Following in the wake of the failed League of Nations (1919–1946), which the United States never joined, the United Nations was established in 1945 to maintain international peace and promote cooperation in solving international economic, social and humanitarian problems. The earliest concrete plan for a new world organization was begun under the aegis of the U.S. State Department in 1939. Franklin D. Roosevelt first coined the term 'United Nations' as a term to describe the Allied countries. The term was first officially used on January 1, 1942 when 26 governments signed the Atlantic Charter, pledging to continue the war effort.[3] On 25 April 1945, the UN Conference on International Organization began in San Francisco, attended by 50 governments and a number of non-governmental organizations involved in drafting the Charter of the United Nations. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council, took place in Westminster Central Hall in London in January 1946.[4]
The UN's reputation was tarnished in 2003 after the Oil-for-Food scandal. The programme was established in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies for Iraqi citizens who were affected by international economic sanctions in the wake of the first Gulf War. Allegations of abuse and corruption surfaced in 2003, and Benon Sevan, the former director, was suspended and then resigned from the UN after he was found to have accepted bribes from the Iraqi regime. It was recommended that his UN immunity be lifted to allow for a criminal investigation.[5] Beyond Sevan, Kojo Annan, Kofi Annan's son, was alleged to...