Charter of the United Nations

Charter of the United Nations

UN Charter
Drafted	14 August 1941
Signed	26 June 1945 (1945-06-26)
Location	San Francisco, California, United States
Effective	24 October 1945
Condition	Ratification by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of the other signatory states.
Parties	193
Depositary	The Government of the United States of America
Languages	Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish
Full text
Charter of the United Nations at Wikisource

The United Nations Office at Geneva (Switzerland) is its second biggest centre after the UN headquarters in New York City.

The Charter of the United Nations, also referred to as the UN Charter, is the foundational treaty of the United Nations. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, including its principal organs: the Secretariat, General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice, and Trusteeship Council. The UN Charter is an important part of public international law, and is the foundation for much of international law governing the use of force, pacific settlement of disputes, arms control, and other important functions of the maintenance of international peace and security.

The UN Charter mandates the United Nations and its member states to maintain international peace and security, uphold international law, achieve "higher standards of living" for their citizens, address "economic, social, health, and related problems", and promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion". As a charter and constituent treaty, its rules and obligations are binding on all members and supersede those of other treaties.

During the Second World War, the Allies (formally known as the United Nations) agreed to establish a new postwar international organization. Pursuant to this goal, the UN Charter was discussed, prepared, and drafted during the San Francisco Conference that began 25 April 1945, which involved most of the world's sovereign nations. Following two-thirds approval of each part, the final text was unanimously adopted by delegates and opened for signature on 26 June 1945; it was signed in San Francisco, California, United States, by 50 of the 51 original member countries.

The Charter entered into force on 24 October 1945, following ratification by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (United States, China, France, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom) and a majority of the other signatories; this is considered the official starting date of the United Nations, with the first session of the General Assembly, representing all 51 initial members, opening in London the following January. The General Assembly formally recognized 24 October as United Nations Day in 1947, and declared it an official international holiday in 1971. With 193 parties, most countries have now ratified the Charter.

Summary

Insignia appeared in the frontispiece of the charter, prototype of the current logo of the United Nations.

The Charter consists of a preamble and 111 articles grouped into 19 chapters.

The preamble consists of two principal parts. The first part contains a general call for the maintenance of peace and international security and respect for human rights. The second part of the preamble is a declaration in a contractual style that the governments of the peoples of the United Nations have agreed to the Charter and it is the first international document regarding human rights.

• Chapter I sets forth the purposes of the United Nations, including the important provisions of the maintenance of international peace and security.
• Chapter II defines the criteria for membership in the United Nations.
• Chapters III–XV, the bulk of the document, describe the organs and institutions of the UN and their respective powers.
• Chapters XVI and Chapter XVII describe arrangements for integrating the UN with established international law.
• Chapters XVIII and Chapter XIX provide for amendment and ratification of the Charter.

The following chapters deal with the enforcement powers of UN bodies:

• Chapter VI describes the Security Council's power to investigate and mediate disputes;
• Chapter VII describes the Security Council's power to authorize economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions, as well as the use of military force, to resolve disputes;
• Chapter VIII makes it possible for regional arrangements to maintain peace and security within their own region;
• Chapters IX and Chapter X describe the UN's powers for economic and social cooperation, and the Economic and Social Council that oversee these powers;
• Chapters XII and Chapter XIII describe the Trusteeship Council, which oversaw decolonization;
• Chapters XIV and Chapter XV establish the powers of, respectively, the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Secretariat.
• Chapters XVI through Chapter XIX deal respectively with XVI: miscellaneous provisions, XVII: transitional security arrangements related to World War II, XVIII: the charter amendment process, and XIX: ratification of the charter.

Article 2(7) of the UN Charter explicitly recognizes the sovereignty of states and prohibits the United Nations from intervening in matters that are “essentially within the domestic jurisdiction” of any state. The only exception is actions authorized by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to maintain international peace and security.

History

Background

The principles and conceptual framework of the United Nations were formulated through a series of conferences during the Second World War. The Declaration of St James's Palace, issued in London on 12 June 1941, was the first joint statement of the declared goals and principles of the Allies, and the first to express a vision for a postwar world order. The Declaration called for the "willing cooperation of free peoples" so that "all may enjoy economic and social security".

