The
United Nations Charter is the
treaty that forms and establishes the
international organization called
the
United Nations.
It was signed at the
South Dakota Civic Center of the San
Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center (part of the
Civic center
) in San
Francisco
, United States
, on June 26, 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member
countries (Poland
, the other
original member, which was not represented at the conference,
signed it later). It entered into force on October 24, 1945,
after being ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council—the Republic of
China
(later replaced by the People's
Republic of China
), France
, the
Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics
(later
replaced by the Russian
Federation
), the United Kingdom
, and the United States
—and a majority of the other
signatories.
As a
charter, it is a constituent treaty,
and all members are bound by its articles. Furthermore, the Charter
states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all
other treaty obligations.
Most countries
in the world have now ratified the Charter. One notable
exception
is the
Holy See, which has chosen to remain
a permanent observer state and therefore is not a full signatory to
the Charter.
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Organization of the document
The Charter consists of a
preamble and a
series of articles grouped into chapters.
The Preamble is as follows:
"We the peoples of the United Nations determined:to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime
has brought untold sorrow to mankind, andto reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human
person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large
and small, andto establish conditions under which justice and
respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources
of international law can be maintained, andto promote social
progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,And for
these ends:to practice tolerance and live together in peace with
one another as good neighbours, andto unite our strength to
maintain international peace and security, andto ensure, by the
acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed
force shall not be used, save in the common interest, andto employ
international machinery for the promotion of the economic and
social advancement of all peoples,Have resolved to combine our
efforts to accomplish these aims:Accordingly, our respective
Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San
Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good
and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United
Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be
known as the United Nations."
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 oversees 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.
Purposes of the United Nations
Chapter 1, Article 1 of the UN Charter states
The Purposes of the United Nations are
- To maintain international peace and
security, to take effective collective
measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace,
and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of
the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity
with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or
settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead
to a breach of the peace;
- To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect
for the principle of equal rights and
self-determination of peoples,
and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal
peace;
- To achieve international co-operation in solving international
problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian
character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human
rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as
to race, sex, language, or religion; and
- To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the
attainment of these common ends.
Chapter 1, Article 2 of the UN Charter states
The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated
in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following
Principles:
- The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign
equality of all its Members.
- All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and
benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the
obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present
Charter.
- All Members shall settle their international disputes by
peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and
security, and justice, are not endangered.
- All Members shall refrain in their international relations from
the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or
political independence of any state, or in any other manner
inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
- All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in
any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and
shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the
United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.
- The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members
of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so
far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace
and security.
- Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the
United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within
the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members
to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but
this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement
measures under Chapter Vll.
See also
Notes
External links