Documents for "International Organizations":

• African Union (AU), international organization established in 2002 by the nations of the former Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU is the successor organization to the OAU, with greater powers to promote African economic, social, and political integration, and a stronger commmitment to democratic principles. The...

• Afro-Asian Bloc see Third World.

• Alliance for Progress Span. Alianza para el Progreso, U.S. assistance program for Latin America begun in 1961 during the presidency of John F. Kennedy. It was created principally to counter the appeal of revolutionary politics, such as those adopted in Cuba (see Fidel Castro ). It called for vast multilateral programs to relieve the continent's poverty and social inequities and ultimately included U.S. programs of military and police assistance to counter Communist...

• Amnesty International (AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair trial of political...

• Anzus Treaty defense agreement signed in 1951 by Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The name Anzus is derived from the initials of the three signatory nations. As a result of the reestablishment of peace between Japan and the United States in 1951, Australia and New Zealand asked for a treaty...

• Arab League popular name for the League of Arab States, formed in 1945 in an attempt to give political expression to the Arab nations. The original charter members were Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan (now Jordan), Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. A...

• Arab Maghreb Union see under Maghreb.

• ASEAN see Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation see under Pacific Rim.

• Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), organization established by the Bangkok Declaration (1967), linking the nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Subsequently, Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995),...

• Atlantic Charter joint program of peace aims, enunciated by Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States on Aug. 14, 1941. Britain at that time was...

• Barents Council see under Barents Sea.

• Benelux Economic Union economic treaty among Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It arose out of a customs convention signed in 1944, but was not fully established until 1958. The union was established to promote...

• British Commonwealth of Nations see Commonwealth of Nations.

• Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), organization founded by the Treaty of Chaguaramas (Trinidad; 1973, revised 2001) and including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti (suspended...

• Central American Common Market (CACM), trade organization envisioned by a 1960 treaty between Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. The treaty established (1961) a secretariat for Central American economic...

• Central American Federation or Central American Union, political confederation (1825-38) of the republics of Central America—Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador. United under a captaincy general in Spanish colonial times, they...

• Central European Initiative organization founded in 1991 to promote economic and political cooperation in the region between the Adriatic and Baltic seas. Members include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech...

• Chapultepec, Act of see Pan-Americanism.

• Colombo Plan international economic organization created in a cooperative attempt to strengthen the economic and social development of the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Officially the Colombo Plan...

• Colonial Conference, British see Imperial Conference.

• COMECON see Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

• Cominform [acronym for Communist Information Bureau], information agency organized in 1947 and dissolved in 1956. Its members were the Communist parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Italy,...

• Comintern [acronym for Communist International], name given to the Third International , founded at Moscow in 1919. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin feared a resurgence of the Second, or Socialist, International under non-Communist leadership. The Comintern was established to claim Communist leadership of the world socialist movement. The...

• Common Market see European Economic Community.

• Common Market of the South see Mercosur.

• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), community of independent nations established by a treaty signed at Minsk, Belarus, on Dec. 8, 1991, by the heads of state of Russia , Belarus , and Ukraine. Between Dec. 8 and Dec. 21, the...

• Commonwealth of Nations voluntary association of Great Britain and its dependencies, certain former British dependencies that are now sovereign states and their dependencies, and the associated states (states with full...

• Conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers see Imperial Conference.

• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON or MEA), international organization active between 1956 and 1991 for the coordination of economic policy among certain nations then under Communist domination, including Albania (which did...

• Council of Europe international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The council is...

• Council of the European Union branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) that has the final vote on legislation proposed by the European Commission and deliberated by the European Parliament. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the Council was established as the Council of Ministers of the European Communities in 1967, when the EU's predecessor, the European Community, was formally...

• Disarmament Conference 1932-37, meeting for the discussion of general disarmament. The first systematic efforts to limit armaments on an international scale, in either a quantitative or a qualitative sense, occurred at...

• disarmament, movements for see peace congresses ; pacifism.

• Doctors Without Borders Fr. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), international organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people suffering from a natural or societal disaster, such as an earthquake or war. MSF was founded (1971) by a group...

• Eastern European Mutual Assistance Treaty see Warsaw Treaty Organization.

• EC the European Community; see European Union.

• ECSC see European Coal and Steel Community.

• EEC see European Economic Community.

• EFTA see European Free Trade Association.

• EU see European Union.

• Euratom see European Atomic Energy Community.

• Europe, Council of see Council of Europe.

• European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom or EAEC), economic organization that came into being as the 3d treaty organization of what has become the European Union ; established by the Treaty of Rome (1958). The members pledged themselves to the common development of Europe's nuclear energy resources by coordinating their nuclear research and development...

• European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), 1st treaty organization of what has become the European Union ; established by the Treaty of Paris (1952). It is also known as the Schuman Plan, after the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman , who proposed it in 1950. Member nations of ECSC pledged to pool their coal and steel resources by providing a unified market for their coal and steel products, lifting restrictions on imports and...