Roughly two months later, the United States and the United Kingdom issued a joint, eight-point statement elaborating such goals, known as the Atlantic Charter. It set out (1) that these countries do not seek aggrandizement, (2) that no territorial changes be made against the wishes of the people, (2) the right to self-determination for all peoples, (3) restoration of self-government to those deprived of it, (4) furtherance of access for all states to trade and raw materials "needed for their economic prosperity", (5) global cooperation to secure better economic and social conditions for the world, (6) the "destruction of the Nazi tyranny" and freedom from fear and want, (7) freedom of the seas, and (8) "abandonment of the use of force" by disarming nations of "aggression" and establishing a wider Anglo-American world "security system" under mutual disarmament after the war. Many of these principles would inspire or form part of the UN Charter.

The following year, on 1 January 1942, representatives of thirty nations formally at war with the Axis powers—led by the "Big Four" powers of China, the Soviet Union, the U.K., and the U.S.—signed the Declaration by United Nations, which formalized the anti-Axis alliance and reaffirmed the purposes and principles of the Atlantic Charter. The following day, representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. The term "United Nations" became synonymous with the Allies for the duration of the war, and was considered the formal name under which they were fighting. The Declaration by United Nations formed the basis of the United Nations Charter; virtually all nations that acceded to it would be invited to take part in the 1945 San Francisco Conference to discuss and prepare the Charter.

On 30 October 1943, the Declaration of the Four Nations, one of the four Moscow Declarations, was signed by the foreign ministers of the Big Four, calling for the establishment of a "general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security". This was the first formal announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the moribund League of Nations.

Pursuant to the Moscow Declarations, from 21 August 1944 to 7 October 1944, the U.S. hosted the Dumbarton Oaks Conference to develop a blueprint for what would become the United Nations. Many of the rules, principles, and provisions of the UN Charter were proposed during the conference, including the structure of the UN system; the creation of a "Security Council" to prevent future war and conflict; and the establishment of other "organs" of the organization, such as the General Assembly, International Court of Justice, and Secretariat. The conference was led by the Big Four, with delegates from other nation participating in the consideration and formulation of these principles. At the Paris peace conference in 1919, it was Prime Minister Jan Smuts of South Africa and Lord Cecil of the United Kingdom who came up with the structure of the League of Nations with the League being divided into a League Assembly consisting of all the member states and a League Council consisting of the great powers. The same design that Smuts and Cecil had devised for the League of Nations was copied for the United Nations with a Security Council made up of the great powers and a General Assembly of the UN member states.

The subsequent Yalta Conference in February 1945 between the U.S., the U.K., and the Soviet Union resolved the lingering debate regarding the voting structure of the proposed Security Council, calling for a "Conference of United Nations" in San Francisco on 25 April 1945 to "prepare the charter of such an organization, along the lines proposed in the formal conversations of Dumbarton Oaks."

Drafting and adoption

Charter of the United Nations on display at UN Headquarters in New York.

Main article: United Nations Conference on International Organization

The San Francisco Conference, formally the United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO), began as scheduled on 25 April 1945 with the goal of drafting a charter that would create a new international organization. The Big Four, which sponsored the event, invited all forty-six signatories to the Declaration by United Nations. Conference delegates invited four more nations: the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Argentina and recently liberated Denmark.

The conference was perhaps the largest international gathering up to that point, with 850 delegates, along with advisers and organizers, for a total of 3,500 participants. An additional 2,500 representatives from media and various civil society groups were also in attendance. Plenary meetings involving all delegates were chaired on a rotational basis by the lead delegates of the Big Four. Several committees were formed to facilitate and address different aspects of the drafting process, with more than 400 meetings convened in the subsequent weeks. Following multiple reviews, debates, and revisions, a final full meeting was held on 25 June 1945 with the final proposed draft posed to attendees. Following unanimous approval, the Charter was signed by delegates the following day in Veterans' Memorial Hall.

