On the 24th October the World celebrates the founding of the United Nations, the organisation promotes social progress, human rights and world peace. To honour the UN, here are their greatest achievements since it was founded:

• Helping to save the lives of 90 million children:

In 1946, the United Nations Children's Fund was created, it won the Nobel Peace Prize just two years after it started and to this day it still works for the rights of children. Since then, the results have slowly got even better, in the last annual report, the fund says it has helped save over 90 million children since 1990.

• Getting rid of smallpox:

A U.N. agency, known as the World Health Organisation led the global effort to eradicate smallpox. By the time 1980 came around (nearly 13 years after an immunization campaign) the WHO declared smallpox extinct. Unlike other viral diseases, this was spread by man and so WHO officials realised that achieving the goal in ten years would mean locating and keeping all of the carriers completely isolated during the infectious period, this was a very ambitious goal, however it was still achieved.

• Saving the pyramids:

The U.N.'s cultural agency, UNESCO, holds a list of World Heritage Sites that they see as culturally significant and will take steps towards preserving and protecting. The area surrounding the Giza pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt was once in danger. Construction began for a new eight-lane highway a mile south of the landmarks in 1995, the change would have threatened the architectural site and its ancient structures. UNESCO then dispatched a team to go to Egypt and meet with the government authorities about diverting the highway and the officials agreed to do so.

We hope that this small glance into the things the U.N. has done is enough to remind you how lucky we are to live in a time like this, where human rights are fought for and immorally unjust events will not be without battle from organisations like the U.N..