The Charter of the United Nations

The Charter of the United Nations

Subject : International Relations

Context: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said Russia had “shamelessly violated” the core tenets of the United Nations Charter

The Charter of the United Nations is the founding document of the United Nations. It was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on 24 October 1945.

The United Nations can take action on a wide variety of issues due to its unique international character and the powers vested in its Charter, which is considered an international treaty. As such, the UN Charter is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it. The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Since the UN’s founding in 1945, the mission and work of the Organization have been guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter, which has been amended three times in 1963, 1965, and 1973.

The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, functions in accordance with the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which is annexed to the UN Charter, and forms an integral part of it

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.

Preamble of the Charter

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, and
• to 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, and
• to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
• to 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, and
• to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
• to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
• to 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.

Chapters of UN Charter

• Chapter Isets forth the purposes of the United Nations, including the important provisions of the maintenance of international peace and security.
• Chapter IIdefines 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,
• Chapter XVII: transitional security arrangements related to World War II,
• Chapter XVIII: the charter amendment process
• Chapter XIX: ratification of the charter