Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ was created in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ accomplishes this by working to prevent conflict, helping parties in conflict make peace, , and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective.
The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ offices and bodies.
Security Council
The Security Council unanimously adopting resolution 2497 (2019) extending the mandate of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Interim Security Force for Abyei (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵISFA). Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Photo/Loey Felipe
The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or an 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. Under Chapter VII of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Charter, the Security Council can take enforcement measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such measures range from economic sanctions to international military action. The Council also establishes and .
General Assembly
Learn more about the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly.
The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ. Through regular meetings, the General Assembly provides a forum for Member States to express their views to the entire membership and find consensus on difficult issues. It makes recommendations in the form of General Assembly . Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority, but other questions are decided by simple majority.
How does the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ maintain international peace and security?
The most effective way to diminish human suffering and the massive economic costs of conflicts and their aftermath is to prevent conflicts in the first place. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ plays an important role in , using , good offices and . Among the tools the Organization uses to bring peace are and in the field.
Special and Personal Representatives, Envoys and Advisers of the Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has Special and Personal Representatives, Envoys and Advisers in many areas of the world.
How We Work to Prevent Tomorrow¡¯s Wars ¨C Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Political Chief Rosemary DiCarlo
(DPPA)
Presence by region
The (DPPA) in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and the Middle East.
Peacekeeping
has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ to assist countries to navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. Today's multidimensional peacekeeping operations are called upon not only to maintain peace and security, but also to facilitate , protect civilians, assist in the , demobilization and reintegration of former combatants; support constitutional processes and the organization of elections, protect and promote and assist in restoring the and extending legitimate state authority.
Peacekeeping operations get their mandates from the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Security Council; their troops and police are by Members States; and they are managed by the and supported by the at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Headquarters in New York.
There are currently deployed and there have been a total of 71 deployed since 1948. In 2019, the Secretary-General launched the Action for Peacekeeping Initiative (A4P) to renew mutual political commitment to peacekeeping operations.
Life as a Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Peacekeeper
by region
Africa
Asia and the Pacific
Europe and Central Asia
The Middle East
Peacebuilding
United Nations peacebuilding activities are aimed at assisting countries emerging from conflict, reducing the risk of relapsing into conflict and laying the foundation for sustainable peace and development.
The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ peacebuilding architecture comprises the Peacebuilding Commission, the Peacebuilding Fund and the Peacebuilding Support Office.
The Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office assists and supports the Peacebuilding Commission with strategic advice and policy guidance, administers the Peacebuilding Fund and serves the Secretary-General in coordinating United Nations agencies in their peacebuilding efforts.
What is Peacebuilding?
Countering Terrorism
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ is being increasingly called upon to coordinate the global fight against terrorism. Eighteen universal instruments against international terrorism have been elaborated within the framework of the United Nations system relating to specific terrorist activities. In September 2006, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Member States adopted the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. This was the first time that Member States agreed to a common strategic and operational framework against terrorism.
Disarmament
The General Assembly and other bodies of the United Nations, supported by the Office for Disarmament Affairs, work to advance international peace and security through the pursuit of the elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and the regulation of conventional arms.