More and more challenges of the modern world are global and require a common response from all countries. The UN is a place where responses to global challenges can be agreed and international efforts coordinated in emergency situations, where emergency response needs to be urgently delivered.

Right now, the UN has 193 member states. The youngest member state is South Sudan, which joined in July 2011.

The functioning of the United Nations is based on the Charter of the United Nations, which lays down the objectives and principles of the UN. Its main bodies are: the General Assembly (UNGA), the Security Council (UNSC), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Secretariat, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The UN is headed by the Secretary General. Since 1 January 2017, the post is held by António Guterres.

The UN has been conducting peacekeeping operations since 1948, when the Security Council authorised the presence of observers in the Middle East. The UN has conducted 70 peacekeeping operations so far, including 57 after 1988. Over several decades, hundreds of thousands of military personnel have been involved in UN peacekeeping operations, as well as tens of thousands of police officers and civilians from over 120 countries. More than 3,300 peacekeepers from nearly 120 countries were killed in the line of duty under the UN flag. Poland has a long and glorious history of taking part in peacekeeping missions. In 2018, Poland formally notified its willingness to increase its contribution to UN peacekeeping missions.  

Poland held the position of a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 2018-2019.