In this video, I explain the UN in a simple way, the largest political organization created to promote the maintenance of international peace and security, cooperation between nations and the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. I will explain how it was born, which Member States are, the functions it performs, its bodies and the army it uses. Spending on UN peace operations has been increasingly high lately, among the costs incurred by this organization, there is a very curious one that I will tell you about at the end of the video. The UN is an international organization made up of 193 nations around the world, including Italy which joined in 1955. Furthermore, there are two states which, although not members of the UN, play a role special, that of Permanent Observers and are: the Vatican and Palestine, these States cannot vote or propose resolutions, but participate in the activity of the organization in any case. The UN is based in New York and performs four main functions: it maintains international peace and security; develop friendly relations between nations; cooperates in solving international problems and promoting respect for human rights; it represents a center for the harmonization of different national initiatives; It was officially founded on October 24, 1945, let's briefly review its history. After the First World War France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Germany form the League of Nations, an organization whose main purpose is to prevent wars, both through the diplomatic management of conflicts and with arms control. It is a first attempt to build a peaceful international organization, which, however, will fail with the outbreak of the Second World War. The name of the new organization, United Nations, is said to have been first suggested by the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during a meeting in London with the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. However, it was Churchill himself who used it first, officially. The war was not over yet, when in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 50 out of 51 members signed the Charter of the United Nations. This treaty defines the purpose, the organization of the UN and the criteria for the admission of states. The Organization is made up of 5 main bodies as well as various bodies and agencies: the General Assembly: it is a sort of parliament of nations, in fact all 193 member states are represented and it meets to examine the most important world problems; Each member state has one vote. the Security Council: is responsible for maintaining international peace and security and can be convened whenever peace is threatened; it is made up of 15 members, of which 5 are permanent: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, the victorious states of the Second World War. The other 10, on the other hand, are elected by the Assembly for a two-year term. the Economic and Social Council: coordinates the economic and social activity of the UN and its agencies the International Court of Justice: also known as the World Court, it is the main judicial organ of the United Nations , it decides on disputes between States and issues opinions and consultancies to the United Nations; The Secretariat: it is the administrative apparatus of the United Nations and is led by the Secretary General Among the most important agencies of the UN we mention: UNICEF which deals with humanitarian assistance for children and their mothers, UNESCO which promotes peace and understanding between nations with education, science, culture, education and information, and FAO which aims to achieve food security for all and ensure that people have regular access to food of sufficient quality to lead an active and healthy life. The UN officially speaks only 6 languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, the languages of the countries defeated in the Second World War are excluded. The Organization does not have a stable army, but makes use of soldiers, the so-called blue helmets, made available by member states to support individual peacekeeping missions. The blue helmets are engaged in operations of different types: peace-keeping operations, i.e. peacekeeping, and peace-building operations, i.e. 'construction of peace'. these operations are divided into first and second generation missions, while the former are strictly military (control of compliance with the ceasefire, creation of buffer zones between the parties); the second, carried out following the end of the cold war, are of a humanitarian nature to help countries destroyed by civil wars to rebuild their political institutions and social fabric. With the increase of crisis outbreaks in the last 10 years, the number of blue helmets and the expenditure for peace operations have reached ever higher numbers: 12 are in fact the missions in progress, about 90,000 are women and men in service military and civilian; at a cost of more than $6 billion. I told you at the beginning of the video that among the costs of the UN, there is a curious and completely unexpected one: the one for parking the cars of diplomats. The Wall Street Journal reports that a total of 180 countries have racked up a huge debt due to unpaid parking tickets: among these, the most striking case is that of Egypt, which has accrued 1.9 million dollars in violations and received more than 17 thousand citations.