125-560: The Annan Plan ( / ˈ æ n æ n / ), also known as the Cyprus reunification plan , was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute . The different parts of the proposal were based on the argumentation put forward by each party ( Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots ) in meetings held under the auspices of the UN. The proposal was to restructure the Republic of Cyprus to become
250-626: A "systemic failure". In 2010, the organization suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake . Acting under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, NATO countries intervened in the First Libyan Civil War . The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century. The three-day meeting was
375-608: A Greek Cypriot unionist paramilitary organization, overthrew the democratically elected president Makarios and installed Nikos Sampson , Turkey invaded Cyprus . Three days later, Sampson was forced to resign. On the same day, 23 July 1974, Clerides temporarily assumed the duties of the President of the Republic, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution. He exercised these duties until 7 December 1974,
500-621: A UN official, negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict , with the Security Council deciding that “an armistice shall be established in all sectors of Palestine”. On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis ; however, the UN was unable to intervene against the Soviet Union's simultaneous invasion of Hungary , following the country's revolution . On 14 July 1960,
625-542: A change of leadership in Turkey too, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had become prime minister on 14 March 2003. The Justice and Development Party implemented a major policy shift by supporting the peace process in the island. Erdoğan, keen to make progress on the issue of EU membership for Turkey, was "not in favor of following the Cyprus policy that has been followed for the last 30 or 40 years". He criticised Denktaş, saying, "This
750-516: A commitment to submit the plan for approval at separate simultaneous referendums on 30 March 2003". In the meantime the Plan had been altered with the addition of extensive "Corrigenda and clarifications", and in this new form was presented to the leaders on 7 March 2003. On the Greek Cypriot side there had been a change of leadership following elections on 16 February in which Tassos Papadopoulos
875-481: A conference and initialised the drafting of the UN Charter , which was adopted on 25 June 1945. The charter took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. The UN's objectives, as outlined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights , delivering humanitarian aid , promoting sustainable development , and upholding international law . At its founding,
1000-457: A hasty attempt on the part of Álvaro de Soto and his team to come up with a version of the Plan which both sides could accept before 28 February 2003, a deadline which had been set by the EU so that the whole process could be completed before Cyprus's signature of the EU accession treaty, which took place on 16 April 2003. In his Report of 1 April 2003, Kofi Annan wrote that he believed Annan III, which
1125-496: A letter to both sides in which he invited them to New York on 10 February 2004. In his letter, Annan proposed that talks resume with the aim of finalizing the plan by 31 March, and holding the referendum on 21 April. He also reserved for himself the task of completing the text of the plan if necessary: "It is clearly desirable that the text should emerge completed from the negotiations... However, should that not happen, I would, by 31 March, make any indispensable suggestions to complete
1250-515: A limited right to return between the territories of the two communities, and it would have allowed both Greece and Turkey to maintain a permanent military presence on the island, albeit with large, phased reductions in troop numbers. Following the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1250 of 29 June 1999, which requested the Secretary-General to invite the two leaders of the communities on Cyprus to negotiations, Álvaro de Soto
1375-570: A list of "Final Points" to de Soto with the demand that the changes requested therein be made by the UN team. When the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan arrived in Bürgenstock on 29 March, he was informed by Annan that nine of his eleven "points" had been agreed to by the UN team, and that the other two were virtually met. That this was the case became clear when Annan Plan IV was presented to the two sides on 29 March, and
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#17327764342621500-715: A member of the House of the Representatives for the Democratic Rally. He died on 15 November 2013 in Nicosia. During World War II, Clerides served in the British Royal Air Force . In 1942 his airplane was shot down over Germany and he was captured. He remained a prisoner of war until the end of the conflict. His name was mentioned in dispatches for distinguished services. Following
1625-1013: A myriad of autonomous, separately administered funds, programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary bodies . Each of these entities have their own area of work, governance structure, and budgets such as the World Trade Organization (or the WTO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (or the IAEA), operate independently of the UN but maintain formal partnership agreements. The UN performs much of its humanitarian work through these institutions, such as preventing famine and malnutrition (the World Food Programme ), protecting vulnerable and displaced people (the UNHCR ), and combating
1750-547: A permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five members elected each year by the General Assembly on a regional basis . The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month. The UN Secretariat carries out the day-to-day duties required to operate and maintain the UN system. It is composed of tens of thousands of international civil servants worldwide and headed by
1875-553: A plane crash . Months later he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U Thant , deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus , which would become one of the UN's longest-running peacekeeping missions. With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the UN's membership shot up due to an influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined
