Text 3. World International Organizations

Task 15. Read and translate the text. Comment on each world international organization.

 

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established 24 October 1945 to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations 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. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict. Official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish.

The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (for deciding international security issues, certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (for promoting international economic and social co-operation and development); the Secretariat (administrative organ of the UN for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (universal court for international law); and the United Nations Trusteeship Council (for administering trust territories, inactive since 1994).

UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, UNESCO, and UNICEF. The UN’s most prominent officer is the Secretary-General. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UN’s work.

 

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency (type) of the United Nations (UN). It was founded on the 16^th of November 1945; its Headquarters is in Paris, France. Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter.

UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its field offices are “ cluster ” offices covering three or more countries; there are also national and regional offices.

UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture, and communication/information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programs; international science programs; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity; translations of world literature; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.

UNESCO’s aim is “to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information”. Other priorities of the organization include quality Education For All and lifelong learning, addressing emerging social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency (type) dealing with labour (labor) issues, particularly international labour (labor) standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all. It was founded in 1919; headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. 185 of the 193 UN member states are members of the ILO.

In 1969, the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize for improving peace among classes, pursuing decent work and justice for workers, and providing technical assistance to other developing nations.

The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) is a non-governmental co-operative federation (type) or a co-operative union representing co-operatives and the co-operative movement worldwide. It was founded in 1895 in London to unite, represent and serve co-operatives worldwide. The ICA represents 272 co-operative federations and organizations in 94 countries (January 2014). The headquarters of ICA was in Geneva; in 2012 it moved to Brussels.

The Alliance provides a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and coordinated action for and about co-operatives. The members of the Alliance are international and national co-operative organizations from all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and workers. The Alliance has members from 100 countries, representing close to one billion individuals worldwide. Around one hundred million people work for a co-operative globally (served area). Co-operatives are successful values based businesses owned by their members. Whether they are customers, employees or residents, the members get an equal say in the business and a share of the profits.

In 2006 the ICA published the first major index of the world’s largest co-operative and mutual enterprises, the ICA Global 300, which demonstrated the scale of the co-operative movement globally.

On the first Saturday of July each year, the ICA coordinates celebrations of International Co-operative Day.

In December 2009, the United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives.

Greenpeace is non-governmental environmental organization with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, theNetherlands. It was founded between 1969-1972 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Greenpeace focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling, genetic engineering, and anti-nuclear issues.

Word Check

Task 16. Memorize the key terms, concepts, expressions and their meaning.

 

1.	replacement	замена, пополнение
2.	prevent	предотвращать, мешать, препятствовать
3.	headquarters	штаб-квартира
4.	assessed and voluntary contributions	определённые добровольные взносы
5.	maintain	поддерживать
6.	foster	поощрять, благоприятствовать
7.	famine, disaster	голод, стихийное бедствие
8.	deliberative	совещательный
9.	the General Assembly	Генеральная Ассамблея ООН
10.	the Security Council	Совет Безопасности ООН
11.	the Economic and Social Council	Экономический и Социальный Совет ООН
12.	the Secretariat	Секретариат ООН
13.	the International Court of Justice	Международный Суд ООН
14.	the United Nations Trusteeship Council	Совет по Опеке ООН
15.	pursue	продолжать
16.	promote	содействовать помогать
17.	cultural diversity	культурное разнообразие
18.	cultural and natural heritage	культурное и национальное наследие
19.	eradication of poverty	искоренение нищеты
20.	sustainable development	устойчивое развитие

Task 17. Answer the following questions, solve the problems, do the tasks.

 

1. Comment on the title of the text. What organizations are you going to speak? What does abbreviation stand for?

2. What are the types of these organizations?

3. When were these organizations founded / established? Establishment / Formation.

4. Where are these organizations’ headquarters?

5. What languages are considered to be official?

6. How many people are involved in each organization? What is the membership?

7. What is the area served by each organization?

8. What does abbreviation ICA stand for?

9. “Co-operative enterprises build a better world”. How do you understand this statement?

10. When does the ICA coordinate celebrations of International Co-operative Day?

 

Task 18. Write the correct word or phrase next to the definition.