The United Nations supports the key role the UK public services have in the UN peacekeeping operations and military action. E.g. in Afghanistan and Iraq. The UN can utilise the armed and civilian public services to help maintain peace and resolve conflict globally. The decisions the UN make can a have a big impact on the UK public services. They may be required to support peacekeeping operations to provide and deliver aid in times of large scales overseas disaster such as the Asian tsunami in 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe.
The Council of the European Union, which represents the member states, is the EU’s main decision-taking body. When it meets at Heads of State or Government level, it becomes the European Council whose role is to provide the EU with political impetus on key issues.
The European Parliament, which represents the people, shares legislative and budgetary power with the Council of the European Union.
The European Commission, which represents the common interest of the EU, is the main executive body. It has the right to propose legislation and ensures that EU policies are properly implemented.
The European Union is more than just a confederation of countries, but it is not a federal state. It is, in fact, a new type of structure that does not fall into any traditional legal category. Its political system is historically unique and has been constantly evolving over more than 50 years.
As you would expect, Europe must work together on a variety of issues and the decisions made at EU level can have a great impact on UK public services. E.g. the situation in Kosovo in the mid 1990s highlighted the importance of a rapid reaction force to target trouble spots in Europe.
http://europa.eu/abc/12lessons/index_en.htm
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed on the 4th April 1949 and is an based on the . The are in , and the organization constitutes a system of whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
NATO promotes democratic values and encourages consultation and cooperation on defence and security issues to build trust and in the long run to prevent conflict.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders.
The armed services need to be ready to cooperate with NATO’S commands. The British government will send the armed service wherever they think they are needed. This means the deployment of peace keeping forces or rapid reactions forces in missions such as the NATO-led Kosovan force (KFOR) and the stabilisation Force (SFOR) both of which used British troops as part of peace keeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s.
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-27AEBB38-BD18634A/natolive/organisation.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO
The European Court of Human Rights was started in 1959, based on principles set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. It is based in Strasbourg and considers cases initiated by organisations, states and individuals against any country which has signed up to the convention; namely, most of the European Nations.
It is run by the Council of Europe; the human rights body. Any country that has a decision against it must comply with the ruling of the Court, although the Court itself cannot enforce anything. Essentially the Country is bound by the fact that it is a member of the European Union.
The Convention was adopted under the auspices of the , all 47 of whose member states are parties to the Convention.
The European Court of Human Right has an impact on the public services and this was shown by when the ECHR decided in 1999 that the armed services ban on homosexuals serving in the forces was illegal and now the armed services now have no ban on homosexuality. (More can be read upon the public services book 1 on page 281)
http://www.abouthumanrights.co.uk/european-court-human-rights.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Human_Rights