2000-560: A prioritised wish list. The Greek Cypriots feared that if they gave such a list it would be used to justify "trade-offs" and thus allow for drastic changes to the plan in Phase 3 outside of already agreed parameters. On 25 March de Soto tried to get the Cypriot parties to sign a commitment document, but it was pointed out to him that this was not part of the agreed procedure. On 26 March Ambassador Uğur Ziyal of Turkey's Foreign Ministry gave
2125-672: A stable economy that made it the wealthiest of the ten countries that joined the European Union in 2004. Clerides' presidency was also marked by efforts to strengthen the defensive capabilities of the Cypriot National Guard . In November 1993, the "Defense Doctrine of the Single Area" was declared by Greece and Cyprus, with its main characteristic being its defensive nature and the goal of preventing or dealing with any aggressive action against either party. With
2250-445: A two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member has one vote. Apart from the approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council. Draft resolutions can be forwarded to
2375-889: A wide variety of complex tasks. The UN comprises six principal operational organizations: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice , the UN Secretariat , and the Trusteeship Council , although the Trusteeship Council has been suspended since 1994. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies , funds, and programmes, including
2500-1033: A wide variety of topics. These include the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues , which advises UN agencies on issues relating to indigenous peoples , the United Nations Forum on Forests , which coordinates and promotes sustainable forest management, the United Nations Statistical Commission , which co-ordinates information-gathering efforts between agencies, and the Commission on Sustainable Development , which co-ordinates efforts between UN agencies and NGOs working towards sustainable development . ECOSOC may also grant consultative status to non-governmental organizations. as of April 2021 almost 5,600 organizations have this status. The UN Charter stipulates that each primary organ of
2625-549: Is a diplomatic and political international organization with the intended purpose of maintaining international peace and security , developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and serving as a center for coordinating the actions of member nations. It is widely recognised as the world's largest international organization. The UN is headquartered in New York City , in international territory with certain privileges extraterritorial to
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#17327764342622750-467: Is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's chief administrative officer. Article 99 of the charter states that the secretary-general can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", a phrase that secretaries-general since Trygve Lie have interpreted as giving the position broad scope for action on
2875-435: Is not Mr. Denktaş's personal business," and adding that Denktaş "should pay more attention to what Turkish Cypriots think and the growing protest against his rule". However analysts have suggested that he and Denktaş were not so far apart in what they wanted from a settlement—they merely disagreed on tactics, with Erdoğan preferring that: "Neither Turkey nor Turkish Cyprus should give an uncompromising impression. We should not be
3000-655: The Battle of Mogadishu . The UN mission to Bosnia faced worldwide ridicule for its indecisive and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing. In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amidst indecision in the Security Council. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN took a wider variety of forms. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised
3125-528: The Four Power Declaration on General Security which aimed for the creation "at the earliest possible date of a general international organization". This was the first public announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the League of Nations. The Tehran Conference followed shortly afterwards at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin , the leader of
3250-540: The Group of 77 under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly became a dominant power at the UN. On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the Soviet Union and Third World nations passed a resolution , over strenuous American and Israeli opposition, declaring Zionism to be a form of racism . The resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War. With an increasing Third World presence and
3375-472: The ICJ Statute , which forms an integral part of the UN Charter, and non-members may also become parties. The ICJ's rulings are binding upon parties and, along with its advisory opinions, serve as sources of international law . The court is composed of 15 judges appointed to nine-year terms by the General Assembly. Every sitting judge must be from a different nation. The Economic and Social Council (or
3500-591: The NATO -led Kosovo Force beginning in 1999. The UN mission in the Sierra Leone Civil War was supplemented by a British military intervention . The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen by NATO. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the UN's effectiveness. Under
3625-820: The Paris Peace Conference . The League of Nations was approved and started operations, but the United States never joined. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally came into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations , ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect. The League Council acted as an executive body directing the Assembly's business. It began with four permanent members—the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Japan . After some limited successes and failures during
3750-753: The White House in December 1941 for the Arcadia Conference . Roosevelt is considered a founder of the UN, and coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries . Churchill accepted it, noting its use by Lord Byron . The text of the Declaration by United Nations was drafted on 29 December 1941, by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Harry Hopkins . It incorporated Soviet suggestions but included no role for France. One major change from
3875-646: The World Bank Group , the World Health Organization , the World Food Programme , UNESCO , and UNICEF . Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and other agencies. The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general , currently António Guterres , who is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. He began his first five-year term on 1 January 2017 and
