UN Day: what it marks and the United Kingdom’s role in the UN

On 24 October the world marks United Nations Day. It was on this date in 1945 that the UN Charter, the organisation’s founding document, came into force and the UN officially began its work. The United Nations was created straight after the Second World War with one big goal: to prevent another world war and to settle disputes between countries around a table rather than on a battlefield.

What the UN is and does

The UN today has 193 member states — almost every country on earth. It has several main bodies. The General Assembly is the general meeting where each country has one vote and where global problems are debated and resolutions adopted. The Security Council handles peace and security: it can impose sanctions and authorise peacekeeping operations. Well-known agencies sit under the UN too — UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the refugee agency UNHCR — while disputes between states are heard by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

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The UK’s role

The United Kingdom is a founding member of the UN and signed its Charter in 1945. The very first session of the General Assembly was held in London in January 1946, at Westminster Central Hall next to Parliament, while the first Security Council met at Church House, Westminster.

Britain is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, alongside the United States, France, Russia and China. These five hold a power of veto: if a permanent member votes against a measure, the Council cannot adopt it, even with everyone else in favour. That gives London particular weight in world affairs. Over its history the UK has used the veto 32 times, most recently in 1989.

The UK also remains one of the largest contributors, paying a significant share of both the core UN budget and the peacekeeping budget, with British diplomats and personnel serving in missions around the world.

Why the UN is criticised

The organisation has its critics. Because of the veto, the Security Council often cannot agree on the sharpest crises — a single permanent member can block a decision. The UN is accused of being slow and bureaucratic. Its supporters reply that, for all its flaws, over nearly 80 years the UN has helped defuse many conflicts, coordinates humanitarian aid and remains a forum where even hostile states keep talking to one another.

For Russian speakers in Britain the UN is also a practical pillar: its agencies run refugee, health and human-rights programmes, and the UK’s permanent seat shapes how London acts on the world stage.