The Specialist Institutions of the United Nations

In contrast to the special organs, the specialist institutions were not created by the United Nations itself. Instead, they constitute international organisations with their own legal status, which the United Nations cooperates with on the basis of contractual agreements (special agreements according to Article 63 of the UN Charter).

Some of these specialist institutions - such as the World Post Union founded in 1874, for instance - existed long before the foundation of the United Nations in 1945. Some of them are active in the same fields as the special organs, which has often led to criticism of the United Nations concerning efficiency and work coordination [see Basic Course 5]. In formal terms, they constitute intergovernmental institutions, established respectively under their own international agreements, with their own membership and organisational structure, and their own budgets. They are linked to the United Nations via agreements which they make with the Economic and Social Council, that need to be approved by the General Assembly.

Gareis and Varwick conclude the following with regard to the work of the specialist institutions: "Similar to the case of the special organs, the conflict of interests between the industrial and developing nations is reflected within the sphere of the specialist institutions. Whereas the rich nations see the finance corporations in which they dominate due to the power of their vote, which is weighted according to financial shares, more so as having the capacity to exercise right and being efficient, the poorer countries place emphasis on the organisations for multilateral development cooperation, which are also however dependent on the support of the industrial nations. The work of even the relevant specialist institutions has hardly been capable of making a contribution to surmounting this imbalance. As for the United Nations as a whole and their specialist institutions, the success of their work relies essentially on the will of the supporting states to cooperate multilaterally."

[taken from: Sven Gareis/Johannes Varwick, Die Vereinten Nationen. Aufgaben, Instrumente und Reformen; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung Schriftenreihe Band 403, Bonn 2003, P. 62]

[Author: Ragnar Müller]

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