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4000-406: The secretary-general , who is assisted by the deputy secretary-general . The Secretariat's duties include providing information and facilities needed by UN bodies for their meetings and carrying out tasks as directed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies. The secretary-general acts as the spokesperson and leader of the UN. The position
4125-537: The " United Republic of Cyprus " ( Greek : Ενωμένη Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία , romanized : Enoméne Kypriakí Dimokratía ; Turkish : Birleşik Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti ), a federation of two states. It was revised a number of times before it was put to the people of Cyprus in a 2004 referendum , and was supported by 65% of Turkish Cypriots, but only 24% of Greek Cypriots. The Annan Plan (named after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan ) underwent five revisions before it reached its final version. The fifth revision proposed
4250-702: The 1920s, the League proved ineffective in the 1930s, as it failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1933. Forty nations voted for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing from Manchuria. It also failed to act against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , after the appeal for international intervention by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I at Geneva in 1936 went with no avail, including when calls for economic sanctions against Italy failed. Italy and other nations left
4375-700: The Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom , which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted. Roosevelt's idea of the " Four Powers ", refers to the four major Allied countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China , emerged in the Declaration by the United Nations. On New Year's Day 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill, the Soviet Union's former Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov , and
4500-562: The Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council : the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and China — and by a majority of the other 46 nations. The first meetings of the General Assembly , with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946. Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as
4625-666: The Chinese Premier T. V. Soong signed the " Declaration by United Nations ", and the next day the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. During the war, the United Nations became the official term for the Allies. In order to join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis powers . The October 1943 Moscow Conference resulted in the Moscow Declarations , including
4750-481: The ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social co-operation and development. It was established to serve as the UN's primary forum for global issues and is the largest and most complex UN body. The ECOSOC's functions include gathering data, conducting studies and advising and making recommendations to member states. Its work is carried out primarily by subsidiary bodies focused on
4875-420: The General Assembly by its six main committees: As well as by the following two committees: The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25. The decisions of
5000-529: The Greek Cypriot side and pointing out that "time is running out due to the Turkish side's unwillingness to cooperate". In the meantime parliamentary elections in Northern Cyprus (14 December 2003) had changed the political landscape. Mehmet Ali Talat leading a coalition of pro-Annan-Plan parties had narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu . Elections had recently brought about
5125-591: The Greek Cypriot side was pressured by "the UN and various Powers" to treat Talat and Serdar Denktaş as leaders, but in reality Rauf Denktaş remained leader of the Turkish Cypriots "able at any time to withdraw his negotiating authority or to veto decisions." At the Bürgenstock, the Turkish side wanted quadrilateral meetings (the two Cypriot delegations plus Greece and Turkey), but the Greek Cypriots objected that this had been discussed and rejected at
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5250-571: The HIV/AIDS pandemic (the UNAIDS ). Glafcos Clerides Glafcos Ioannou Clerides ( Greek : Γλαύκος Ιωάννου Κληρίδης ; 24 April 1919 – 15 November 2013) was a Cypriot statesman, who served as President of Cyprus in 1974 and from 1993 to 2003. A barrister and former Royal Air Force pilot, Clerides played an important role in the Cypriot struggle for independence , first as a member of
5375-674: The League. When war broke out in 1939 , the League effectively closed down. The first step towards the establishment of the United Nations was the Inter-Allied Conference in London that led to the Declaration of St James's Palace on 12 June 1941. By August 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter ; which defined goals for
5500-433: The New York meetings. The role of the Greek and Turkish representatives was not supposed to include participating directly in the negotiations. The first meeting for negotiations between the Cypriot sides was arranged for 24 March, but it was cancelled by de Soto at the request of Talat, two hours before it was to take place. No further formal meetings were arranged. Instead de Soto tried to get Tassos Papadopoulos to give him
5625-409: The Phase 2 talks. In fact it was a major crisis. Technically the Phase 2 talks could not take place without the Turkish Cypriot leader there to negotiate with the Greek Cypriot leader, and Tassos Papadopoulos would have been within his rights to refuse to participate in the absence of the leader of the Turkish Cypriots. As it was he merely "stressed the need for a credible interlocutor who would represent
5750-428: The Secretary-General I have conveyed to his Excellency The Greek Cypriot Leader Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktaş , the Turkish Cypriot leader, an invitation to resume the search for a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem under the Secretary-General's auspices... with separate meetings of the Secretary-General with each of the two leaders on 12 September 2001 in New York." Denktaş rejected Annan's invitation on
