United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, the main deliberative, policy-making, representative organ of the UN. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the UN, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General of the United Nations, receive reports from other parts of the UN, make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions, it has established numerous subsidiary organs. The General Assembly meets under its president or secretary-general in annual sessions at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, the main part of which lasts from September to December and part of January until all issues are addressed, it can reconvene for special and emergency special sessions. Its composition, powers and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter; the first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.
Voting in the General Assembly on certain important questions, recommendations on peace and security, budgetary concerns, the election, suspension or expulsion of members is by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Other questions are decided by a straightforward majority; each member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly 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 under Security Council consideration. The one state, one vote power structure allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the "North-South dialogue:" the discussion of issues between industrialized nations and developing countries; these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership.
In 1945, the UN had 51 members. It now has 193; because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates, the nature of its decisions. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence and the principal outlet for their foreign relations initiatives. Although the resolutions passed by the General Assembly do not have the binding forces over the member nations, pursuant to its Uniting for Peace resolution of November 1950, the Assembly may take action if the Security Council fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, in a case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression; the Assembly can consider the matter with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.
The next few annual sessions were held in different cities: the second session in New York City, the third in Paris. It moved to the permanent Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organized its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland. All 193 members of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly, with the addition of Holy See and Palestine as observer states. Further, the United Nations General Assembly may grant observer status to an international organization or entity, which entitles the entity to participate in the work of the United Nations General Assembly, though with limitations; the agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and begins with the release of a preliminary list of items to be included in the provisional agenda. This is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session.
After the session begins, the final agenda is adopted in a plenary meeting which allocates the work to the various Main Committees, who submit reports back to the Assembly for adoption by consensus or by vote. Items on the agenda are numbered. Regular plenary sessions of the General Assembly in recent years have been scheduled to be held over the course of just three months; the scheduled portions of the sessions commence on "the Tuesday of the third week in September, counting from the first week that contains at least one working day", per the UN Rules of Procedure. The last two of these Regular sessions were scheduled to recess three months afterwards in early December, but were resumed in January and extended until just before the beginning of the following sessions; the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are statements symbolizing the sense of the international community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, because the General Assembly lacks enforcement powers with respect to most issues.
The General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a historic document, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its third session on 10 December 1948 as Resolution 217 at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, France. Of the 58 members of the United Nations, 48 voted in favor, none against, eight abstained, two did not vote; the Declaration consists of 30 articles affirming an individual's rights which, although not binding in themselves, have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, economic transfers, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, other laws. The Declaration was the first step in the process of formulating the International Bill of Human Rights, completed in 1966, came into force in 1976, after a sufficient number of countries had ratified them; some legal scholars have argued that because countries have invoked the Declaration for more than 50 years, it has become binding as a part of customary international law. However, in the United States, the Supreme Court in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, concluded that the Declaration "does not of its own force impose obligations as a matter of international law."
Courts of other countries have concluded that the Declaration is not in and of itself part of domestic law. The underlying structure of the Universal Declaration was introduced in its second draft, prepared by René Cassin. Cassin worked from a first draft, prepared by John Peters Humphrey; the structure was influenced by the Code Napoléon, including a preamble and introductory general principles. Cassin compared the Declaration to the portico of a Greek temple, with a foundation, four columns, a pediment; the Declaration consists of a preamble and thirty articles: The preamble sets out the historical and social causes that led to the necessity of drafting the Declaration. Articles 1–2 established the basic concepts of dignity, liberty and brotherhood. Articles 3–5 established other individual rights, such as the right to life and the prohibition of slavery and torture. Articles 6–11 refer to the fundamental legality of human rights with specific remedies cited for their defence when violated. Articles 12–17 established the rights of the individual towards the community.
