Editing United Nations System (section)

== Six principal organs ==
The [[United Nations]] itself has six principal organs established by the [[Charter of the United Nations]]:
{{United Nations organs}}

===General Assembly===
{{Main|United Nations General Assembly}}

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA/GA) consists of all United Nations Member States and meets in regular session once a year under a president elected from among the representatives. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of [[United Nations General Assembly resolution|General Assembly Resolutions]].<ref>[https://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/chapter4.htm CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS: Chapter IV] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012044607/http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/chapter4.htm |date=12 October 2007 }}. UN.org.</ref> It has also established a wide number of [[:Category:United Nations General Assembly subsidiary organs|subsidiary organs]].<ref>{{cite web|title=UN General Assembly|url=https://www.un.org/ga/subsidiary.shtml|website=www.un.org|language=EN|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=30 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330022236/http://www.un.org/ga/subsidiary.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Security Council===
{{Main|United Nations Security Council}}

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The Security Council held its first ever session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the council, which exists in continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of [[Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council|five veto-wielding permanent members]] (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 10 [[United Nations Security Council elections|elected]] non-permanent members with two-year terms. This basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time.

===Economic and Social Council===
{{Main|United Nations Economic and Social Council}}

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is responsible for co-ordinating the economic, social, and related work of 15 UN specialized agencies, their functional commissions and five regional commissions. ECOSOC has 54 members; it holds a four-week session each year in July. Since 1998, it has also held a meeting each April with finance ministers heading key committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the United Nations System.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/index.shtml |title=Background Information |publisher=UN Economic and Social Council |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-date=31 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031070127/http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/index.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Secretariat===
{{Main|United Nations Secretariat}}

The United Nations Secretariat is headed by the United Nations Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It provides studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations bodies for their meetings. It also carries out tasks as directed by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council, and other U.N. bodies. The United Nations Charter provides that the staff is to be chosen by application of the "highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity," with due regard for the importance of recruiting on a wide geographical basis.

The charter provides that the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any authority other than the UN. Each UN member country is enjoined to respect the international character of the secretariat and not seek to influence its staff. The secretary-general alone is responsible for staff selection.

*[[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]] (OHCHR)
* [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]] (UNODC)
* [[United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services]] (UN-OIOS)
* [[United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction|United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction]] (UNDRR, formerly UNISDR)

===International Court of Justice===
{{Main|International Court of Justice}}

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Its main functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to provide advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international organs, agencies, and the UN General Assembly.

===Trusteeship Council===
{{Main|United Nations Trusteeship Council}}

The United Nations Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the United Nations, was established to ensure that trust territories were administered in the best interests of their inhabitants and of international peace and security. The trust territories—most of them are former mandates of the League of Nations or territories taken from nations defeated at the end of World War II—have all now attained self-government or independence, either as separate nations or by joining neighbouring independent countries. The last was [[Palau]], formerly part of the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]], which became a member state of the United Nations in December 1994.