The United Nations. International law, visualized. The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization with 193 members, representing almost all of the world's sovereign states. It was created aFTER WORLD WAR II to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character; and to be a center for harmonizing action of nations. The United Nations, in pursuit of these purposes, is required to act in accordance with the following seven principles, listed in article 2 of the charter: the sovereign equality of its members, the duty to fulfill all Charter obligations in good faith, to settle disputes by peaceful means, to refrain from the threat or use of force, to assist the United Nations, to ensure that non-members act following these principles so far as is necessary to maintain international peace and security, and the duty on the United Nations not to intervene in the domestic affairs of a State. The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly; the Security Council; the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); the Trusteeship Council; the International Court of Justice; and the UN Secretariat, in addition to other specialized agencies, funds, and programs like the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and the UNICEF.