The United Nations

In August 1945, while the Second World War was not yet over, the USA dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August). The bombs destroyed buildings, more than a hundred thousand people died, and radiation caused illness for a long time. The girl Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima, was two years old when the bomb fell; at twelve she fell ill with a sickness linked to radiation. According to Japanese belief, a person who folds a thousand paper cranes will recover; Sadako folded cranes but died. On her classmates’ initiative, people set up the “Children’s Peace Monument” in Hiroshima in her memory. So that there should never be another terrible war, the United Nations (UN) was founded on 24 October 1945. Its main aims: to keep peace in the world; to develop friendship among peoples; to act together against hunger, disease and illiteracy; to protect the environment; to respect human rights. The UN headquarters is in New York in the USA and the organization is led by a Secretary-General. Today almost every country in the world, more than 190, is a member. Uzbekistan became a UN member on 2 March 1992. Since then it takes part as an equal state, and a UN office works in Tashkent.