There should be established an international organization
under the title of The United Nations, the Charter of which should contain
provisions necessary to give effect to the proposals which follow.
CHAPTER I. PURPOSES
The purposes of the Organization should be:
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
adjustment or settlement of international disputes which may lead to
a breach of the peace;
2. To develop friendly relations among nations and
to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
3. To achieve international cooperation in the solution
of international economic, social and other humanitarian problems; and
4. To afford a center for harmonizing the actions
of nations in the achievement of these common ends.
CHAPTER II. PRINCIPLES
In pursuit of the purposes mentioned in Chapter I
the Organization and its members should act in accordance with the following
principles:
1. The Organization is based on the principle of the
sovereign equality of all peace-loving states.
2. All members of the Organization undertake, in order
to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership
in the Organization, to fulfill the obligations assumed by them in accordance
with the Charter.
3. All members of the Organization shall settle their
disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace
and security are not endangered.
[1] Including text of provision relative to voting procedure in the
Security Council (Chap. VI, sec. C) as agreed upon at the Crimea
Conference and announced by the Secretary of State on Mar. 5, 1945.
4. All members of the Organization shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or use of force in any
manner inconsistent with the purposes of the Organization.
5. All members of the Organization shall give every
assistance to the Organization in any action undertaken by it in accordance
with the provisions of the Charter.
6. All members of the Organization shall refrain from
giving assistance to any state against which preventive or enforcement
action is being undertaken by the Organization.
The Organization should ensure that states not members
of the Organization act in accordance with these principles so far as
may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
CHAPTER III. MEMBERSHIP
1. Membership of the Organization should be open to
all peace-loving states.
CHAPTER IV. PRINCIPAL ORGANS
1. The Organization should have as its principle organs:
a. A General Assembly;
b. A Security Council;
c. An international court of justice; and
d. A Secretariat.
2. The Organization should have such subsidiary agencies
as may be found necessary.
CHAPTER V. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Section A. Composition. All members of the
Organization should be members of the General Assembly and should have
a number of representatives to be specified in the Charter.
Section B. Functions and Powers. 1. The General
Assembly should have the right to consider the general principles of
cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and security,
including the principles governing disarmament and the regulation of
armaments; to discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international
peace and security brought before it by any member or members of the
Organization or by the Security Council; and to make recommendations
with regard to any such principles or questions. Any such questions
on which action is necessary should be referred to the Security Council
by the General Assembly either before or after discussion. The General
Assembly should not on its own initiative make recommendations
on any matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and
security which is being dealt with by the Security Council.
2. The General Assembly should be empowered to admit
new members to the Organization upon recommendation of the Security
Council.
3. The General Assembly should, upon recommendation
of the Security Council, be empowered to suspend from the exercise of
any rights or privileges of membership any member of the Organization
against which preventive or enforcement actions have been taken by the
Security Council. The exercise of the rights and privileges thus suspended
may be restored by decision of the Security Council. The General Assembly
should be empowered, upon recommendation of the Security Council, to
expel from the Organization any member of the Organization which persistently
violates the principles contained in the Charter.
4. The General Assembly should elect the non-permanent
members of the Security Council and the members of the Economic and
Social Council provided for in Chapter IX. It should be empowered to
elect, upon recommendation of the Security Council, the Secretary-General
of the Organization. It should perform such functions in relation to
the election of the judges of the international court of justice as
may be conferred upon it by the statute of the court.
5. The General Assembly should apportion the expenses
among the members of the Organization and should be empowered to approve
the budgets of the Organization.
6. The General Assembly should initiate studies and
make recommendations for the purpose of promoting international cooperation
in political, economic and social fields and of adjusting situations
likely to impair the general welfare.
7. The General Assembly should make recommendations
for the coordination of the policies of international economic, social,
and other specialized agencies brought into relation with the Organization
in accordance with agreements between such agencies and the Organization.
