Despite the contrast between its ideals and the reality of compromise and confrontation, the UN and its family of organizations offer opportunities to do interesting and often rewarding work. The UN's record in promoting health care, providing technical assistance, doing disaster relief and compiling statistical data is impressive. With about 67,000 employees, the UN and its affiliated organizations are a huge source of potential international employment. However, because of geographic recruitment, it can be difficult for even highly qualified Americans to find work there.
The UN's Organization
The UN has six main bodies. The General Assembly is its central organ.
Each of the 159 member states of the UN have one vote in the assembly, where some issues are decided by simple majorities, others by consensus. All UN bodies report to the Assembly, which votes on their recommendations, approves budgets and elects the Secretary-General. Unlike congressional decisions, the General Assembly's decisions are nonbinding.
The Secretary-General is the administrative chief of the UN. He heads the Secretariat, which does the UN's administrative work and has some 11,000 employees. The Security Council has the power to take action against threats to world peace. Its decisions are binding. It has 15 members, 5 of which are permanent (China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) and have veto power.
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) coordinates the UN's social and economic activities. Most of the specialized agencies report to ECOSOC or its commissions. The Trusteeship Council oversees non-independent trust territories. Today there is only one remaining trust, Micronesia. The International Court of Justice, located at The Hague in the Netherlands, decides international legal disputes between states that accept its jurisdiction. Its 15 judges are elected for 9-year terms and come from any of the member countries.
In addition to these 6 bodies, there are 15 specialized agencies that are intergovernmental and autonomous:
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO)
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank, IBRD)
- International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
- International Development Association (IDA)
- International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (I FAD)
- International Labor Organization (ILO)
- International Monetary Fund (Fund, IMF)
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- Universal Postal Union (UPU)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
- World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
There are also 14 voluntary agencies. These organizations, usually with semiautonomous status, were created by and report to the General Assembly. They are funded by voluntary contributions from member countries or other fund-raising efforts. (The UN Children's Fund [UNICEF], for example, raises almost a quarter of its budget by selling cards and calendars.)
Quota System, Language Requirements
The UN uses a quota system of "desirable ranges" to make sure all member countries are represented by at least some of their nationals. This range is determined in part by the amount of money the country gives and by its population. Regardless of how little a nation gives or how small its size, the UN believes that all member states should be represented on the Secretariat staff by at least 2 to 14 people. This is not always possible; certain countries are underrepresented or not represented at all.
The U.S. contributes the largest amount of money to the UN and thus has the largest number of posts. It is rarely underrepresented. Because staffing offices try to redress geographical imbalances as openings arise, even highly qualified American applicants can experience difficulty getting UN posts.
The UN is making an effort to hire more women for its many professional staff. In 1978, the General Assembly set 1982 as a target date when women would hold 25% of UN professional posts. The goal has not yet been met, and most women at the UN still remain clustered in low-level administrative posts. The UN has also been striving to integrate Third World nationals into senior and policy-formulating posts so that it will have "the largest possible number of Member States represented at the highest levels of the Secretariat." Given the limited number of openings, budget constraints and internal promotions, the UN has a long way to go.
Some positions are exempt from the geographical quotas. These include temporary appointees (for less than one year), appointees to the United Nations Environment Program or overseas mission service, technical-assistance personnel and staff in posts with special language requirements. The latter are generally translators and interpreters. All UN Secretariat personnel are required to speak French and English. Staff are also encouraged to know one of the other working UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