Articles 18–21 sanctioned the so-called "constitutional liberties", with spiritual and political freedoms, such as freedom of thought, opinion and conscience, peaceful association of the individual. Articles 22–27 sanctioned an individual's economic and cultural rights, including healthcare. Article 25 states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing and medical care and necessary social services." It makes additional accommodations for security in case of physical debilitation or disability, makes special mention of care given to those in motherhood or childhood. Articles 28–30 established the general ways of using these rights, the areas in which these rights of the individual can not be applied, that they can not be overcome against the individual; these articles are concerned with the duty of the individual to society and the prohibition of use of rights in contravention of the purposes of the United Nations Organisation.
During World War II, the Allies adopted the Four Freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear, freedom from want—as their basic war aims. The United Nations Charter "reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, dignity and worth of the human person" and committed all member states to promote "universal respect for, observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, language, or religion"; when the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany became apparent after World War II, the consensus within the world community was that the United Nations Charter did not sufficiently define the rights to which it referred. A universal declaration that specified the rights of individuals was necessary to give effect to the Charter's provisions on human rights. In June 1946, the UN Economic and Social Council established the Commission on Human Rights, comprising 18 members from various nationalities and political backgrounds; the Commission, a standing body of the United Nations, was constituted to undertake the work of preparing what was conceived as an International Bill of Rights.
The Commission established a special Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting Committee, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, to write the articles of the Declaration. The Committee met in two sessions over the course of two years. Canadian John Peters Humphrey, Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat, was called upon by the United Nations Secretary-General to work on the project and became the Declaration's principal drafter. At the time, Humphrey was newly appointed as Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat. Other well-known members of the drafting committee included René Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, P. C. Chang of the Republic of China. Humphrey provided the initial draft. According to Allan Carlson, the Declaration's pro-family phrases were the result of the Christian Democratic movement's influence on Cassin and Malik. Once the Committee finished its work in May 1948, the draft was further discussed by the Commission on Human Rights, the Economic and Social Council, the Third Committee of the General Assembly before being put to vote in December 1948.
During these discussions many amendments and propositions were made by UN Member States. British re
Holiday in Cambodia
"Holiday in Cambodia" is a song by American punk rock band Dead Kennedys. The record was released as the group's second single in May 1980 on Optional Music with "Police Truck" as its B-side; the title track was re-recorded for Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. The photograph in the front cover of the single was taken from the Thammasat University massacre in Thailand, depicts a member of the right-wing crowd beating a hanged corpse of a student protester with a metal chair; the song is an attack on a stereotypical, privileged American college student. Its lyrics offer a satirical view of young, well-to-do and self-righteous Americans, contrasting such a lifestyle with the genocidal dictatorship of the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of some two million people in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979; the re-recording of this song that appears on Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is different from the single version, being fifty-five seconds longer, at a higher tempo and featuring an extended, surf-influenced intro, as well as an extended bridge and guitar solo.
While the original lyrics include the satirically quoted word "niggers", subsequent performances by the reformed Dead Kennedys and various other artists who have recorded the song over the years have omitted it substituting other words in its place. In performances over the years with other groups, Biafra has used "blacks"; the song mentions the Dr. Seuss short story "The Sneetches". In October 1998, Biafra was sued by three former members of Dead Kennedys, who claimed that they had been defrauded of royalties owed to them. "The record industry has been skimming royalties owed artists since the beginning," according to Dead Kennedys' guitarist East Bay Ray. "This case is no different from blues musicians being taken advantage of in the twenties and thirties... here is no denying we were the victims here." According to Biafra, the suit was the result of his refusal to allow "Holiday in Cambodia" to be used in a commercial for Levi's Dockers. Biafra lost the lawsuit and, as the owner of Alternative Tentacles, was ordered to pay $200,000 in damages to the other band members.