8. The General Assembly should receive and consider
annual special reports from the Security Council and reports from other
bodies of the Organization.
Section C. Voting. 1. Each member of the Organization
should have one vote in the General Assembly.
2. Important decisions of the General Assembly, including
recommendations with respect to the maintenance of international peace
and security; election of members of the Security Council; election
of members of the Economic and Social Council; admission of members,
suspension of the exercise of the rights and privileges of members,
and expulsion of members; and budgetary questions, should be made by
a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. On other questions,
including the determination of additional categories of questions to
be decided by a two-thirds majority, the decisions of the General Assembly
should be made by a simple majority vote.
Section D. Procedure. 1. The General Assembly
should meet in regular annual sessions and in such special sessions
as occasion may require.
2. The General Assembly should adopt its own rules
of procedure and elect its President for each session.
3. The General Assembly should be empowered to set
up such bodies and agencies as it may deem necessary for the performance
of its functions.
CHAPTER VI. THE SECURITY COUNCIL
Section A. Composition. The Security Council
should consist of one representative of each of eleven members of the
Organization. Representatives of the United States of America, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, the Republic of China, and, in due course, France, should
have permanent seats. The General Assembly should elect six states to
fill the non-permanent seats. These six states should be elected for
a term of two years, three retiring each year. They should not be immediately
eligible for reelection. In the first election of the non-permanent
members three should be chosen by the General Assembly for one-year
terms and three for two-year terms.
Section B. Principle Functions and Powers.
1. In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the Organization,
members of the Organization should by the Charter confer on the Security
Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international
peace and security and should agree that in carrying out these duties
under this responsibility it should act on their behalf.
2. In discharging these duties the Security Council
should act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Organization.
3. The specific powers conferred on the Security Council
in order to carry out these duties are laid down in Chapter VIII.
4. All members of the Organization should obligate
themselves to accept the decisions of the Security Council and to carry
them out in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.
5. In order to promote the establishment and maintenance
of international peace and security with the least diversion of the
world's human and economic resources for armaments, the Security Council,
with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee referred to in Chapter
VIII, Section B, paragraph 9, should have the responsibility for formulating
plans for the establishment of a system of regulation of armaments for
submission to the members of the Organization.
[Section C. Voting. 1. Each member of the Security
Council should have one vote.
2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural
matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.
3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other
matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members including
the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions
under Chapter VIII, Section A, and under the second sentence of Paragraph
1 of Chapter VIII, Section C, a party to a dispute should abstain from
voting.]
Section D. Procedure. 1. The Security Council
should be so organized as to be able to function continuously and each
state member of the Security Council should be permanently represented
at the headquarters of the Organization. It may hold meetings at such
other places as in its judgment may best facilitate its work. There
should be periodic meetings at which each state member of the Security
Council could if it so desired be represented by a member of the government
or some other special representative.
2. The Security Council should be empowered to set
up such bodies or agencies as it may deem necessary for the performance
of its functions including regional subcommittees of the Military Staff
Committee.
3. The Security Council should adopt its own rules
of procedure, including the method of selecting its President.
4. Any member of the Organization should participate
in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council
whenever the Security Council considers that the interests of that member
of the Organization are specially affected.
5. Any member of the Organization not having a seat
on the Security Council and any state not a member of the Organization,
if it is a party to a dispute under consideration by the Security Council,
should be invited to participate in the discussion relating to the dispute.
CHAPTER VII. AN INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
1. There should be an international court of justice
which should constitute the principal judicial organ of the Organization.
2. The court should be constituted and should function
in accordance with a statute which should be annexed to and be a part
of the Charter of the Organization.
3. The statute of the court of international justice
should be either (a) the Statute of the Permanent Court of International
Justice, continued in force with such modifications as may be desirable
or (b) a new statute in the preparation of which the Statute of the
Permanent Court of International Justice should be used as a basis.
4. All members of the Organization should ipso
facto be parties to the statute of the international court of justice.
