THE UN SYSTEM

Fourteen independent agencies make up the "UN System" alongside many of the organisation's own programmes and agencies.

The independent agencies include the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organisation. They are linked to the UN by cooperation agreements.

The UN's own major agencies and programmes include:

· International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - UN's nuclear watchdog, based in Vienna

· International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) - set up to try those suspected of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague

· UN Children's Fund (Unicef) - promotes child health, education, protection

· UN Development Programme (UNDP) - committed to reducing poverty, developing infrastructure, promoting democratic governance

· UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) - based in Paris, aims to promote peace and development through education, science, culture and communication

· UN Environment Programme (Unep) - based in Nairobi, promotes environmental protection

· UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - safeguards rights and well-being of refugees; based in Geneva

· UN Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA) - dedicated agency providing assistance solely to Palestinian refugees and their descendants

· World Food Programme - based in Rome; "frontline agency in the fight against hunger"

LEADERSHIP

Secretary-general: Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, took up the post on 1 January 2007.

He was re-elected for a second term by the UN General Assembly, unopposed and unanimously, in June 2011, with effect from 1 January 2012.

Mr Ban, who is the first Asian secretary-general for 35 years, describes his priorities as mobilising world leaders to deal with climate change, economic upheaval, pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy and water.

In style, he prefers quiet diplomacy and sees himself as a bridge-builder, aiming to give voice to the world's poorest and most vulnerable people, and to strengthen the UN itself, which was dented when he took office by scandals over the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, and corrupt procurement.

He was born in Chungju, Korea, in 1944 and studied international relations at Seoul University. He worked at South Korea's UN mission before joining the government.

He succeeded Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian, who became the UN's seventh secretary-general in 1997. He was re-elected for a second term in 2001.

The General Assembly elects the secretary-general for a five-year renewable term. The post is often filled by candidates from smaller, neutral nations.

ISSUES

The US-led war in Iraq in 2003 - launched without Security Council authorisation - led to apocalyptic predictions of the collapse of the council and of the UN system.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that pre-emptive attacks "could set precedents that result in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force".

He added that the UN could only head off unilateral military responses by showing that it could respond collectively to the security concerns of individual countries.

The possibility of pre-emptive action would mark a major departure from the charter, which advocates containing threats through containment and deterrence.

Peacekeeping

The UN has taken on an increasingly interventionist approach since the end of the Cold War, the tense stand-off between the Soviet bloc and the West which dominated much of the organisation's first four decades.

But despite some successes in the peacekeeping arena, operations in Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia were flawed, failing to prevent massacres and even genocide.

A 2000 report criticised the UN's insistence on neutrality in situations where one side resorted to violence, warning that this could render missions ineffective.

The organisation's blue and white olive branch motif does not guarantee safety; more than 1,500 peacekeepers have been killed since the UN's inception.

Power

The share-out of power in the UN, particularly in the Security Council, is hotly debated. Critics say the over-riding influence of the council's five permanent members is unfair.

The former secretary-general Kofi Annan, among others, has described the structure of the council as anachronistic. The major powers on the Security Council oppose moves to give more power to the General Assembly.

Corruption

The UN came under heavy fire in 2005 when an investigation into the oil-for-food programme that it operated with Saddam Hussein's Iraq found that the scheme had been mismanaged and was riddled with corruption. It criticised the secretary-general for failing to oversee the programme adequately.

Peacekeeping operations have been hit by accusations of fraud, as well as charges of sexual abuse by peacekeeping troops.

Money

Having been mired in a financial crisis for many years, the UN has come under pressure to cut spending and to slim down its bureacracy. Member nations owe the organisation billions of dollars.

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