[MUSIC] I'm speaking to you from Geneva Switzerland which is in many ways a perfect location to begin our exploration into the world of International Organizations. Besides its picturesque location on Lac Léman, surrounded by the snow-capped Alps, Geneva is in many ways a global capital for international organizations. It is the home of the United Nations headquarters in Europe. It is the home of many headquarters for United Nations specialized and other United Nations agencies and programs. For example, not far from here is the United Nations refugee agency. The UN High Commission for Refugees which provides legal assistance, legal protection, and emergency relief to people fleeing persecution in countries all around the world. Further down the road lies the World Trade Organization which deals with the global rules of international trade. And provides a forum for its member states to sort out issues, disputes, challenges that face them in their international trading practices. This WTO or World Trade Organization should not be confused with another WTO, the World Tourism Organization. Which is the United Nations agency that provides a place for promoting responsible, sustainable, and accessible tourism. Further down the road is the beautiful Palais Wilson, named after former US President Woodrow Wilson, a champion of the League of Nations, as we will hear later. And which was a precursor to today's United Nations. The Palais Wilson currently houses the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In addition to those agencies that I have mentioned, just a stones through from this university of Geneva building, where I teach, are a number of headquarters of a number of other large international organizations. For example, the alphabet soup ITU, the International Telecommunications Union, one of the oldest modern contemporary international organizations originally founded in 1865 as the International Telegraphic Union. WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization. ILO, the International Labor Organization. WHO, the World Health Organization. And my own UNAIDS, the joint United Nations program on HIV and AIDS. Just to name a few. Geneva is also a humanitarian capital of the world with its many organizations devoted to saving lives, promoting human dignity, alleviating human suffering, and providing humanitarian relief to people in need all around the world. Geneva is the home of the headquarters of the largest humanitarian organization in the world. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. It is the home also of a separate Red Cross Organization, the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. An independent neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict, and applying the rules of the so-called laws of war based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949. In addition, there are a large number of international non-governmental organizations operating here in Geneva. Operating in the areas of human rights, of humanitarian affairs, of health, food, population, environment, climate, economic affairs, labor, development work, and the like. In the short time that we have together, we will introduce you to a History of International Organizations, the Theory and Practice of Operating in International Organizations. And the Global Governance Context of a Main Subject of International Organizations namely, the United Nations. And we will look at the UN Charter and its role and functions. [MUSIC]