UN specialised agency
Also called: Specialised agencies of the United Nations · Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A UN specialised agency is a separate international organisation that works in one field, such as education, health or labour. Each one has its own founding treaty, its own member states, its own budget and its own head. A formal agreement links it to the United Nations, and it reports through the UN's Economic and Social Council. So it is part of the "UN family" but not a department of the UN itself. Its tools are mostly persuasion, expert help, standard-setting and raising money. It cannot punish states.
Example
UNESCO is a specialised agency for education, science and culture. Its founding treaty, the UNESCO Constitution, was signed in London on 16 November 1945. It came into force (became legally binding) on 4 November 1946, when the 20th country accepted it. Other examples are WHO (health), ILO (labour) and FAO (food and agriculture). India is a member of all of them.
Don't confuse with
- UN programmes and funds (such as UNICEF and UNDP): they are bodies set up by the UN General Assembly and depend on it. They have no separate founding treaty or membership of their own.
- Bodies a UN agency helped to create (such as CERN): a 1954 UNESCO resolution led to CERN, but CERN runs as an independent intergovernmental organisation. It is not a UNESCO body and not a UN specialised agency.