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United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is one of the main international organizations and actors in international law.  The UN was founded in June 26, 1945 following WWII with the express purpose of guarding peace and preventing war.  The principal constitutive document of the UN is the United Nations Charter.  In its nearly 65-year history, the UN has evolved into a complex bureaucracy, with a great number of subsidiary structures and organizations.  The five main organs of the UN are:

  1. United Nations General Assembly;
  2. United Nations Security Council;
  3. UN Economic and Social Council;
  4. UN Secretariat;
  5. International Court of Justice

 These five organizations, and related international organizations, are collectively known as the United Nations System.

The best resource for information on the United Nations is the United Nations website itself (www.un.org).  For the structure of the UN, see http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/structure/index.shtml.

"This is an action for damages brought by plaintiff . . . to compensate her for mental suffering claimed to flow from defendant cemetery's refusal to bury her husband, a Winnebago Indian . . . .  The contract of sale of the burial lot . . . provided that 'burial privileges accrue only to members of the Caucasian race.'"

"Plaintiff asserted that this provision was void under both the Iowa and the United States Constitutions and that recognition of its validity would violate the Fourteenth Amendment.  By an amendment to the complaint, plaintiff also claimed a violation of the United Nations Charter."

Rice v. Sioux City Memorial Park Cemetery, 349 U.S. 70, 71 (1955) (citation omitted).