United Nations



The United Nations (UN) is an international organization aimed at facilitating co-operation between the world's countries on a wide variety of topics. This travel topic covers the variety of interesting UN headquarters and sights all over the globe.

Understand
The United Nations was founded in the aftermath of World War II by the victorious powers, as a de facto replacement of the League of Nations, which had been founded after World War I with initially a much broader mission, but failed due to, among other things, its less than universal membership (the U.S. never joined, Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union left or were expelled in the 1930s). The UN's structure and bylaws still reflect that fact, as is evidenced by their seat in New York, and the composition of the Security Council (whose permanent members were World War II allies — the U.S., Russia, China, France and the U.K. — but are now often at loggerheads).

Most countries have some presence at the UN, even if they have relatively little other diplomatic presence abroad. Many UN agencies operate behind the scenes to establish global standards (such as the International Civil Aeronautics Organisation for passports, the Universal Postal Union for postal service or the World Health Organization for public health) which affect travel and communication worldwide.

UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, maintains the UNESCO World Heritage List‎ of more than a thousand global destinations, along with lists of creative cities and intangible cultural heritage.