[Opening Title and Music]
>>DR BINOY KAMPMARK: So imagine a world parliament.
Imagine 193 voices gathering together in New York to deliberate over matters of peace and
security.
The United Nations was established in 1945 with the signatory of 50 countries for the
express purpose of preventing the outbreak of war and averting a world war.
The United Nations has many parts to it.
It deals, for instance, with matters of economics and social policy.
It deals with matters of human rights, it deals with matters of culture.
But the most important parts of the UN are the Security Council - which has five permanent
members who are responsible for controlling its policy; these are France, Britain, the
United States, China and Russia - the other body that is very important is where all the
nations meet and come together and that is the General Assembly.
Both the General Assembly and the Security Council pass what are called resolutions to
make policy for the world.
The UN has been responsible for eradicating polio in Africa, for instance, of dealing
with problems of debt or problems of other diseases spreading.
The UN has been very important in making sure that human rights are observed.
The most famous document is the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which has been
ratified and kept by many countries.
The UN, precisely because it's so complex, is determined to make sure that everything
is done towards a big picture of peace and trying to make sure that humanity attains
the primary purpose of what it says - that we believe.
We believe in a better future.