5875-431: The Secretary-General's assessment of the talks (8 November 2000), which the leader of the Turkish Cypriots Rauf Denktaş rejected, Denktaş announced his withdrawal from the talks "because no progress could be made until two separate states are recognized". He was supported in his decision by Turkey. After almost a year of no talks and therefore little progress, Álvaro de Soto announced on 5 September 2001 that "on behalf of
6000-486: The Security Council of 1 April 2003, Kofi Annan revealed that the Copenhagen European Council Summit of 12 and 13 December 2002 was seen as a deadline: My Special Adviser helped to guide the discussions and by mid-2002 he was making concrete suggestions to assist the parties to build bridges. I refrained however from making a written substantive input until 11 November 2002, when, no breakthrough having been achieved, and believing that no other course of action remained open if
6125-449: The Security Council, where, however, any one of its members could have used a veto to deny the request. After intense negotiations the procedure outlined in Annan's letter was organised into phases. In Phase 1 the Cypriot parties would negotiate "within the framework of my [Annan's] mission of good offices" in Nicosia from 19 February in order to produce a final text by 22 March. Negotiations were to be restricted to matters that fell "within
6250-427: The Soviet Union, and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953. On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved resolution 181 , a proposal to partition Palestine into two state, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. The plan failed and a civil war broke out in Palestine, that led to the creation of the state of Israel afterward. Two years later, Ralph Bunche ,
6375-400: The Soviet Union, before all the issues were resolved. By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed the Declaration by the United Nations. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco on 25 April 1945. It was attended by 50 nations' governments and a number of non-governmental organizations. The delegations of the Big Four chaired
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#17327764342626500-451: The Soviet Union, met and discussed the idea of a post-war international organization. The new international organisation was formulated and negotiated amongst the delegations from the Allied Big Four at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference from 21 September to 7 October 1944. They agreed on proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the new organization. It took the conference at Yalta in February 1945, and further negotiations with
6625-417: The Turkish Cypriot side" and pointed out at the last Phase 1 meeting that no progress had been achieved on substantial issues. Phase 2 was scheduled to take place on the Swiss Bürgenstock on 24 March 2004. After consultation with the Turkish government, Denktaş agreed to confer full negotiating authority on Talat the Prime Minister, and his son Serdar Denktaş, the Foreign Minister. According to Claire Palley,
6750-488: The Turkish side "demanded massive EU derogations", and "insisted on a right for all Turkish settlers to remain". James Ker-Lindsay notes that: "The situation was also hindered by the bad atmosphere generated by Rauf Denktaş, who appeared determined to scupper the process by holding frequent press conferences at which he revealed as much as he could to the media." In addition Denktaş caused a "mini-crisis" (so described in Annan's Report) by declaring that he would not be attending
6875-492: The Turkish side leaked Ziyal's document. The delegations were asked by Annan to provide him with their comments on Annan IV, which contained "numerous amendments, including changes on core issues and reopening substantial trade-offs, previously agreed" within less than 24 hours so that he could finalise the Plan. The final plan, Annan Plan V, was tabled on 31 March. It met all of Turkey's demands. In presenting it Kofi Annan said: United Nations The United Nations ( UN )
7000-499: The UN authorized a US-led coalition that repulsed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait . Brian Urquhart , the under-secretary-general of the UN from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War , critics of the UN condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption. In 1984, American President Ronald Reagan withdrew
7125-412: The UN established the United Nations Operation in the Congo (or UNOC), the largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to Katanga , restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964. While travelling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld , often named as one of the UN's most effective secretaries-general, died in
7250-562: The UN had 51 member states ; as of 2024 , it has 193 sovereign states , nearly all of the world's recognized sovereign states. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its initial decades due in part to Cold War tensions that existed between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its mission has included the provision of primarily unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops charged with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles. UN membership grew significantly following
7375-430: The UN itself and operate with almost complete independence from it". These include specialized agencies, research and training institutions, programmes and funds and other UN entities. All organizations in the UN system obey the Noblemaire principle , which calls for salaries that will attract and retain citizens of countries where compensation is highest, and which ensures equal pay for work of equal value regardless of
7500-399: The UN team had "again made changes meeting Turkish concerns", and she cites the phrase "particularly addressing the basic requirements of the Turkish side" from the paragraph above as confirmation. Having presented the "final" version of the Plan, Kofi Annan invited the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to The Hague on 10 March, where they were to inform him whether they were prepared "to sign
7625-446: The UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights and global security. The Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global constituency. In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016
