UN Agencies

The Charter set up a number of agencies to ensure that the world would be not just a safer place but also a better educated, more prosperous and healthier one. Prominent among these are UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), FAO (the Food and Agricultural Organisation) and WHO (the World Health Organisation). One UN agency came into being before the official founding of the UN. This was UNRRA (the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration).

UNRRA was set up by the Allies in 1943 to deal with the huge number of refugees and stateless people that were expected at the end of the war. In 1945 there were an estimated 21 million refugees - people trying to escape from the conflict, people with no homes or survivors from the concentration camps. They had to be housed, fed and returned to their homes - if they still existed. Some had fled to escape not just the fighting but also the spread of Soviet Communism and these people had to be found new homes elsewhere.

The UN since 1945

The United Nations has been a greater success than the pre-war League of Nations. For one thing, all the major world powers are members (unlike the League which the USA did not join). It brings together a large number of countries - 50 in 1945 and about 160 today.

The UN can also use military force and peace-keeping troops to ensure its policies are supported - something the League of Nations could never do. Much of the best work of the UN has been carried out quietly by the agencies in the field of health, agriculture and education.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 76