Optional Music — OPT4 It is featured in Class, Punk's Not Dead and Rose, Boy Meets Girl, in the end credits of Double Take. It is featured in an episode of Druckfrisch, it is referenced on disc Tercer asalto of the Spanish group Def Con Dos. The master track is downloadable content for the video game Rock Band and is an on-disc song in Rock Band Unplugged. A cover of the album version with sanitized lyrics is featured in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, it has been covered by Lȧȧz Rockit and Boysetsfire. It has been parodied by musical comedian Richard Cheese to resemble a Christmas song, it was covered by Duckmandu on the 2005 album Fresh Duck for Rotting Accordionists. It was parodied by Clarence "Blowfly" Reid as "R. Kelly in Cambodia" on the 2006 album Blowfly's Punk Rock Party. Biafra makes a cameo as a trial judge and released the album on his Alternative Tentacles label. Instrumental version of it appears on Bay Area pianist DJ Lebowitz's Beware of the Piano. At the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, on September 9, Foo Fighters, along with Serj Tankian covered the song in The Palms Casino Hotel, in one of the Fantasy Suites.
Serj Tankian and the Foo Fighters have played the song while Tankian supported the Foo Fighters on their UK tour. Tankian has played it while touring solo. Foo Fighters released it as a b-side to their "Long Road to Ruin" single. Released in October 12, 2010, the Covers of the Damned EP by Atreyu and their fellow tour-mates contained a cover of the song as its second track. Punk rock band Office of Future Plans and Damon Locks of The Eternals performed a version of the song in December 2011 for The A. V. Club's Holiday Undercover series. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
International Women's Day
International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It is a focal point in the movement for women's rights. A New York textile factory caught on fire on 8 March 1908, with the owner trapping his female workers inside to prevent them from striking with other factory workers, he had been forcing them to work 10-hour days, making fabric of lilac color. 129 workers died in the fire. The colors of the fabric they were working on were chosen as the symbol of the international women's rights movement. After the Socialist Party of America organized a Women's Day on February 1909, in New York. At the 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference suggested German revolutionary Clara Zetkin proposed that 8 March be honored as a day annually in memory of working women; the day has been celebrated as International Women's Day or International Working Women's Day since. For women at that meeting, the day was about demanding the right to work without discrimination. After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there.
The day was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted by the feminist movement in about 1967. The United Nations began celebrating the day in 1975. Commemoration of International Women's Day today ranges from being a public holiday in some countries to being ignored elsewhere. In some places, it is a day of protest. International Men's Day is celebrated on November 19; the earliest Women's Day observance, called "National Woman's Day," was held on February 28, 1909, in New York, organized by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel. Though there have been claims that the day was commemorating a protest by women garment workers in New York on March 8, 1857, researchers have described this as a myth. In August 1910, an International Socialist Women's Conference was organized to precede the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen, Denmark. Inspired in part by the American socialists, German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the establishment of an annual Women's Day and was seconded by fellow socialist and communist leader Clara Zetkin, supported by socialist activist Käte Duncker, although no date was specified at that conference.
Delegates agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women. The following year on March 19, 1911, IWD was marked for the first time, by over a million people in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone, there were 300 demonstrations. In Vienna, women paraded on the Ringstrasse and carried banners honouring the martyrs of the Paris Commune. Women demanded that they be given the right to hold public office, they protested against employment sex discrimination. The Americans continued to celebrate National Women's Day on the last Sunday in February. In 1913 Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Saturday in February. In 1914 International Women's Day was held on March 8 in Germany because that day was a Sunday, now it is always held on March 8 in all countries; the 1914 observance of the Day in Germany was dedicated to women's right to vote, which German women did not win until 1918. In London there was a march from Bow to Trafalgar Square in support of women's suffrage on March 8, 1914.
Activist Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in front of Charing Cross station on her way to speak in Trafalgar Square. On March 8, 1917, on the Gregorian calendar, in the capital of the Russian Empire, women textile workers began a demonstration, covering the whole city; this marked the beginning of the February Revolution, which alongside the October Revolution made up the Russian Revolution. Women in Saint Petersburg went on strike that day for "Bread and Peace" – demanding the end of World War I, an end to Russian food shortages, the end of czarism. Revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky wrote, "23 February was International Woman's Day and meetings and actions were foreseen, but we did not imagine. Revolutionary actions were foreseen but without date, but in the morning, despite the orders to the contrary, textile workers left their work in several factories and sent delegates to ask for support of the strike… which led to mass strike... all went out into the streets." Seven days Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai and Vladimir Lenin made it an official holiday in the Soviet Union, but it was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965, by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme Soviet International Women's Day was declared a non-working day in the USSR "in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War, in their heroism and selflessness at the front and in the rear, marking the great contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples, the struggle for peace, but still, women's day must be celebrated as are other holidays." From its official adoption in Soviet Russia following the Revolution in 1917, the holiday was predominantly celebrated in communist countries and by the communist movement worldwide. Communist leader Dolores Ibárruri led a women's march in Madrid in 1936 on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, it was commemorated by the communists in China from 1922.
