Located in New York City, the United Nations, or the U.N. for short, was officially created in October 1945. This was right after World War II. All the countries were still struggling with the horror and expense of the war. e goal of creating the U.N. was to prevent any war like this from ever happening again. The idea was that the U.N. would create a space where nations could peacefully talk to each other about the problems they had instead of being violent. It also created international laws that were meant to force nations to try and peacefully solve their problems. e founders of the U.N. wanted to create a place where leaders could work together to protect citizens everywhere. Since 1945, the U.N. has changed some. It has grown and set some new goals. One of these goals is maintaining international peace and security, which means keeping nations from fighting each other. e U.N. also has set a goal to promote sustainable development. is means helping developing nations to grow in ways that are good for the people, the nation and the environment. e U.N. also protects human rights. is means that the leaders

at the U.N. want to make sure that people all over the world are treated well and have basic rights — even if that means protecting them from their own government. These are just a few of the things that the United Nations does around the globe.