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