In 1927, in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, there was a march of 25,000 women and male supporters, including re
Children's Day
International Children's Day is a day recognized to celebrate children. The day is celebrated on various dates in different countries. Children's Day began on the second Sunday of June in 1857 by Reverend Dr. Charles Leonard, pastor of the Universalist Church of the Redeemer in Chelsea, Massachusetts: Leonard held a special service dedicated to, for the children. Leonard named the day Rose Day, though it was named Flower Sunday, named Children's Day. Children's Day was first declared a national holiday by the Republic of Turkey in 1929 with the set date of 23 April. Children's Day has been celebrated nationally since 1923 with the government and the newspapers of the time declaring it a day for the children. However, it was decided that an official confirmation was needed to clarify and justify this celebration and the official declaration was made nationally in 1931 by the founder and the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; the International Day for Protection of Children is observed in many countries as Children's Day on 1 June since 1950.
It was established by the Women's International Democratic Federation on its congress in Moscow. Major global variants include a Universal Children's Holiday on 20 November, by United Nations recommendation. Though Children's Day is celebrated globally by most of the countries in the world on 1 June, Universal Children's Day takes place annually on 20 November. First proclaimed by the United Kingdom in 1954, it was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world's children; that is observed to promote the objectives outlined for the welfare of children. On 20 November 1959, the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child; the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989 and can be found on the Council of Europe website. In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals outlined by world leaders to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.
Albeit this applies to all people, the primary objective is concerning children. UNICEF is dedicated to meeting the six of eight goals that apply to the needs of children so that they are all entitled to fundamental rights written in the 1989 international human rights treaty. UNICEF delivers vaccines, works with policymakers for good health care and education and works to help children and protect their rights. In September 2012, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations led the initiative for the education of children, he firstly wants every child to be able to attend school, a goal by 2015. Secondly, to improve the skill set acquired in these schools. Implementing policies regarding education to promote peace and environmental concern. Universal Children's Day is not just a day to celebrate children for who they are, but to bring awareness to children around the globe that have experienced violence in forms of abuse and discrimination. Children are used as laborers in some countries, immersed in armed conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences be it religion, minority issues, or disabilities.
Children feeling the effects of war can be displaced because of the armed conflict and may suffer physical and psychological trauma. The following violations are described in the term "children and armed conflict": recruitment and child soldiers, killing/maiming of children, abduction of children, attacks on schools/hospitals and not allowing humanitarian access to children. There are about 153 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are forced into child labor; the International Labour Organization in 1999 adopted the Prohibition and Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour including slavery, child prostitution, child pornography. A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be found on the UNICEF website. Canada co-chaired the World Summit for children in 1990, in 2002 the United Nations reaffirmed the commitment to complete the agenda of the 1990 World Summit; this added to the UN Secretary-General's report We the Children: End-of Decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children.
The United Nations children's agency released a study referencing the population increase of children will make up 90 percent of the next billion people. The recognized date of Children's Day varies from country to country; this section lists some significant examples, in order of date of observance. In Albania, Children's Day is celebrated on 1 June. In Argentina, Children's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of August. In Armenia, Children's Day is celebrated on 1 June. Children's Week is an annual event celebrated in Australia during the fourth week in October, from the Saturday before Universal Children's Day to the following Sunday, it was established as a holiday in 1954. Until 1977 Child Care Week was held in various Australian states and territories focusing on children in care or those in institutions, it was held at different times. In 1984 it was decided to coordinate a national week to include all children. In Azerbaijan, Children's Day is celebrated on 1 June. Since 2009 JAAGO Foundation has been celebrating this day throughout Bangladesh by engaging youth and creating awareness about children's right on 20 November, the declared Universal Children’s Day by United Nation.