The United States Senate, as part of the 79th United States Congress, ratified the Charter by a vote of 89–2 on 28 July 1945. By 24 October 1945, enough nations had ratified the Charter to officially bring the United Nations into existence.

Preamble

Main article: Preamble to the United Nations Charter

United States World War II poster containing the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations

World War II poster with the first line of the Preamble, "We the peoples of the United Nations"

Although the Preamble is an integral part of the Charter, it does not set out any of the rights or obligations of member states; its purpose is to serve as an interpretative guide for the provisions of the Charter through the highlighting of some of the core motives of the founders of the organization.

Chapter XV: The Secretariat

Main article: Chapter XV of the United Nations Charter

• It comprises the Secretary-General and such other staff as the organization may require.
• It provides services to the other organs of the United Nations, such as the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and the trusteeship council, as well as their subsidiary bodies.
• The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of Security Council.
• The staff of the secretariat is appointed by the Secretary-General according to the regulations laid down by the General Assembly.
• The secretariat is located at the headquarters of the U.N in New York.
• The secretariat also includes the regional commission secretariat at Baghdad, Bangkok, Geneva and Santiago.

Functions of the Secretariat

1. preparation of report and other documents containing information, analysis, historical background research finding, policy suggestions and so forth, to facilitate deliberations and decision making by other organs.
2. to facilitate legislative organs and their subsidiary bodies.
3. provision of meeting services for the General Assembly and other organs
4. provision of editorial, translation and document reproduction services for the issuance of UN documents in different language.
5. conduct of studies and provision of information to various member states in meeting challenge in various fields
6. preparation of statistical publication, information bulletin and analytical work which the General Assembly has decided
7. organization of conferences experts group meetings and seminar on topics of concern to the international community
8. provision of technical assistance to develop countries.
9. understanding of service mission to countries, areas or location as authorized by the General Assembly or the security council

Chapter XVI: Miscellaneous Provisions

Main article: Chapter XVI of the United Nations Charter

Article 103 of the Charter provides that in the situation of a conflict between obligations under the UN Charter and those under any other international agreement, the UN Charter’s obligations take precedence.

Chapter XVII: Transitional Security Arrangements

Main article: Chapter XVII of the United Nations Charter

Chapter XVIII: Amendments

Main article: Chapter XVIII of the United Nations Charter

The General Assembly has the power to amend the UN Charter. Amendments adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Assembly need to be ratified by two-thirds of the Member-States, including all the Permanent Members of the Security Council.

Chapter XIX: Ratification and Signature

Provided that the Charter would enter into force once ratified by the Permanent Five members of the United Nations Security Council and a majority of the other signatory states, and set forth related procedures, such as providing certified copies to ratifying governments.

Reform

The Global Governance Forum advocate for UN Charter reform, citing changes in geopolitics, inequality, and climate change. In 2024, The Forum published their draft of "A Second United Nations Charter". Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a comprehensive review of the UN Charter in his statement at the 2024 General Debate.

See also

• Command responsibility
• History of United Nations peacekeeping
• Nuremberg Principles
• UN Enemy State Clause
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Further reading

• Buhite, Russell (1986). Decisions at Yalta: An Appraisal of Summit Diplomacy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0842022686.
• Macmillan, Margaret (2001). Paris 1919 Six Months That Changed the World. New York: Random House. ISBN 9780307432964.

External links

• Full Text on the UN Website
• Scanned copy of the signed charter
• Original ratifications Archived 27 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
• Ratifications/admissions under Article IV Archived 29 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
• Alger Hiss recounts transporting the UN Charter after its signing.
• Procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Charter of the United Nations in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• Declaration of Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations
• Lecture by Annebeth Rosenboom entitled Practical Aspects of Treaty Law: Treaty Registration under Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• Roberts, Christopher N. J. (June 2017). "William H. Fitzpatrick's Editorials on Human Rights (1949)". Quellen zur Geschichte der Menschenrechte [Sources on the History of Human Rights]. Human Rights Working Group in the 20th Century.