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ActNow Campaign

Act Now for a Peaceful World

SDG Book Club

Goal of the month 1

Girls return to classrooms in Sudan

In Sudan’s White Nile State, thereopening of a rehabilitated secondary school is restoring hope and education to hundreds of displaced and local girls after years of conflict.

Delivering babies in darkness

Services growth fails to deliver

UNCTAD’s2025 report warns that service growth in least developed countries is limited by low productivity, weak digital capacity, and insufficient job creation, restricting broad-based prosperity.

New roads revive Aden’s lifeline

In Aden, UNOPS-rehabilitated roads funded by Japan are restoring critical access to services and humanitarian aid, cutting travel times and reconnecting nearly 200,000 people to opportunity and essential support.

The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: themaintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN 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 UN offices and bodies.

The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's foundingCharter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization.  In 1948, theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law.  Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.

One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in itsCharter, is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character."  The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild.  The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinatehumanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”  Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed thatsustainable development offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.

TheUN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources ofinternational law can be maintained."  Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization.  This work is carried out in many ways - by courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security, if it deems this necessary.  These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty.  As such, it is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.  The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Selecting the next Secretary-General

Climate Change

Gender Equality

Ending Poverty

122.6 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of June 2024.

By 2030, approximately 6 out of 10 people worldwide will reside in urban areas.

The United States, China and France were the top three nuclear power producers in 2023.

In contemporary conflicts, up to 90 per cent of casualties are civilians.