Un Membership - Research Paper Example

College: Procedure for Gaining UN Membership The United Nations is an international organization founded after World War II with the aims of facilitating cooperation in economic development, international security, international law, human rights, social progress, and the achievement of world piece. The U.N. derives its membership from sovereign states of the world. Currently, the U.N has 193 member states, which encompass all the sovereign states in the world with an exception of Vatican City.

In order for a state to acquire U.N. membership, it has to satisfy a set of requirements and follow the due process as dictated by the U.N. Charter (Weiss and Daws, 126).The Security Council StageFirstly, the state seeking UN membership must submit a formal application to the secretary general of the United Nations. Usually, the head of state of that country writes and submits the application on behalf of the state. The application submitted must contain a clearly stated declaration that the state in question is in full acceptance of the obligations spelt out in the UN Charter.

The Secretary General then submits the application to the President of the Security Council, who presents it to a sitting of the Security Council for deliberation by its members. The Security Council reviews the application, and its members vote on whether to accept or reject it. The Security Council comprises 15 member states, including five states that are permanent members. These permanent members are Russia, France, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Recommendation for admission must receive nine affirmative votes out of the possible 15, provided that none of the permanent member states votes against it.

The Security Council then recommends the applicant state to the UN General Assembly for membership (UN News Center, www.un.org). The General Assembly StageThe General Assembly is the deliberative organ of the United Nations. It comprises all the member states of the UN and meets in regular annual sessions to deliberate on various issues. The General Assembly reviews the application and considers the human rights and political record of the applicant state to determine if it is a peace-loving state.

In addition, the General Assembly considers whether the Applicant State is fully willing and able to fulfill the obligations contained in the UN Charter. Finally, the members of the General Assembly present at the session take a vote regarding the application. The applicant state acquires membership if at least two-thirds of the member states vote in the affirmative. Following voting by the General Assembly, the Secretary General informs the applicant state of the decision reached by the Assembly.

If the General Assembly approves the application, membership of the UN becomes effective on the day that the General Assembly takes its decision regarding the application (United Nations, www.un.org).Sometimes the application fails at the Security Council stage due to failure to garner at least nine of the fifteen council votes in the affirmative, or failure to obtain at least one of the permanent member votes. In this case, the General Assembly considers the report of the Security Council and may then decide to return the application to the Security Council for further consideration.

The Assembly also sends a full record of the discussion undertaken by the members regarding the arguments for and against membership. On 14 July 2011, the newest country in the world, South Sudan, became the 193rd member of the United Nations after successfully completing this application process (UN News Center, www.un.org). Works CitedUN News Center. Process towards UN Membership gets under way for new nation of South Sudan. 2011. Retrieved 25 Nov 2012, from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39008&Cr=south+sudan&Cr1United Nations.

Rules of Procedure. UN website, 2009. Retrieved 25 Nov 2012, from http://www.un.org/en/ga/about/ropga/Weiss, Thomas and Daws, Sam. The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.