Charter of the United Nations 2

Charter of the United Nations

 

 

CHAPTER I

PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES

Article 1

The Purposes of the United Nations are:
1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end:
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;
2. 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;
3. To achieve international cooperation 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
4. To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the
attainment of these common ends.

Article 2

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes
stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following
Principles.
1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign
equality of all its Members.
2. 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.
3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by
peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and
security, and justice, are not endangered.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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 VII.

CHAPTER II

MEMBERSHIP

Article 3

The original Members of the United Nations shall be the states
which, having participated in the United Nations Conference on
International Organization at San Francisco, or having previously
signed the Declaration by United Nations of January 1, 1942, sign
the present Charter and ratify it in accordance with Article 110.

Article 4

1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other
peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the
present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are
able and willing to carry out these obligations .
2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United
Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly
upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Article 5

A member of the United Nations against which preventive or
enforcement action has been taken by the Security Council may be
suspended from the exercise of the rights and privileges of
membership by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the
Security Council. The exercise of these rights and privileges may
be restored by the Security Council.

Article 6

A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated
the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled
from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the
recommendation of the Security Council.

 

CHAPTER III

ORGANS

Article 7

1. There are established as the principal organs of the United
Nations: a General Assembly, a Security Council, an Economic and
Social Council, a Trusteeship Council, an International Court of
Justice, and a Secretariat.
2. Such subsidiary organs as may be found necessary may be
established in accordance with the present Charter.

Article 8

The United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility
of men and women to participate in any capacity and under
conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs.

CHAPTER IV

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Composition

1. The General Assembly shall consist of all the Members of the
United Nations.
2. Each member shall have not more than five representatives in
the General Assembly.

Functions and Powers

Article 10

The General Assembly may discuss any questions or any matters
within the scope of the present Charter or relating to the powers
and functions of any organs provided for in the present Charter,
and, except as provided in Article 12, may make recommendations
to the Members of the United Nations or to the Security Council
or to both on any such questions or matters.

Article 11

1. The General Assembly may consider the general principles of
cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and
security, including the principles governing disarmament and the
regulation of armaments, and may make recommendations with regard
to such principles to the Members or to the Security Council or
to both.
2. The General Assembly may discuss any questions relating to the
maintenance of international peace and security brought before it
by any Member of the United Nations, or by the Security Council,
or by a state which is not a Member of the United Nations in
accordance with Article 35, paragraph 2, and, except as provided
in Article 12, may make recommendations with regard to any such
questions to the state or states concerned or to the Security
Council or to both. Any such question on which action is
necessary shall be referred to the Security Council by the
General Assembly either before or after discussion.
3. The General Assembly may call the attention of the Security
Council to situations which are likely to endanger international
peace and security.
4. The powers of the General Assembly set forth in this Article
shall not limit the general scope of Article 10.

Article 12

1. While the Security Council is exercising in respect of any
dispute or situation the functions assigned to it in the present
Charter, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendation
with regard to that dispute or situation unless the Security
Council so requests.
2. The Secretary-General, with the consent of the Security
Council, shall notify the General Assembly at each session of any
matters relative to the maintenance of international peace and
security which are being dealt with by the Security Council and
shall similarly notify the General Assembly, or the Members of
the United Nations if the General Assembly is not in session,
immediately the Security Council ceases to deal with such
matters.

Article 13

1. The General Assembly shall initiate studies and make
recommendations for the purpose of:

a. promoting international cooperation in the political field
and encouraging the progressive development of international
law and its Codification ;
b. promoting international cooperation in the economic, social,
cultural, educational, and health fields, and assisting in
the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
religion.

2. The further responsibilities, functions and powers of the
General Assembly with respect to matters mentioned in paragraph
1(b) above are set forth in Chapters IX and X.

Article 14

Subject to the provisions of Article 12, the General Assembly may
recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation,
regardless of origin, which it deems likely to impair the general
welfare or friendly relations among nations, including situations
resulting from a violation of the provisions of the present
Charter setting forth the Purposes and Principles of the United
Nations.

Article 15

1. The General Assembly shall receive and consider annual and
special reports from the Security Council; these reports shall
include an account of the measures that the Security Council has
decided upon or taken to maintain international peace and
security.
2. The General Assembly shall receive and consider reports from
the other organs of the United Nations.

Article 16

The General Assembly shall perform such functions with respect to
the international trusteeship system as are assigned to it under
Chapters XII and XIII, including the approval of the trusteeship
agreements for areas not designated as strategic.

Article 17

1. The General Assembly shall consider and approve the budget of
the Organization.
2. The expenses of the Organization shall be borne by the Members
as apportioned by the General Assembly.
3. The General Assembly shall consider and approve any financial
and budgetary arrangements with specialized agencies referred to
in Article 57 and shall examine the administrative budgets of
such specialized agencies with a view to making recommendations
to the agencies concerned.

Voting

Article 18

1. Each member of the General Assembly shall have one vote.
2. Decisions of the General Assembly on important questions shall
be made by a two-thirds majority of the members present and
voting. These questions shall include: recommendations with
respect to the maintenance of international peace and security,
the election of the non-permanent members of the Security
Council, the election of the members of the Economic and Social
Council, the election of members of the Trusteeship Council in
accordance with paragraph 1(c) of Article 86, the admission of
new Members to the United Nations, the suspension of the rights
and privileges of membership, the expulsion of Members, questions
relating to the operation of the trusteeship system, and
budgetary questions.
3. Decisions on other questions, Composition including the
determination of additional categories of questions to be decided
by a two-thirds majority, shall be made by a majority of the
members present and voting.

Article 19

A Member of the United Nations which is in arrears in the payment
of its financial contributions to the Organization shall have no
vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals
or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the
preceding two full years. The General Assembly may, nevertheless,
permit such a Member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure
to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member.

Procedure

Article 20

The General Assembly shall meet in regular annual sessions and in
such special sessions as occasion may require. Special sessions
shall be convoked by the Secretary-General at the request of the
Security Council or of a majority of the Members of the United
Nations.

Article 21

The General Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedure. It
shall elect its President for each session.

Article 22

The General Assembly may establish such subsidiary organs as it
deems necessary for the performance of its functions.

 

 

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Charter of the United Nations, Codification.


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