UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. It is currently composed of 193 Member States. The mission and work of the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.

There are six official languages of the UN. These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The main organs 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.

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation. Each year, in September, the full UN membership meets in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual General Assembly session, and general debate, which many heads of state attend and address. Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority.

The main committees of the UN General Assembly are

First Committee (Disarmament & International Security)
Second Committee (Economic & Financial)
Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian & Cultural)
Fourth Committee (Special Political & Decolonization)
Fifth Committee (Administrative & Budgetary)
Sixth Committee (Legal)

http://www.un.org/en/ga/

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions. The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. The Security Council also recommends to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new Members to the United Nations. And, together with the General Assembly, it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.
http://www.un.org/en/sc/

The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals. It serves as the central mechanism for activities of the UN system and its specialized agencies in the economic, social and environmental fields, supervising subsidiary and expert bodies. It has 54 Members, elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. It is the United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.

The ECOSOC Functional Commissions are

Statistical Commission
Commission on Population and Development
Commission for Social Development
Commission on the Status of Women
Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Commission on Science and Technology for Development
United Nations Forum on Forests

https://www.un.org/ecosoc/en/

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence. By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence. The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994. By a resolution adopted on 25 May 1994, the Council amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion required -- by its decision or the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of its members or the General Assembly or the Security Council.
http://www.un.org/en/decolonization/trusteeship.shtml

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America). The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.
http://www.icj-cij.org/homepage/index.php?lang=en

The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs. The Secretary-General is chief administrative officer of the Organization, appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year, renewable term.
http://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/secretariat.html

António Guterres, the current Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.
https://www.un.org/sg/en

ARMENIA – UNITED NATIONS COOPERATION

The Republic of Armenia is a member of the United Nations since 1992. Having accepted the principles of universal values, Human Rights protection, and Democracy as inseparable parts of its state ideology, Armenia is actively involved in the daily work of this global organization and closely cooperates with the numerous bodies and offices of the United Nations.

Based on its experience of previous years, Armenia is practically engaged in the global processes in democracy building, human rights protection and promotion and the establishment of legal state.

Armenia has been elected and made its contribution in several important bodies of the United Nations such as Economic and Social council (ECOSOC), Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Committee for Programme and Coordination, Commission for Social Development (CSocD), Commission on Population and Development, Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Statistical Commission etc. In 2014, Armenia was elected as a member of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“SPT”) (2015-2019). In 2016, Armenia was elected as a member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2016-2020 and in 2017 was re-elected at the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict for 2017-2021. In 2018 Armenia was elected at the UN Committee on the Status of Women (2019-2023), the presidency of which was entrusted to Armenia, and the Permanent Representative of Armenia was elected as the Chair of the 64th and the 65th sessions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women for the period 2020-2021. In 2018, Armenia was elected at the UN Economic and Social Council (2019-2021).

The Development Assistance Framework, agreed between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the United Nations in 2015, is a strategic framework that guides the cooperation between the GoA and the UN for the period of 2016-2020. Alongside the UN development system reforms, UNDAF new guidelines are also being revised. After the revision it will be possible to implement the mid-term review of the development assistance framework between RA and the UN.

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development officially came into force. The SDGs build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to end all forms of poverty. After the adoption of the Agenda 2030, processes related to the SDGs kicked off in Armenia very actively. The roadmap and later the National Action Plan on implementation of the SDGs in Armenia were drafted for the nationalisation of the Agenda 2030.

The National Innovation Center for Sustainable Development also contributes greatly to the implementation of the SDGs. It is the world’s first innovation lab initiated jointly by the Government and the UNDP and is aimed to promote sustainable development goals by creating innovative solutions and new platforms for public-private partnerships.

In July 2018 Armenia presented its first Voluntary National Review on the implementation process of SDGs at the High-Level Political Forum under the auspices of ECOSOC. The Armenian delegation was headed by the First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

On September 26, 2018 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a speech during the 73-rd session of the UN General Assembly. Alongside the issues of highest importance for the Republic of Armenia, the Prime Minister also mentioned about the Velvet Revolution which took place in Armenia during April-May, 2018.

Armenia systematically pays its membership fees to the international organizations. It is already more than 10 years since Armenia is included in Honour Roll of the United Nations for being a country which systematically makes its membership fees payments to the United Nations budget in January, every year. In January 2019 the Government of the Republic of Armenia transferred 195,176.00 US dollars to the regular budget of the UN. As of January 18, 2019, 18 out of 193 UN member states have been included in the Honor Roll of the UN.

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