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#17327764342627750-405: The UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping , the division between the United States and the Soviet Union often paralysed the organization; generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts distant from the Cold War . Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July 1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea , passed in the absence of
7875-420: The UN, 16 of them from Africa. On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support of many Third World nations, the People's Republic of China was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan). The vote was widely seen as a sign of waning American influence in the organization. Third World nations organized themselves into
8000-430: The USA wanted "an immediate restart of talks by the two sides on the island". At the meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 12 December 2003, the Council reiterated its preference "for a reunited Cyprus to join the Union on 1 May 2004" and urged "all parties concerned, and in particular Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership, to strongly support the UN Secretary General's efforts" in an "immediate resumption of
8125-424: The Union. At the same time Turkey was told that a decision on a start date for accession negotiations would be delayed until after Cyprus had joined. If the European Council in December 2004, on the basis of a report and a recommendation from the Commission, decides that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria, the European Union will open accession negotiations with Turkey without delay. There now followed
8250-580: The United Nations can establish various specialized agencies to fulfill its duties. Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations and each other through the coordinating machinery of the Economic and Social Council. Each was integrated into the UN system through an agreement with the UN under UN Charter article 57. There are fifteen specialized agencies, which perform functions as diverse as facilitating international travel, preventing and addressing pandemics, and promoting economic development. The United Nations system includes
8375-421: The United States' funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (or UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed by the United Kingdom and Singapore. Boutros Boutros-Ghali , the secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, initiated a reform of the Secretariat, somewhat reducing the size of the organisation. His successor, Kofi Annan , initiated further management reforms in
8500-436: The United States, and the UN has other offices in Geneva , Nairobi , Vienna , and The Hague , where the International Court of Justice is headquartered at the Peace Palace . The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars , and succeeded the League of Nations , which was characterized as being ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 nations assembled in San Francisco , California, for
8625-410: The absence of a settlement, the application of the acquis to the northern part of the island shall be suspended, until the Council decides unanimously otherwise, on the basis of a proposal by the Commission. Meanwhile, the Council invites the Commission, in consultation with the government of Cyprus, to consider ways of promoting economic development of the northern part of Cyprus and bringing it closer to
8750-584: The accession of Cyprus to the European Union." This was followed by the observation that "If no settlement has been reached by the completion of accession negotiations, the Council's decision on accession will be made without the above being a precondition." The EU kept its options open, however, by adding: "In this the Council will take account of all relevant factors." Following the talks in New York , four more rounds of proximity talks were held in Geneva: 31 January – 8 February 24 July – 4 August, 12–26 September, and 1–10 November 2000. On 24 November, in response to
8875-435: The anti-colonial guerilla organization EOKA and later in the drafting of the country's constitution. He then served as the first Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1960 to 1976, and briefly took over the presidency of Cyprus on an interim basis following the failure of the 1974 coup , overseeing the island's defence amidst the Turkish invasion . Clerides founded the center-right Democratic Rally in 1976 and won
9000-656: The assembly gathers at annual sessions at the General Assembly Hall , but emergency sessions can be summoned. The assembly is led by a president , elected by the member states on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents. The first session convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and comprised representatives of 51 nations. When the General Assembly decides on seminal questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters,
9125-471: The basis of my plan". The procedure enlarged the role foreseen for me, from completing any unfinished parts of the plan (filling in the blanks) to resolving any continuing and persistent deadlocks in the negotiations... When Phase 1 got under way, the two Cypriot leaders, Rauf Denktaş and Tassos Papadopoulos, met nearly every day for negotiations facilitated by Álvaro de Soto. In addition, numerous technical committees and subcommittees met in parallel to work on
9250-529: The basis of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations , the UN and its agencies are immune from the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding the UN's impartiality with regard to host and member countries. Below the six organs are, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than
9375-649: The body's former headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands , making it the only principal organ not based in New York City. The ICJ's main function is adjudicating disputes among nations. Examples of issues they have heard include war crimes, violations of state sovereignty and ethnic cleansing. The court can also be called upon by other UN organs to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law. All UN member states are parties to
9500-622: The century prior to the UN's creation, several international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross were formed to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife. During World War I , several major leaders, especially U.S. President Woodrow Wilson , advocated for a world body to guarantee peace. The winners of the war, the Allies , met to decide on formal peace terms at
