There are 5 main organs in the UN :

  • The General Assembly
  • The Security Council
  • The Secretariat
  • The International Court of Justice
  • The Economic and Social Council


All countries get together in the General Assembly. It normally meets once a year, but it doesn't have any real power. It discusses problems and recommends ways to solve them. In the General Assembly each country has one vote.

The Security Council is the main body of the UN. It gets together almost every day and it has the most power. Member countries must do what the Security Council decides. There are 15 members in this council – five of them are permanent : The United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain. These countries have a right to veto anything. The other 10 members change all the time. They stay in the Security Council for 2 years.

The Security Council makes very important decisions and all the countries have to obey them. It tries to keep peace in the world and also tries to solve conflicts that endanger world peace. It also sends peacekeepers to countries where there is trouble.

The Secretary General has a lot of power in the UN. He is the highest official and is elected for five years by the General Assembly. He often travels around the world to settle conflicts between countries. At present, António Guterres is Secretary General of the UN. He was elected in 2017 and comes from Portugal .

The World Court makes decisions when two countries argue about something. It has independent judges that are elected by the UN.


Image: (modified) historicair, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons 

Meeting room of the Security Council in New York
Image: Per Krohg, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons



António Guterres
Image:European Commission (Christophe Licoppe), Attribution,
via Wikimedia Commons