• European Commission branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) invested with executive and some legislative powers. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the European Community...

• European Community see European Union.

• European Council a consultative branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the heads of government of the EU nations and their foreign ministers, in conjunction with the president and two additional members from the European Commission. It meets at least twice a year. Meetings of the European Council often emphasize political as well as economic cooperation among EU nations; for example, the impetus for the move to have the...

• European Court of Human Rights see Council of Europe.

• European Court of Justice judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Located in Luxembourg, it was founded in 1958 as the joint court for the three treaty organizations that were consolidated into the European Community (the predecessor of the EU) in 1967. By...

• European Economic Area see European Free Trade Association ; European Union.

• European Economic Community (EEC), organization established (1958) by treaty between Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany (now Germany); it was known informally as the Common Market. The EEC...

• European Free Trade Association (EFTA), customs union and trading bloc; its current members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. EFTA was established in 1960 by Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal,...

• European Investment Bank nonprofit bank created in 1958 by the six founding countries of the European Economic Community (now part of the European Union [EU]). The bank makes or guarantees loans to EU members, principally for projects that will contribute to regional development within the union. Some loans are also made to nonmembers, including...

• European Monetary Agreement (EMA), international governmental organization to facilitate settlement of balance of payments accounts between member states. The EMA, which was administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), existed from 1958 until 1972, replacing the European Payments...

• European Monetary System arrangement by which most nations of the European Union (EU) linked their currencies to prevent large fluctuations relative to one another. It was organized in 1979 to stabilize foreign exchange...

• European Parliament a branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU). It convenes on a monthly basis in Strasbourg, France; most meetings of the separate parliamentary committees are held in Brussels, Belgium, and its Secretariat is located in Luxembourg. Its...

• European Payments Union see European Monetary Agreement.

• European Recovery Program see Marshall Plan.

• European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community (EC), an economic and political confederation of European nations, and other organizations (with the same member nations) that are responsible for a common foreign and security policy and for...

• Five-Power Treaty see naval conferences.

• Foreign Ministers, Council of organization of the foreign ministers of the World War II Allies—the United States, Great Britain, France, and the USSR—that, in a long series of meetings, attempted to reach political settlements...

• Four-Power Treaty see naval conferences.

• Francophonie, La officially the International Organization of the Francophonie, Fr. Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), an intergovernmental organization of French-speaking nations that promotes the education and culture of French speakers as well as peace, democracy, human rights, and economic cooperation...

• French Community established in 1958 by the constitution of the Fifth French Republic to replace the French Union. Its members consisted of the French Republic, which included metropolitan France (continental France, Corsica, Algeria and the Sahara), the overseas territories (Comoro Islands, French Polynesia,...

• GCC see Gulf Cooperation Council.

• Geneva Conference any of various international meetings held at Geneva, Switzerland. Some of the more important ones are discussed here. 1 International conference held Apr.-July, 1954, to restore peace in Korea and Indochina. The chief participants were the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, the Viet Minh party, Laos, and Cambodia...

• Geneva Convention see prisoners of war ; Red Cross.

• Group of Eight see Group of Seven.

• Group of Seven (G7), international organization officially established in 1985 to facilitate economic cooperation among the world's largest industrial nations; summit meetings of the member nations began in 1975...

• Group of Seventy Seven (G77), international organization, established in 1967 to promote economic cooperation and greater influence in world affairs among developing countries. Originally consisting of 77 countries, in...

• Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), officially Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, organization (est. 1981) promoting stability and economic cooperation among Persian Gulf nations. Its members are Bahrain,...

• Hague Conferences term for the International Peace Conference of 1899 (First Hague Conference) and the Second International Peace Conference of 1907 (Second Hague Conference). Both were called by Russia and met at...

• Helsinki Conference see Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

• Inter-American Conferences see Pan-Americanism.

• International Grenfell Association organization established in 1912 to aid the efforts of Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865-1940), an English physician and missionary to the people of Labrador, Canada. The association has helped...

• International Red Cross see Red Cross.

• Kellogg-Briand Pact agreement, signed Aug. 27, 1928, condemning "recourse to war for the solution of international controversies." It is more properly known as the Pact of Paris. In June, 1927, Aristide Briand , foreign minister of France, proposed to the U.S. government a treaty outlawing war between the two countries. Frank B. Kellogg , the U.S. Secretary of State, returned a proposal for a general pact against war, and after prolonged negotiations the Pact of Paris was signed by 15 nations—Australia, Belgium, Canada,...

• Latin American Free Trade Association see Latin American Integration Association.

• Latin American Integration Association (LAIA), organization formed in 1980 by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, taking over the duties of the Latin American Free Trade...

• League of Arab States see Arab League.

• London Conference several international conferences held at London, England, in the 19th and 20th cent. The following list includes only the most important of these meetings. At the London Conference of 1830-31 the chief powers of Europe met to discuss the status of Greece. It was decided that Greece should be a fully independent principality, instead of an autonomous state as had been provided in the...

• Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program, project instituted at the Paris Economic Conference (July, 1947) to foster economic recovery in certain European countries after World War II. The Marshall Plan took form when U.S. Secretary of...

• Mercosul see Mercosur.

• Mercosur or Mercosul, officially the Common Market of the South, Latin American trade organization established in 1991 to increase economic cooperation among the countries of E South America. It is commonly known as...

• NATO see North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

• naval conferences series of international assemblies, meeting to consider limitation of naval armaments, settlement of the rules of naval war, and allied issues. The London Naval Conference (1908-9), composed of delegates of 10 powers, resulted in the influential Declaration of London (see London, Declaration of ). After World War I, U.S. President Harding called the Washington Conference (1921-22). Several treaties resulted. The Five-Power Treaty limited tonnage of aircraft carriers and capital ships and arranged for the United States, Great Britain, and France to scrap a number of...

• Nine-Power Treaty see naval conferences.

• Nonaligned Movement organized movement of nations that attempted to form a third world force through a policy of nonalignment with the United States and Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, India, and Indonesia were instrumental...

• Nordic Council international consultative body, created in 1952 by Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Finland joined the council in 1955. The territories of the Faeroes and the Åland Islands have been...

• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), accord establishing a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. NAFTA immediately lifted tariffs on...

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), established under the North Atlantic Treaty (Apr. 4, 1949) by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United...

• nuclear disarmament see disarmament, nuclear.

• OECD see Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

• OPEC see Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been founded in 1948 to coordinate the Marshall Plan for European economic recovery following World War II. The organization has 29 full members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great...

• Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), international organization established as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973, during the cold war , to promote East-West cooperation. Headquarters are in Prague, Czech Republic. The CSCE's 1975 meeting in Helsinki, Finland, ratified the acts commonly known as the Helsinki Accords, which were...

• Organization of African Unity (OAU), former international organization, established 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 37 independent African nations to promote unity and development; defend the sovereignty and territorial...

• Organization of American States (OAS), international organization, created Apr. 30, 1948, at Bogotá, Colombia, by agreement of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El...

• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), multinational organization (est. 1960, formally constituted 1961) that coordinates petroleum policies and economic aid among oil-producing nations. Its Board of Governors and board...

• Pan-American Health Organization inter-American health organization. It was established in 1902 as the International Sanitary Bureau; the present name was adopted in 1958. Its members include all the Latin American nations,...

• Pan-American Union former name for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS). It was founded (1889-90) at the first of the modern Inter-American Conferences (see Pan-Americanism ) as the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics and changed to the International Bureau of the American Republics in 1902. The name Pan-American Union was adopted in 1910. Created to promote...

• Pan-Americanism movement toward commercial, social, economic, military, and political cooperation among the nations of North, Central, and South America.

• Pan-Arabism general term for the modern movement for political unification among the Arab nations of the Middle East. Since the Ottoman Turks rose to power in the 14th cent., there have been stirrings among Arabs for reunification as a means of reestablishing Arab political power. At the start of World War I, France and Great Britain, seeking allies against the German-Turkish alliance, encouraged the cause...

• Paris Pacts four international agreements signed in Paris on Oct. 23, 1954, to establish a new international status for West Germany. Since the end of World War II, West Germany had been occupied by Allied...

• Paris, Pact of see Kellogg-Briand Pact.

• Partnership for Peace see under North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

• peace congresses multinational meetings to achieve or preserve peace and to prevent wars. Although philosophical and religious pacifism is almost as old as war itself, organized efforts to outlaw war date only from the middle of the 19th cent. The term "peace congress" is applied to a meeting of diplomats to end specific wars by peace treaties, as well as to an international gathering convened to urge measures for preventing future wars. International efforts...

• Red Cross international organization concerned with the alleviation of human suffering and the promotion of public health; the world-recognized symbols of mercy and absolute neutrality are the Red Cross, the...

• Rio Treaty (Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance), signed Sept. 2, 1947, and originally ratified by all 21 American republics. Under the treaty, an armed attack or threat of aggression against a...

• SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks: see disarmament, nuclear.

• SEATO see Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

• Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), alliance organized (1954) under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty by representatives of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and...

• Southern Common Market see Mercosur.

• Third World the technologically less advanced, or developing, nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, generally characterized as poor, having economies distorted by their dependence on the export of...

• Warsaw Treaty Organization or Warsaw Pact, alliance set up under a mutual defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, in 1955 by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. The organization...

• Washington Conference see naval conferences.

• Western European Union (WEU), European security and defense organization. It was set up in Brussels in 1955 as a defensive, economic, social, and cultural organization, consisting of Belgium, France, Germany, Great...

• WEU see Western European Union.

• World Trade Organization (WTO), international organization established in 1995 as a result of the final round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, called the Uruguay Round. The WTO is...