9625-584: The changes to Annan I, made before the Copenhagen summit, began to tilt the balance further than the existing 'compromises' in the 'bridging proposals' even though, for the sake of 'face', some relatively minor changes were made in response to Greek-Cypriot representations." Intense pressure was exerted on both sides to agree to Annan Plan II before the Copenhagen Summit decision regarding Cyprus' membership application but to no avail. Nevertheless,
9750-545: The commitment of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots to continue to negotiate with the objective of concluding a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem by 28 February 2003 on the basis of the UNSG's proposals. The European Council believes that those proposals offer a unique opportunity to reach a settlement in the coming weeks and urges the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to seize this opportunity.... The European Council has decided that, in
9875-537: The council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions . The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (currently Algeria , Ecuador , Guyana , Japan , Malta , Mozambique , the Republic of Korea , Sierra Leone , Slovenia and Switzerland ). The five permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing
10000-541: The coup (i.e. the conflict between EOKA-B and " Efedriko ", a special paramilitary police body formed to fight EOKA-B). In 1976 he founded the Democratic Rally (DISY). He was a candidate for the presidency of Cyprus six times and elected to two five-year terms, in 1993 and in 1998. Clerides was the author of an autobiographical over-toned depiction of 20th century Cypriot history , My Deposition , in four volumes (Alithia Publishing, Cyprus, 1988). Clerides
10125-706: The creation of the United Republic of Cyprus, covering the island of Cyprus entirely except for the UK's Sovereign Base Areas . This new country was to be a federation of two constituent states – the Greek Cypriot State and the Turkish Cypriot State – joined by a federal government apparatus. This federal level, purported to be loosely based on the Swiss federal model , would incorporate
10250-475: The day of the return of Makarios, who was forced to flee on 16 July 1974 on account of the coup. Both Makarios and the House of Representatives thanked Clerides publicly for the task he performed during that period. Critics, especially from EDEK refer to that period as the post-coup, implying that democracy was not fully restored until the return of Makarios. Clerides on the other hand had repeatedly condemned what he called "violence and counter violence" that led to
10375-581: The declaration of the doctrine, Greece's commitment to considering any Turkish attempt to advance in free Cyprus as a cause of war was emphasized. His administration's purchase of S-300 air-defense missiles in 1997 resulted in a rapidly escalating political standoff between Cyprus and Turkey . Under heavy international pressure, Clerides decided to transfer the S-300s to the Hellenic Air Force in exchange for alternative weapons from Greece. He
10500-434: The details. In his report the UNSG noted that Phase 1 of the effort "did not produce significant progress at the political level. However, positive results were achieved at the technical level by experts from the two sides assisted by United Nations experts." According to Claire Palley, problems and delays were created in this phase by Denktaş's insistence on "producing proposals well beyond the Plan's parameters". For example,
10625-883: The eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon , the UN intervened with peacekeepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War . In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 concluded that the organization had suffered
10750-500: The employee's nationality. In practice, the International Civil Service Commission , which governs the conditions of UN personnel, takes reference to the highest-paying national civil service. Staff salaries are subject to an internal tax that is administered by the UN organizations. The General Assembly is the primary deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states ,
10875-540: The face of threats from the US to withhold its UN dues. Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced several simultaneous, serious crises within Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the nations that previously made up Yugoslavia. The UN mission in Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the United States' withdrawal following casualties in
11000-504: The failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the Middle East , Vietnam , and Kashmir , the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget. After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions in five years than it had in
11125-659: The five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the International Court of Justice is seated in The Hague . Most other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva , Vienna , and Nairobi , and additional UN institutions are located throughout the world. The six official languages of the UN, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic , Chinese , English , French , Russian and Spanish . On
11250-405: The following elements: The plan included a federal constitution, constitutions for each constituent state, a string of constitutional and federal laws, and a proposal for a United Cyprus Republic flag and a national anthem . It also provided for a Reconciliation Commission to bring the two communities closer together and resolve outstanding disputes from the past. It would also have established
11375-443: The important changes I had in mind. This version contained further refinements, particularly addressing the basic requirements of the Turkish side at the same time as meeting a number of Greek Cypriot concerns in order to maintain the overall balance. I also filled in all remaining gaps in the core parts of the plan, particularly those relating to security on which Greece and Turkey had not been able to agree. According to Claire Palley,
11500-481: The largest gathering of world leaders in history, and it culminated in the adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs), a commitment to achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction , gender equality and public health . Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed
11625-573: The meeting, de Soto announced that the two leaders had agreed the following: The new round of talks was held in Nicosia and ran from 16 January. In September the venue was moved to Paris, and then, in October, meetings were held in New York. After the New York meetings, Álvaro de Soto read a message from the Secretary-General to the effect that "a comprehensive settlement has to be a complex, integrated, legally binding and self-executing agreement, where
