Moments and Milestones: Photo exhibit provides snapshot of UN’s 70-year history
In the wake of catastrophic war, and following months of intense negotiations, representatives of 51 countries laboured in 1945 to overcome differences and founded an enduring global institution for peace, security and human progress. They called it the United Nations. A new photo exhibit opening at UN Headquarters in November takes a look back at the Organization’s 70-year journey and some of the formative events that shaped its history.
In the wake of catastrophic war, and following months of intense negotiations, representatives of 51 countries laboured in 1945 to overcome differences and founded an enduring global institution for peace, security and human progress. They called it the United Nations. A new photo exhibit opening at UN Headquarters on 4 November takes a look back at the Organization’s 70-year journey and some of the formative events that shaped its history.
“When the United Nations was first established, it was an enormous gamble based on hope,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a recent address. “The world was in ruins. The founders of the United Nations knew that they had to do more than rebuild the bombed-out buildings with bricks; they had to build a lasting institution based on universal ideals.”
Entitled United Nations at 70: Moments and Milestones, the exhibit depicts an evolving Organization. From the first days of UN peacekeeping and political mediation to the world body's work providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, the collection of 70 images - organized by decade - illustrates how the UN has helped move societies from crisis to freedom and has worked to define and promote human rights, support the empowerment of women and protect, shelter, heal and educate the most vulnerable.
In 1948, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here, Eleanor Roosevelt, the US delegate to the Assembly who led the international drafting committee for the Declaration, displays a French translation of the text. UN Photo