Insight Plus - Part 16 – The United Nations | Текст песни

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• Insight Plus
• Part 16 – The United Nations

NB: Please note this is not a word for word transcript of the audio programme
Группа Learning Engllish. Транскрипт:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/scripts/insight/tae_insight_16_11bs_081106.pdf

Abigail: In this series, we’re considering the major themes of BBC World Service
news programmes. Giving you the background facts and key language you
need. Today’s “big story” is the United Nations. Its central role in
international politics means the organisation is mentioned in news reports
daily and images of the UN are familiar to many of us - from the blue berets
of its peacekeeping forces, to the logo of the UN itself: a picture of the world
held in the 'olive branches of peace'.
But how many of us really understand how the UN works? Our reporter
Colin Babb went to meet BBC World Service reporter Pam O’Toole. Pam is
a former UN correspondent for the BBC and she’s also worked for the UN
in Geneva. She explained to Colin how it all began:
Clip Pam O'Toole
The United Nations was born in 1945 after the horrors of the Second World War, it developed
in a way from the League of Nations that had been formed after the First World War, but
collapsed. The aim was to preserve security through international cooperation.
Colin: Why does a country join?
Pam: It started out with 51, now 190 members - so massive increase. People join because if
they haven't joined, they're not part of the international club. Most countries belong to it
because it gives them a voice in international affairs. Members have missions to the UN, they
meet other diplomats and bargain on resolutions.
Abigail: As we’ve mentioned, the UN is often in the news and there’s a whole UN
vocabulary that goes with it. Terms like veto, Security Council, General
Assembly - and perhaps the most frequent, ‘resolution’ and ‘draft
resolution’:
Clip Pam O'Toole
A resolution is a document which states ‘The UN resolves to do this or that’. It takes note of
the situation in a country, it believes that this step should follow and sometimes it lays down a
deadline that by this date such and such a country should have taken this step.
If it’s a General Assembly resolution, it doesn’t have any binding power over member states.
The General Assembly - which is kind of a parliamentary body almost, one country one vote -
can consider a draft resolution, adopt a draft resolution either by voting on it or by consensus -
but that won’t have any binding power. Any resolution adopted by the Security Council has
binding power on a member state so it should actually take action on what the Security
Council says.
Abigail: The Security Council and the General Assembly are just two parts of the UN
- a massive organisation, which is made up of many smaller organisations.
Other important parts of the UN are the International Court of Justice and
the Secretariat, as well as 15 agencies and several other programmes and
bodies. The UN carries out scientific research, promotes health, distributes
aid, has a peacekeeping force. You might have heard of UNHCR, which is
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, or UNICEF - the United
Nations Children's Fund.
The General Assembly is the main parliament of the UN, and the Secretariat
administers the UN, it carries out the day-to-day work of the organisation.
Altogether thousands of people work for the UN all round the world - with
its headquarters in New York and offices in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut,
and Santiago among others. The Security Council is made up of 15 member
states. 5 of those are permanent members, and the ways those members were
chosen very much reflects the politics of the time the UN was formed - the
war in Europe had just ended and the Cold War between communist and
capitalist countries was just emerging:
...