11750-543: The opportunity was to be seized, I put forward a document which I believed constituted a sound basis for agreement on a comprehensive settlement. Following intensive consultations, I put forward a revised proposal on 10 December 2002, hoping to assist the parties to reach agreement in time for the Copenhagen European Council on 12 and 13 December 2002. According to Claire Palley , the revisions to Annan Plan I "were not even-handed". "... seen overall,
11875-461: The organization are five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat . A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council , suspended its operations on 1 November 1994 upon the independence of Palau ; the last remaining UN trustee territory. Four of
12000-506: The organization held its first public debate between candidates for secretary-general. On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat António Guterres , who had previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees , became the ninth secretary-general. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration, including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping efforts, and streamlining
12125-482: The organization to be more responsive and versatile to international needs. On 13 June 2019, the UN signed a Strategic Partnership Framework with the World Economic Forum in order to "jointly accelerate" the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . The United Nations is part of the broader UN System, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to
12250-406: The parameters of the Plan". In the absence of agreement, Phase 2 would involve the Secretary-General convening a meeting of the two sides, "with the participation of Greece and Turkey in order to lend their collaboration, in a concentrated effort to agree on a finalized text by 29 March." In Phase 3 the Secretary-General would use his "discretion to finalize the text to be submitted to referenda on
12375-524: The plenary meetings. Previously, Churchill had urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The drafting of the Charter of the United Nations was completed over the following two months, and it was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, upon ratification of
12500-553: The post, but over the years it has become accepted that the position shall be held for one or two terms of five years. The current secretary-general is António Guterres of Portugal, who replaced Ban Ki-moon in 2017. The International Court of Justice (or ICJ), sometimes known as the World Court, is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice and occupies
12625-600: The post-war world. At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the eight governments in exile of countries under Axis occupation , together with the Soviet Union and representatives of the Free French Forces , unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and the United States. Roosevelt and Churchill met at
12750-560: The presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan and British forces in Greece . British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as interim secretary-general. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN. Construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October 1952. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie , was the first elected UN secretary-general . Though
12875-479: The presidential election as its candidate in 1993, before securing a second term in 1998. He failed to win a third term in 2003. As President, Clerides presided over a period of significant economic growth and was instrumental in Cyprus' accession to the European Union . Widely respected for his political and legal acumen, he remained an influential figure in Cypriot politics until his death in 2013. Clerides
13000-532: The previous four decades. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased by more than tenfold. The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War , launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia , and oversaw democratic elections in post- apartheid South Africa and post- Khmer Rouge Cambodia. In 1991,
13125-561: The process which had begun in December 1999 reached the end of the road. The office in Cyprus of my Special Adviser, which opened in advance of the direct talks, is to close during April. As 2003 came to a close and the date for Cyprus's accession to the EU approached, a flurry of diplomatic activity got under way to revive the negotiations. US State Department Special Cyprus Coordinator Thomas Weston met with Foreign Minister George Papandreou in Washington on 17 September 2003 and told him
13250-482: The rights and obligations of all concerned are clear, unambiguous, and not subject to further negotiations." On 11 November 2002, Álvaro de Soto presented a comprehensive plan for the resolution of the Cyprus issue (Annan Plan I). Following feedback, but no negotiations between the two sides, a revised version was published on 10 December (Annan Plan II), two days before the EU Copenhagen summit. In his report to
13375-553: The same day, but the visit to Cyprus in October 2001 of the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi prompted him to think again. During his visit Prodi stated that Cyprus would become an EU member with or without a settlement. Shortly thereafter Denktaş entered into correspondence with Clerides, and a meeting in the presence of Álvaro de Soto was organised in Nicosia on 4 December 2001. After
13500-518: The same period he was head of the Greek Cypriot delegation in the Joint Constitutional Committee. In July 1960, he was elected to the House of Representatives which, in turn, elected him as its first speaker. He held this position until 22 July 1976. In the first presidential election Clerides backed Makarios III , the other candidate being his father Ioannis Clerides. Following the 1974 coup d'état in which EOKA B ,
13625-516: The side keeping away from the negotiating table." Following intervention by Erdoğan, the outcome of post-election manoeuvring in Northern Cyprus was that Talat formed a government in alliance with the Democratic Party led by Rauf Denktaş's son Serdar Denktaş . However Rauf Denktaş remained president, since the president is elected at separate elections. On 4 February 2004, after having discussed matters with President Bush, Kofi Annan sent
