The United Nations also have many other organisations The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) tries to find out if countries have atomic weapons. Its seat is in Vienna. The World Health Organisation is a UN programme to help control diseases all over the world. UNICEF is an organisation to help children in need in poor countries.

The United Nations needs a lot of money to keep up all of these organisations and programmes. It gets most of its money from the world’s rich countries like the United States (about 25 %), Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy. A lot of the money is used for peacekeeping missions.

In the past few years—after the end of the Cold War—the United Nations have played a more important role in the world. In 1991, the UN voted to take action against Iraq, which invaded Kuwait. But if important countries do not agree in the Security Council, like in the Iraq War of 2003, the United Nations cannot do very much to prevent conflicts.



UNICEF children's camp during Ukraine war
Image: UNICEF Ukraine from Kyiv, Ukraine, CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons



Words

  • agree = to say yes or to have the same opinion as someone else 
  • Cold War = the unfriendly relationship between the United States  and the Soviet Union after World War II
  • disease = illness
  • in need = if you need a lot of things, like food, clothes or a place to live ...
  • invade = if you march into another country with your own army
  • keep up = here: finance, give money to
  • peacekeeping mission = a job in which soldiers travel to a dangerous area and try to keep peace there 
  • prevent = stop from doing something
  • seat = the place or town where an organisation always meets
  • take action = to do something in order to solve a problem or conflict
  • weapon = guns, bombs, knives and other things you need to fight