The U.N Charter is the treaty that founded, unsurprisingly, the international organisation known as the United Nations. It was signed in 1945 by the original 51 member states towards the conclusion of World War 2 and ratified later that year by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the US, the USSR, China, France and the UK – the Security Council are for all intents and purposes the ‘winners’ of World War 2).

As of 2014, the vast majority of the recognised countries in the world (currently 193 out of 196) are now members of the United Nations and bound by the articles of the U.N. Charter. The three outliers? Kosovo (declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but not yet universally recognised as a state); Taiwan (the formerly recognised government of China); and Vatican City (which chooses to retain ‘observer-only’ status). The status of Palestine is also hotly disputed – I’ll come back to the Israel/Palestine issue later on in the blog as it’s unquestionably one of the World Peace biggies!

So, for the sake of this blog entry, what exactly does the United Nations Charter consist of? Sorry if this gets a bit dry (it is, but it’s important) but the long and the short of it is that it’s a preamble and a series of articles grouped into nineteen chapters. Selected highlights summarised below:

Preamble: “We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…..to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights…..in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small…..to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours…..to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security…..that armed forces shall not be used, save in the common interest…..and do hereby establish an international organisation to be known as the United Nations.”

Chapter 1 sets out the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. (“To maintain international peace and security…..take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace…..bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace…..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…..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…..be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends…..based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members…..All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means…..All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force…..All Members shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action…..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”)

I’ll try to explore this last point on intervening in matters within domestic jurisdiction further down the road; my concern being the U.N’s remit to intervene when a state is abusing its own people.

Chapter 2 just sets out more detail about the Membership of the U.N.

Chapter 3 establishes the U.N. General Assembly, the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. Economic & Social Council, the International Court of Justice and the U.N. Secretariat. Chapter 4 specifically sets out more detail about the U.N. General Assembly.

Chapter 5 sets out more detail about the U.N. Security Council (being the five permanent members, plus a further ten at any given time elected for two-year terms, its primary responsibility being the maintenance of international peace and security. U.N. Members agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council…it is tasked with the establishment of a system for the regulation of armaments…Security Council decisions are made by votes of 9/15 which must include a vote from all five permanent members (i.e. any of the permanent member states can veto a decision)…any non-member of the Security Council may participate in Security Council discussions as and when their interests are affected). Chapter 6 sets out more detail on the peaceful settlement of disputes and Chapter 7 sets out more detail on the Security Council’s powers of action to maintain peace. Chapter 8 sets out detail on the role of more regional organisations such as NATO.

Chapter 9 sets out more detail on international economic and social co-operation and Chapter 10 sets out detail on the U.N Economic and Social Council.

Chapter 11 sets out detail on ‘non-self-governing territories’ (overseas colonies, essentially), Chapter 12 sets out detail on the trusteeship system (the 1945 ‘territories’ held under mandate) and Chapter 13 sets out more detail on the U.N. Trusteeship Council (now essentially inactive).

Chapter 14 sets out more detail on the International Court of Justice.

Chapter 15 sets out more detail on the U.N. Secretariat (comprising the Secretary General and other staff, the Secretary General being appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council). The U.N. Secretariat is primarily located at the U.N. headquarters in New York City with regional commission secretariat in Baghdad, Bangkok, Geneva and Santiago; the function of the Secretariat includes producing reports, information, analysis, historical background, research findings, policy suggestions and translation services to facilitate deliberations and decision making by other bodies within the U.N.

Chapter 16 sets out miscellaneous provisions such as immunities for U.N. representatives. Chapter 17 sets out historical transitional security arrangements relating to World War 2 (as World War 2 had not quite concluded, members were actually allowed to continue attacking Japan, so we weren’t off to a blindingly optimistic start in terms of world peace…)

Chapter 18 provides for amendments to the U.N. Charter, mainly around the organisation’s size, and finally Chapter 19 provides for signature and ratification of the Charter by its Members. It’s worth noting that the U.N. Charter was opened for signature in June 1945 and ratified in October 1945. The American Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred between those two dates in August 1945, one of the bleakest actions in the history of humanity. This is the deeply depressing context within which the U.N. Charter was drafted and the United Nations came into being. Less than 70 years ago we almost completely destroyed ourselves.

If the above summary’s got your juices flowing, you can read the U.N. Charter in its entirety on the U.N. website

So that’s the Charter that set up the U.N. in a nutshell. I won’t lie to you – for all its faults, I hold onto the (perhaps naive) belief that the U.N, reformed and operating to its full potential, could one day bring about a sustainable World Peace. I won’t pretend that day’s close at hand. I also won’t pretend I wouldn’t one day like to work for the U.N. I do hold the potential of the organisation up on a pedestal. To find out more about the United Nations in general, jump to Adventure 4: United Nations.

There are other factors than the U.N. at play in World Peace too though, so let’s start spinning off in some different directions. To find out more about ‘the state that doesn’t participate’, jump to Adventure 5: Vatican City.

share this adventure...

Facebook

0

Twitter

Email

Google

Pinterest

0

Reddit

0

Tumblr

0

Diggit

Stumbleupon

0