13750-487: The summit confirmed that all of Cyprus would become a member on 1 May 2004, but "in the absence of a settlement, the application of the acquis to the northern part of the island shall be suspended". Cyprus will be admitted as a new Member State to the European Union. Nevertheless, the European Council confirms its strong preference for accession to the European Union by a united Cyprus. In this context it welcomes
13875-596: The talks on the basis of his proposals". In December Thomas Weston visited Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey; and the US President George Bush wrote to the Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis on 26 December urging him to push for a Cyprus settlement: "We now have a window of opportunity to reach a settlement so that a united Cyprus joins the European Union. We must not let that window close." Simitis responded by praising
14000-493: The text. Naturally I would only do this with the greatest of reluctance..." At New York pressure was exerted on the two sides to grant the Secretary-General the powers of an arbitrator or mediator, but the Greek-Cypriot side would not agree. The Security Council had asked the Secretary-General to facilitate negotiations within the framework of his "good offices", and any extension to that mandate should have been sought from
14125-549: The war, he studied law at King's College London and earned an LLB degree in 1948. He was called to the bar through Gray's Inn in 1949, and went on to practice law in Cyprus. During the 1955-59 Cypriot War of Independence, he served in EOKA under the pseudonym ' Hyperides ' and defended many of the organization's fighters who had been arrested by the British authorities. One of his most important accomplishments during that time
14250-416: The widespread decolonization in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the Trusteeship Council . By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development programmes vastly exceeded its spending on peacekeeping . After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking
14375-404: The world stage. The office has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues . The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power. There are no specific criteria for
14500-469: Was appointed as Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Cyprus (1 November), the Secretary-General visited Turkey and U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Turkey and Greece (November), and proximity talks in New York were arranged beginning 3 December. The motivation for this renewed attempt at a Cyprus settlement was Cyprus' impending membership of the EU, and the fear that this development would create an obstacle to Turkey's hopes of joining. This prospect
14625-456: Was blamed for the failure of the peace process." In the same news article Denktaş is quoted as saying: "The plan was unacceptable for us. This was not a plan we would ask our people to vote for." In his report, Kofi Annan saw this as the end of the road: On 11 March, at 0530 hours and following negotiations with the two leaders and the guarantor Powers lasting more than 19 hours, I announced that there had been no such agreement, and at that point
14750-544: Was born in Nicosia . He was the eldest son of the lawyer and statesman Ioannis Clerides and Elli Argyridou. He had one sister, Chrysanthi, and one brother, Ksanthos. Clerides married Lila Erulkar (31 October 1921 – 6 June 2007), the Indian Jewish daughter of Abraham Erulkar, personal physician to Mahatma Gandhi , in London in 1947. They had one daughter, Katherine (born 1949 in London), who went on to serve as
14875-653: Was defeated in the 2003 presidential election by Tassos Papadopoulos , after a campaign with heavy emphasis on the Annan Plan . From 1959 to 1960 Clerides held the position of President of the Cyprus Red Cross . In recognition of his outstanding services he was awarded a Certificate of Honor and Life Membership. He was also named an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Posthumously,
15000-590: Was elected President of the Republic of Cyprus. He received the altered Plan when he was on his way to The Hague to meet the Secretary-General. On 10 March 2003 in The Hague , Netherlands, the UN effort collapsed when Denktaş told the Secretary-General he would not put the Annan Plan to referendum . According to the BBC, "ultimately it was the Turkish Cypriot side which refused to even talk further, and which
15125-418: Was elected president of the Republic of Cyprus in 1993 and was re-elected in 1998. His government played a crucial role in Cyprus' accession to the European Union, with negotiations starting in 1998 and successfully concluding in 2002. It is noteworthy that Clerides achieved Cyprus' accession to the European Union without a prerequisite of a solution to the Cyprus problem. Under his leadership, Cyprus boasted
15250-566: Was of particular concern not only to Turkey, but also to the US and the UK, which were both keen to promote Turkey's membership of the EU. A further concern was the future of the British military bases and installations on Cyprus which were regarded as essential by both the UK and USA. On 10–11 December, the Helsinki EU summit 's conclusions welcomed the launch of the talks in New York and declared that "a political settlement will facilitate
15375-447: Was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won multiple Nobel Peace Prizes , although other evaluations of its effectiveness have been contentious. Some commentators believe the organization to be a leader in peace and human development, while others have criticized it for ineffectiveness, bias, and corruption . In
15500-533: Was submitted to the two sides two days before the deadline, should be the final version of the plan. During the last week in February, I visited Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, and on 26 February I formally presented a third, and what I believed should be final, version of my plan, entitled Basis for a Comprehensive Settlement of the Cyprus Problem. Prior to my visit my Special Adviser had contributed to writing
15625-517: Was the composition of a dossier that enumerated and provided evidence on cases of human rights violations by the British, which the Greek government presented to the Council of Europe's Human Rights Committee. Clerides participated in the 1959 London Conference on Cyprus and during the transitional period from colonial administration to independence (1959–1960), he served as Minister of Justice. During
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