After this movement gained a lot of attraction, Bangladesh started celebrating, Children's Day on 17 March on the birthday of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Children's day in Bolivia was first established in 1954. Goo
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations; the formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423, inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit. The day is marked both by high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. In addition it is traditionally on 10 December that the five-yearly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the human rights field schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organizations.
Human Rights Day is the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The formal inception of Human Rights Day dates from 1950, after the Assembly passed resolution 423 inviting all States and interested organizations to adopt 10 December of each year as Human Rights Day; the popularity of the day can be shown by the fact that the commemorative Human Rights Day stamp issued by the United Nations Postal Administration in 1952, received 200,000 advance orders. When the General Assembly adopted the Declaration, with 48 states in favour and eight abstentions, it was proclaimed as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations", towards which individuals and societies should "strive by progressive measures and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance"; the measure was received by both advocates and critics alike as "being more declarative than legislative, more suggestive than binding."Although the Declaration with its broad range of political, economic and cultural rights is not a binding document, it inspired more than 60 human rights instruments which together constitute an international standard of human rights.
Today the general consent of all United Nations Member States on the basic Human Rights laid down in the Declaration makes it stronger and emphasizes the relevance of Human Rights in our daily lives. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the main United Nations rights official, his Office play a major role in coordinating efforts for the yearly observation of Human Rights Day: Today, poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world. Combating poverty and exclusion is not a matter of charity, it does not depend on how rich a country is. By tackling poverty as a matter of human rights obligation, the world will have a better chance of abolishing this scourge in our lifetime... Poverty eradication is an achievable goal; the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights occurred on 10 December 2008, the UN Secretary-General launched a year-long campaign leading up to this anniversary. Because the UDHR holds the world record as the most translated document, organizations around the globe used the year to focus on helping people everywhere learn about their rights.
On 9 December 2001, President George W. Bush made a Presidential proclamation that Human Rights Week began on 9 December, he made the same proclamation on 10 December 2008. In South Africa, Human Rights Day is celebrated on 21 March, in remembrance of the Sharpeville massacre which took place on 21 March 1960; this massacre occurred as a result of protests against the Apartheid regime in South Africa. South African Human Rights Day was declared a national holiday when the ANC was elected as the government with Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected leader. Parliament's role on this day is to empower the people so that the democratic processes becomes known to all South Africans, it is celebrated on 11 December in Kiribati. HumanLight International observance International Day in Support of Victims of Torture World Humanitarian Day World Humanist Day Official website Vice Chancellor Sangam University Bhilwara Speaks on Human Rights Day at JMA Pilani Rajasthan
France
France the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Belgium and Germany to the northeast and Italy to the east, Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans; the country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. During the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476, who formed the Kingdom of Francia.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia which became the Kingdom of France in 987 emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages following its victory in the Hundred Years' War. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established, which by the 20th century would become the second largest in the world; the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Protestants. France became Europe's dominant cultural and military power in the 17th century under Louis XIV. In the late 18th century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history's earliest republics, saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century, Napoleon established the First French Empire, his subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870.
France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War; the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and retained close economic and military connections with France. France has long been a global centre of art and philosophy, it hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually. France is a developed country with the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP, tenth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, human development.
France is considered a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone, a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, La Francophonie. Applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name "France" comes from the Latin "Francia", or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today "Francia" in Italian and Spanish, "Frankreich" in German and "Frankrijk" in Dutch, all of which have more or less the same historical meaning. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English, it has been suggested that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.
Another theory is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around; the oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, Humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial eras. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux. At the end of the last glacial period, the climate became milder. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium working gold and bronze, iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptiona
