1.
Headquarters of the United Nations
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The headquarters of the United Nations is a complex in New York City designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The complex has served as the headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River and its borders are First Avenue on the west, East 42nd Street to the south, East 48th Street on the north and the East River to the east. The term Turtle Bay is occasionally used as a metonym for the UN headquarters or for the United Nations as a whole, the United Nations has three additional, subsidiary, regional headquarters, or headquarters districts. These were opened in Geneva in 1946, Vienna in 1980 and they are technically extraterritorial through a treaty agreement with the U. S. government. However, in exchange for police, fire protection and other services, the United Nations agrees to acknowledge most local, state. The United Nations Headquarters complex was constructed in stages with the complex completed between 1948 and 1952. The US$8.5 million purchase was funded by his father, John D. Rockefeller. The Rockefeller family owned the Tudor City Apartments across First Avenue from the site, Wallace Harrison, the personal architectural adviser for the Rockefeller family and brother-in-law to a Rockefeller daughter, served as the Director of Planning for the United Nations Headquarters. His firm, Harrison and Abramovitz, oversaw the execution of the design, the property was originally a slaughterhouse before the donation took place, bordered on one side by the Rockefeller owned Tudor City Apartments. While the United Nations had dreamed of constructing an independent city for its new world capital, the diminutive site on the East River necessitated a Rockefeller Center-type vertical complex, thus, it was a given that the Secretariat would be housed in a tall office tower. During daily meetings from February to June 1947, the team produced at least 45 designs and variations. Rather than hold a competition for the design of the facilities for the headquarters, the American architect Wallace K. Harrison was named as Director of Planning, and a Board of Design Consultants was composed of architects, planners and engineers nominated by member governments. Niemeyer met with Corbusier at the latters request shortly after the arrived in New York City. Corbusier had already been lobbying hard to promote his own scheme 23, instead, he asked the younger architect to assist him with his project. Niemeyer began to absent himself from the meetings, only after Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz repeatedly pressed him to participate did Niemeyer agree to submit his own project. This would not split the site, but on the contrary, after much discussion, Harrison, who coordinated the meetings, determined that a design based on Niemeyers project 32 and Le Corbusiers project 23 would be developed for the final project. The complex as built, however, repositioned Niemeyers General Assembly building to the north of this tripartite composition and this plan included a public plaza as well
2.
Secretary-General of the United Nations
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The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General serves as the administrative officer of the United Nations. The role of the United Nations Secretariat, and of the Secretary-General in particular, is out by Chapter XV of the United Nations Charter. As of 2017, the Secretary-General is António Guterres, appointed by the General Assembly on 13 October 2016, according to the UN website, their roles are further defined as diplomat and advocate, civil servant, and CEO. Nevertheless, this more abstract description has not prevented the office holders from speaking out, responsibilities of the Secretary-General are further outlined in Articles 98 through 100. They are also responsible for making a report to the General Assembly. According to Article 99, they may notify the Security Council on matters which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace, other than these few guidelines, little else is dictated by the Charter. Interpretation of the Charter has varied between Secretaries-General, with some being more active than others. The Secretary-General is highly dependent upon the support of the states of the UN. The personal skills of the Secretary-General and their staff are crucial to their function, the central position of the UN headquarters in the international diplomatic network is also an important asset. The Secretary-General has the right to place any dispute on the agenda of the Security Council. However, they work mostly behind the scenes if the members of the council are unwilling to discuss a dispute. Most of their time is spent on good offices missions and mediation, sometimes at the request of deliberative organs of the UN and their function may be replaced or supplemented by mediation efforts by the major powers. UN peacekeeping missions are often linked to mediation. The recent improvement in relations between the permanent members of the Security Council has strengthened the role of the Secretary-General as the worlds most reputable intermediary, in the early 1960s, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev led an effort to abolish the Secretary-General position. Khrushchev proposed to replace the Secretary-General with a three-person leading council, one member from the West, one from the Eastern Bloc and this idea failed because the neutral powers failed to back the Soviet proposal. Article 97 of the United Nations Charter determines that the Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, as the recommendation must come from the Security Council, any of the five permanent members of the Council can veto a nomination. Most Secretaries-General are compromise candidates from middle powers and have little prior fame, unofficial qualifications for the job have been set by precedent in previous selections
3.
Ford Foundation
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The Ford Foundation is a New York headquartered, globally oriented private foundation with the mission of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford, it was funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death of the two founders, the foundation owned 90 percent of the shares of the Ford Motor Company. Between 1955 and 1974, the foundation sold its Ford Motor Company holdings, the foundation makes grants through its headquarters and ten international field offices. For fiscal year 2014, it reported assets of US$12.4 billion, after the deaths of Edsel Ford in 1943 and Henry Ford in 1947, the presidency of the foundation fell to Edsels eldest son, Henry Ford II. It quickly became clear that the foundation would become the largest philanthropy in the world, the board of trustees then commissioned the Gaither Study Committee to chart the foundations future. The committee, headed by California attorney H, the board embraced the recommendations in 1949. The board of directors decided to diversify the foundations portfolio and gradually divested itself of its substantial Ford Motor Company stock between 1955 and 1974 and this divestiture allowed Ford Motor to become a public company. In 2012, stating that it is not a research library, in 1951, the foundation made its first grant to support the development of the public broadcasting system, then known as National Educational Television, which went on the air in 1952. These grants continued, and in 1969 the foundation gave US$1 million to the Childrens Television Workshop to help create, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting replaced NET with the Public Broadcasting Service on October 5,1970. The foundations first international office opened in 1952 in New Delhi. In 1961, Kofi Annan received a grant from the foundation to finish his studies at Macalester College in St. Paul. In 1968, the foundation began disbursing $12 million to persuade law schools to make law school clinics part of their curriculum, clinics were intended to give practical experience in law practice while providing pro bono representation to the poor. In 1967 and 1968, the provided financial support for decentralization. Decentralization in Ocean Hill–Brownsville led to the firing of some teachers and administrators. Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, the foundation expanded into civil rights litigation, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund was incorporated in 1967 with a US$2.2 million grant from the foundation. In the same year, the foundation funded the establishment of the Southwest Council of La Raza. In 1972, the foundation provided a three-year US$1.2 million grant to the Native American Rights Fund, the same year, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund opened with funding from numerous organizations, including the foundation
4.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
5.
Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
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The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations is the deputy to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The office was created to handle many of the administrative responsibilities of the Secretary-General, help manage Secretariat operations, the post was formally established by the General Assembly at the end of 1997. Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria was named Deputy Secretary-General by then Secretary-General-designate António Guterres, Mohammed assumed the office the same day as Guterres first term, on 1 January 2017. Canadian Louise Fréchette was the first Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and she was appointed to the post by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and assumed her duties on March 2,1998. In 2005, partly in response to criticism by former U. S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker for failed management of the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme and she remained at her post until March 31,2006. On March 3,2006 it was announced that Mark Malloch Brown from the United Kingdom would succeed Louise Fréchette as Deputy Secretary-General on April 1,2006, Brown left his post concurrent with Kofi Annans departure as Secretary-General on December 31,2006
6.
President of the United Nations General Assembly
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The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. The President presides over the sessions of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson of Fiji has been elected as the United Nations General Assembly President of its 71st session beginning in September 2016. The election of Peter Thomson is a first for Fiji and the Pacific, the session of the assembly is scheduled for every year starting in September—any special, or emergency special, assemblies over the next year will be headed by the president of UNGA. The presidency rotates annually between the five groups, African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean. In particular, it is customary that no permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ever serves as General Assembly president and this does not include special and emergency special sessions of the General Assembly. More news on UN elections and appointments
