter division of the United Nations Charter 291 Figure 20.2 The six main and other committees of the General Assembly 297 Figure 20.3 UN programmes and funds created by the General Assembly 299 Figure 20.4 World conferences organized by the UN 1968-2002 302 Figure 20.5 Security Council committees and institutions 306 Figure 20.6 Territories administered by the UN Trusteeship Council 307 Figure 20.7 Functional, regional and standing commissions of ECOSOC 310 Figure 20.8 The Commission on the Status of Women 313 Figure 20.9 Numbers of NGOs with consultative status at ECOSOC 1948-2005 319 Figure 20.10 The secretaries-general of the United Nations 321 Figure 20.11 Departments and offices of the UN Secretariat 325

Differences in relation to the Covenant of the League of Nations

At the birth of the UN, there was a deliberate decision to use the term ‘charter’ instead of the ‘covenant’ which was adopted for the League of Nations. A covenant is an important but voluntary agreement between parties with the intention of undertaking certain actions and refraining from others. A charter, on the other hand, assigns rights,

powers and functions. The Covenant of the League of Nations opened with the words ‘The High Contracting Parties’, while the UN Charter begins ‘the Peoples of the United Nations’, who assign to themselves the rights, powers and responsibilities named in the Charter. While the Covenant of the League of Nations suggested a voluntary undertaking not to resort to war, Article 4 of the Charter defines refraining from the use of force as a principle. The phrase ‘organized peoples’ in the preamble to the Covenant of the League of Nations implied the existence of non-organized or less civilized peoples, whereas the UN Charter refers to the sovereign equality of all states.