CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS

1 CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONSANDSTATUTE OF THEINTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICESAN FRANCISCO 1945 CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONSWE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONSDETERMINEDto save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our life-time has brought untold sorrow to mankind, andto reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of thehuman person, in the equal rights of men and women and of NATIONS large andsmall, andto establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arisingfrom 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 ENDSto practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as goodneighbors, andto unite our strength to maintain international peace and security , andto ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, thatarmed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, andto employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and socialadvancement of all peoples,HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTSTO ACCOMPLISH THESE , our respective Governments, through representatives assembled inthe city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in goodand due form.

2 Have agreed to the present CHARTER of the UNITED NATIONS and dohereby establish an international organization to be known as the UNITED IPURPOSES AND PRINCIPLESA rticle 1 The^Purposes of the UNITED NATIONS are:1. To maintain international peace and se-curity, and to that end: to take effective collec-tive measures for the prevention and removal ofthreats to the peace, and for the suppression ofacts of aggression or other breaches of the peace,and to bring about by peaceful means, and in con-formity with the principles of justice and inter-national law, adjustment or settlement of inter-national disputes or situations which might leadto a breach of the peace;2. To develop friendly relations among nationsbased on respect for the principle of equal rightsand self-determination of peoples, and to takeother appropriate measures to strengthen univer-sal peace;3.

3 To achieve international cooperation insolving international problems of an economic,social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and inpromoting and encouraging respect for humanrights and for fundamental freedoms for all with-out distinction as to race, sex, language, or re-ligion; and4. To be a center for harmonizing the actionsof NATIONS in the attainment of these common 2 The Organization and its Members, in pursuitof the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act inaccordance with the following The Organization is based on the principleof the sovereign equality of all its All Members, in order to ensure to all ofthem the rights and benefits resulting from mem-bership, shall fulfil in good faith the obligationsassumed by them in accordance with the All Members shall settle their internationaldisputes by peaceful means in such a manner thatinternational peace and security , and justice.

4 Arenot All Members shall refrain in their interna-tional relations from the threat or use of forceagainst the territorial integrity or political inde-pendence of any state, or in any other mannerinconsistent with the Purposes of the All Members shall give the UNITED Nationsevery assistance in any action it takes in accord-ance with the present CHARTER , and shall refrainfrom giving assistance to any state against whichthe UNITED NATIONS is taking preventive or enforce-ment The Organization shall ensure that stateswhich are not Members of the UNITED NATIONS actin accordance with these Principles so far as maybe necessary for the maintenance of internationalpeace and Nothing contained in the present Chartershall authorize the UNITED NATIONS to intervene inmatters which are essentially within the domesticjurisdiction of any state or shall require the Mem-bers to submit such matters to settlement underthe present CHARTER .

5 But this principle shall notprejudice the application of enforcement meas-ures under Chapter IIMEMBERSHIPA rticle 3 The original Members of the UNITED Nationsshall be the states which, having participated inthe UNITED NATIONS Conference on InternationalOrganization at San Francisco, or having previ-ously signed the Declaration by UNITED Nationsof January 1,1942, sign the present CHARTER andratify it in accordance with Article 41. Membership in the UNITED NATIONS is opento all other peace-loving states which accept theobligations contained in the present CHARTER and,in the judgment of the Organization, are able andwilling to carry out these The admission of any such state to mem-bership in the UNITED NATIONS will be effected by adecision of the General Assembly upon the recom-mendation of the security 5 /A Member of the UNITED NATIONS against whichpreventive or enforcement action has been takenby the security council may be suspended fromthe exercise of the rights and privileges of mem-bership by the General Assembly upon the recom-mendation of the security council .

6 The exerciseof these rights and privileges may be restored bythe security 6A Member of the UNITED NATIONS which haspersistently violated the Principles contained inthe present CHARTER may be expelled from theOrganization by the General Assembly upon therecommendation of the security IIIORGANSA rticle 71. There are established as the principal or-gans of the UNITED NATIONS : a General Assem-bly, a security council , an Economic and SocialCouncil, a Trusteeship council , an InternationalCourt of Justice, and a Such subsidiary organs as may be foundnecessary may be established in accordance withthe present 8 The UNITED NATIONS shall place no restrictionson the eligibility of men and women to participatein any capacity and under conditions of equalityin-its principal and subsidiary IVTHE GENERAL ASSEMBLYC ompositionArticle 91.

7 The General Assembly shall consist of allthe Members of the UNITED Each Member shall have not more than fiverepresentatives in the General and PowersArticle 10 The General Assembly may discuss any ques-tions or any matters within the scope of the presentCharter or relating to the powers and functions ofany organs provided for in the present CHARTER ,and, except as provided in Article 12, may makerecommendations to the Members of the UnitedNations or to the security council or to both onany such questions or 111. The General Assembly may consider thegeneral principles of cooperation in the mainte-nance of international peace and security , includ-ing the principles governing disarmament and theregulation of armaments, and may make recom-mendations with regard to such principles to theMembers or to the security council or to The General Assembly may discuss anyquestions relating to the maintenance of inter-national peace and security brought before it byany Member of the UNITED NATIONS , or by theSecurity council , or by a state which is not aMember of the UNITED NATIONS in accordance withArticle 35, paragraph 2, and, except as providedin Article 12.

8 May make recommendations withregard to any such questions to the state or statesconcerned or to the security council or to such question on which action is necessaryshall be referred to the security council by theGeneral Assembly either before or after The General Assembly may call the atten-tion of the security council to situations whichare likely to endanger international peace The powers of the General Assembly setforth in this Article shall not limit the generalscope of Article 121. While the security council is exercising inrespect of any dispute or situation the functionsassigned to it in the present CHARTER , the GeneralAssembly shall not make any recommendationwith regard to that dispute or situation unless theSecurity council so The Secretary-General, with the consent ofthe security council , shall notify the GeneralAssembly at each session of any matters relativeto the maintenance of international peace andsecurity which are being dealt with by the SecurityCouncil and shall similarly notify the GeneralAssembly, or the Members of the UNITED Nationsif the General Assembly is not in session, immedi-ately the security council ceases to deal with 131.

9 The General Assembly shall initiate studiesand make recommendations for the purpose of :a. promoting international cooperation inthe political field and encouraging the progres-sive development of international law and itscodification;b. promoting international cooperation inthe economic, social, cultural, educational, andhealth fields, and assisting in the realization ofhuman rights and fundamental freedoms forall without distinction as to race, sex, language,or The further responsibilities, functions, andpowers of the General Assembly with respect tomatters mentioned in paragraph l(b) above areset forth in Chapters IX and 14 Subject to the provisions of Article 12, theGeneral Assembly may recommend measures forthe peaceful adjustment of any situation, regard-less of origin, which it deems likely to impair thegeneral welfare or friendly relations among na-tions, including situations resulting from a viola-tion of the provisions of the present CHARTER settingforth the Purposes and Principles of the 151.

10 The General Assembly shall receive andconsider annual and special reports from the Se-curity council ; these reports shall include anaccount of the measures that the security Councilhas decided upon or taken to maintain interna-tional peace and The General Assembly shall receive andconsider reports from the other organs of theUnited 16 The General Assembly shall perform suchfunctions with respect to the international trus-teeship system as are assigned to it under Chap-ters XII and XIII, including the approval of thetrusteeship agreements for areas not designatedas 171. The General Assembly shall consider andapprove the budget of the The expenses of the Organization shall beborne by the Members as apportioned by theGeneral The General Assembly shall consider andapprove any financial and budgetary arrange-ments with specialized agencies referred to inArticle 57 and shall examine the administra-tive budgets of such specialized agencies with aview to making recommendations to the 181.