Glossary : International Organizations

Amnesty International

It’s a Non-profit NGO founded in July 1961 by Peter Benenson in the United Kingdom. Its Global International Secretariat is in London, United Kingdom. Its objective is to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.

Andean Community

The Andean Community is a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence when the Cartagena Agreement was signed in 1969. Its headquarters are in Lima, Peru. Its objective is to end trade barriers among member nations and create a common market.

ANZUS Treaty {Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty}

ANZUS is a loose military alliance which is pledged to respond to aggression against any of its members viz.  Australia, New Zealand, United States. It provides that an armed attack on any of the three parties would be dangerous to the others, and that each should act to meet the common threat. It set up a committee of foreign ministers that can meet for consultation.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being negotiated amongst the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) trading bloc – Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Myanmar, Bangkok and Philippines with six of its partner countries – China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.

BENELUX

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, Benelux Parliament was established by an agreement signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on November 5, 1955. To achieve complete economic union of its members, the Benelux Union was signed on February 3, 1958.

INTERPOL

Interpol is a large network of police forces from 190 countries across the world. It is an organization which helps to combat and track crime and criminals which cross borders. Every member country has a dedicated office for Interpol. Interpol has both police and civilians as its staffers and thus is very effective against handling crime. Civilians are usually employed in finance, legal concerns and HR. The total number of people who can be employed at one time are 650 from across 90 different countries. Each member should have essential knowledge of atleast one of the four essential languages viz. English, French, Arabic and Spanish.

Interpol is able to identify, trace and catch international criminals who are on a run by using a secure police internet known as I-24/7. The police can access this through an I-link portal. This portal is also used to see the most wanted list of Interpol and raise alerts.

Another notable hub of Interpol is CCC i.e. its Command and Control Centre which works 24/7/365. It is like a central control room which coordinates all the activities of Interpol. It has regional centres at Lyon, France and Argentina. The next branch is due to open in Singapore. The staff at CCC are operating all the year round exchanging vital information by sending messages and alerts across the globe.

Arab League

The Arab League is a regional organization of Arab countries in and around North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Arabia.

Objectives

• Provide economic, political, cultural, scientific and social programmes designed to promote the interests of the Arab world.
• Draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them.
• Safeguard their independence and sovereignty and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries.

Founded

• on 22 March 1945 in Cairo in Cairo by six members viz. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

Members

• Currently, the League has 22 members including Syria whose participation has been suspended since November 2011.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO is intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual Defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO’s headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world’s defence spending.

CSTO

Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on 15 May 1992. On 7 October 2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a charter in Tashkent founding the CSTO. The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organisation cooperation. The 7 member states of CSTO are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Commonwealth of Independent States

CIS is a confederation of independent states which were formerly the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Commonwealth of independent states was established in 1991 following a summit in the Belo-Russian city of Bela-Russia (Belarus), Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova (Moldavia), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The administrative headquarters of the CIS is in the Belo-Russian city of Minks.

African Union

African Union (AU) is the successor of Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and came into existence in 2002 at Durban summit in South Africa. Its headquarters are Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As pan-African organization, AU aims at promoting unity and cooperation among African nations. It also strives to spread democracy and good governance in the continent. At present the African Union has a total of 54 members. Morocco is the only African country which is not the part of the Union. Its motto is A United and Strong Africa. In January 2015, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has been appointed as Chairman of African Union (AU).

OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of twelve oil-producing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

• OPEC has twelve member countries: six in the Middle East, four in Africa, and two in South America. Every member of OPEC is a net exporter of Oil.
• Indonesia withdrew in 2008 after it became a net importer of oil, but stated it would likely return if it became a net exporter again.
• Ecuador joined the organisation in 1973 and left it in 1991, while Gabon, which joined the group in 1975, dissociated with it in 1995.

OPEC was formed by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela in Baghdad in 1960. The organisation controls nearly 40 per cent of the international crude oil trade.

SEATO

In 1954 South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was signed on September 8, 1954 and established formally in Bangkok in 1955. The prime objective was to stop communalism in South West Asia. The members were Australia,   France ,  New Zealand ,  Thailand ,  Pakistan, Philippines  United Kingdom ,  United States. It was basically a Southeast Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Pakistan withdrew from it in 1973 and the organization was dissolved in 1977. India was neither interested in SEATO type of blocs and nor did it show any keenness in joining ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) at the time of its formation in 1967.

G-20

G20 is the premier forum (It is not an organisation) for global economic and financial cooperation. Being a forum it does not have any permanent secretariat or management and administrative structure.

It was established in 1999 as a meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on member countries in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The forum brings together 20 nations that represent world’s major advanced and emerging economies, representing around 85 per cent of global GDP.

Presidency of the G20

• Every year one nation holds the chair of G20 known as Presidency which rotates annually among its member groups.
• The presidency establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration till it holds the Chair.

Members

Brazil, China, Russia, India, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Canada, France, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea, United Kingdom (UK), United States (US) and European Union (EU).

G-77 and G-24

G-77 is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but by November 2013 the organization had since expanded to 134 member countries. Thailand holds the Chairmanship for 2016. This group fosters south-south cooperation and represents a block of developing countries. Out of them 24 countries created a G-24 as a chapter of G-77 in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues {including matters related to International Monetary Fund}.

Caribbean Community and Common Market {CARICOM}

It is an economic coalition of Caribbean countries viz. Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Haiti, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts- Nevis, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago. Its objective is to coordinate economic policies and development of member states and to aid the less developed member countries.

IOR-ARC

The Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), launched in Mauritius in March 1997, is a grouping of nineteen Indian Ocean-rim states, whose aims are to facilitate trade and investment in the region.

Member states include Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, the Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. China, Egypt, France, Japan and the United Kingdom are Dialogue Partners, while the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation is an Observer.

IOR-ARC activities include several on-going topical projects and work programs conducted by member countries of shared interests, all of which under the umbrella of 3 separate working groups, namely the Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI), the Indian Ocean Rim Business Forum (IORBF), and the Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG). The Association holds a Council of Ministers meeting once every two years.

BIMSTEC

BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative on Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is the sub-regional group of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia.

They are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka (from South Asia) and Myanmar, Thailand (from South East Asia).

It was established on 6 June 1997 and is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Objectives

Key objective of BIMSTEC is Technological and economical cooperation among south Asian and south East Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

It also covers cooperation in commerce, technology, investment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, fisheries, transport and communication, textiles, leather etc.

SCO {Shanghai Cooperation Organization

SCO is a Eurasian economic, political and military organisation with its headquarters in Beijing China. It was established in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders 6 countries viz. China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

It is an outcome of Shanghai Five grouping established in 1996 by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. SCO’s first enlargement was in 2001 with addition of Uzbekistan and second enlargement was in July 2015 with addition of 2 new members India and Pakistan. Since 2005, India was having an Observer status of SCO and had applied for full membership in 2014. India has become a full member of SCO in July 2015.

Arctic Council

Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. It was set up in 1996. It has eight member nations viz. Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and United States. There are 12 non-arctic countries with Observer status in Arctic Council viz. China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom.

Nordic Council

The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries-which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. It promotes co-operation between parliaments  (Denmark) den and governments of Nordic States.

World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international institution founded by Klaus Schwab, that works to improve the state of the world through public-private cooperation. It was established in 1971 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is an independent not-for-profit organization that works closely with other international organizations. It also works with leaders in the field of politics, business, academia to set global, regional and industrial agenda.

MERCOSUR

Mercosur is a custom union in South America. Its member countries are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Its associate countries are Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency.