The United Nations: origin, purposes, principles and membership

1. Origin

The League of Nations (1919–1946) failed to prevent the Second World War: it required unanimity, had no armed forces, and lacked the membership of major powers (the US never joined; Germany, Japan and Italy left; the USSR was expelled in 1939). The UN was planned during the war:

• Atlantic Charter (Roosevelt and Churchill, August 1941);
• Declaration by United Nations (1 January 1942), when 26 States pledged to fight the Axis; the name “United Nations” came from Roosevelt;
• Moscow Declaration (October 1943) calling for a general international organisation;
• Dumbarton Oaks proposals (August–October 1944);
• Yalta Conference (February 1945), which settled Security Council voting (the veto);
• San Francisco Conference (April–June 1945): the Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by 50 States (Poland signed later, making 51 original members) and came into force on 24 October 1945, celebrated as United Nations Day.

India, though not yet independent, signed the Declaration of 1942 and the Charter in 1945 and is an original member. The UN now has 193 members; the last admitted was South Sudan (2011).

2. Purposes: Article 1

• (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 the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of disputes. This is the primary purpose, carried out chiefly by the Security Council under Chapters VI and VII.
• (2) To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples. This purpose underlies decolonisation (General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), 1960) and was applied in the Chagos advisory opinion (ICJ, 2019).
• (3) 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 fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. Carried out by ECOSOC and the specialised agencies, and developed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
• (4) To be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

3. Principles: Article 2

The Organisation and its Members, in pursuit of the purposes, shall act in accordance with the following principles.

• 2(1) Sovereign equality of all its Members. Each State has equal rights in law and one vote in the General Assembly. The veto of the five permanent members in the Security Council is the main departure from equality.
• 2(2) Good faith. Members shall fulfil in good faith the obligations assumed by them under the Charter, to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership. This is pacta sunt servanda applied to the Charter.
• 2(3) Peaceful settlement of disputes. Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered. The means are listed in Article 33: negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements.
• 2(4) Prohibition of the threat or use of force. 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 UN. It is a rule of customary law and widely regarded as jus cogens (Nicaragua, ICJ, 1986). The exceptions are self-defence against an armed attack (Article 51) and enforcement action authorised by the Security Council under Chapter VII (Article 42). In Corfu Channel (1949) the Court rejected the British plea that its minesweeping was a lawful self-help.
• 2(5) Assistance to the UN. Members shall give the UN every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any State against which the UN is taking preventive or enforcement action.
• 2(6) Non-members. The UN shall ensure that States which are not Members act in accordance with these principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security. This goes beyond the rule that treaties do not bind third States, and is explained by the objective personality of the UN (Reparation for Injuries, 1949) and by the customary character of the principles.
• 2(7) Domestic jurisdiction. Nothing in the Charter authorises the UN to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State, or requires Members to submit such matters to settlement under the Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII. What is “essentially domestic” has shrunk: apartheid, human rights violations and colonial rule have been treated as matters of international concern.

4. Membership

• Original members (Article 3): the States that took part in the San Francisco Conference or signed the 1942 Declaration, and signed and ratified the Charter.
• Admission (Article 4(1)): open to all other peace-loving States which accept the obligations of the Charter and, in the judgment of the Organisation, are able and willing to carry them out. Admission is by decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council (Article 4(2)). The recommendation is subject to the veto. In Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership (ICJ advisory opinion, 1948), the Court held that the conditions in Article 4(1) are exhaustive, so a Member voting on admission may not make its vote depend on additional conditions (such as the admission of other States at the same time). In Competence of the General Assembly for the Admission of a State (1950), it held that the Assembly cannot admit a State without a Security Council recommendation.
• Suspension (Article 5): a Member against which preventive or enforcement action has been taken may be suspended from the rights and privileges of membership by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council; the Council may restore them.
• Expulsion (Article 6): a Member which has persistently violated the principles of the Charter may be expelled by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. It has never been used.
• Loss of vote (Article 19): a Member in arrears equal to or exceeding the contributions due for the preceding two full years loses its vote in the General Assembly, unless the failure is due to conditions beyond its control.
• Withdrawal: the Charter is silent. Indonesia announced its withdrawal in 1965 and returned in 1966, treated as a resumption of co-operation.
• Representation: Resolution 2758 (XXVI), 1971, recognised the representatives of the People's Republic of China as the only lawful representatives of China in the UN.

5. The principal organs

Article 7 establishes six principal organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the Secretariat. The first two are treated in the next note and the remaining four in the note after that. Specialised agencies, such as the ILO, are brought into relationship with the UN by agreements under Articles 57 and 63. Under Article 103, obligations under the Charter prevail over obligations under any other international agreement.

How this is examined

For the purposes-and-principles essay: a paragraph of origin, Article 1 with the four purposes, Article 2 with all seven principles each followed by one line of explanation or a case, and a conclusion on how far the principles have been observed (the veto, unilateral uses of force). Quoting the Articles accurately and in order is what earns the marks.