5. Conditions under which states not members of the
Organization may become parties to the statute of the international
court of justice should be determined in each case by the General Assembly
upon recommendation of the Security Council.
CHAPTER VIII. ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL
PEACE AND SECURITY INCLUDING PREVENTION AND SUPPRESSION OF AGGRESSION
Section A. Pacific Settlement of Disputes.
1. The Security Council should be empowered to investigate any dispute,
or any situation which may lead to international friction or give rise
to a dispute, in order to determine whether its continuance is likely
to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.
2. Any state, whether member of the Organization or
not, may bring any such dispute or situation to the attention of the
General Assembly or of the Security Council.
3. The parties to any dispute the continuance of which
is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security
should obligate themselves, first of all, to seek a solution by negotiation,
meditation, conciliation, arbitration or judi-cial settlement, or other
peaceful means of their own choice. The Security Council should call
upon the parties to settle their dispute by such means.
4. If, nevertheless, parties to a dispute of the nature
referred to in paragraph 3 above fail to settle it by means indicated
in that paragraph, they should obligate themselves to refer it to the
Security Council. The Security Council should in each case decide whether
or not the continuance of the particular dispute is in fact likely to
endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, and, accordingly,
whether the Security Council should deal with the dispute, and, if so,
whether it should take action under paragraph 5.
5. The Security Council should be empowered, at any
stage of a dispute of the nature referred to in paragraph 3 above, to
recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment.
6. Justiciable disputes should normally be referred
to the international court of justice. The Security Council should be
empowered to refer to the court, for advice, legal questions connected
with other disputes.
7. The provisions of paragraph 1 to 6 of Section A
should not apply to situations or disputes arising out of matters which
by international law are solely within the domestic jurisdiction of
the state concerned.
Section B. Determination of Threats to the Peace
or Acts of Aggression and Action With Respect Thereto. 1. Should
the Security Council deem that a failure to settle a dispute in accordance
with procedures indicated in paragraph 3 of Section A, or in accordance
with its recommendations made under paragraph 5 of Section A, constitutes
a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security, it
should take any measures necessary for the maintenance of international
peace and security in accordance with the purposes and principles of
the Organization.
2. In general the Security Council should determine
the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act
of aggression and should make recommendations or decide upon the measures
to be taken to maintain or restore peace and security.
3. The Security Council should be empowered to determine
what diplomatic, economic, or other measures not involving the use of
armed force should be employed to give effect to its decisions, and
to call upon members of the Organization to apply such measures. Such
measures may include complete or partial interruption of rail, sea,
air, postal, telegraphic, radio and other means of communication and
the severance of diplomatic and economic relations.
4. Should the Security Council consider such measures
to be inadequate, it should be empowered to take such action by air,
naval or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international
peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade
and other operations by air, sea or land forces of members of the Organization.
5. In order that all members of the Organization should
contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security, they
should undertake to make available to the Security Council, on its call
and in accordance with a special agreement or agreements concluded among
themselves, armed forces, facilities and assistance necessary for the
purpose of maintaining international peace and security. Such agreement
or agreements should govern the numbers and types of forces and the
nature of the facilities and assistance to be provided. The special
agreement or agreements should be negotiated as soon as possible and
should in each case be subject to approval by the Security Council and
to ratification by the signatory states in accordance with their constitutional
processes.
6. In order to enable urgent military measures to
be taken by the Organization there should be held immediately available
by the members of the Organization national air force contingents for
combined international enforcement action. The strength and degree of
readiness of these contingents and plans for their combined action should
be determined by the Security Council with the assistance of the Military
Staff Committee within the limits laid down in the special agreement
or agreements referred to in paragraph 5 above.
7. The action required to carry out the decisions
of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and
security should be taken by all the members of the Organization in cooperation
or by some of them as the Security Council may determine. This undertaking
should be carried out by the members of the Organization by their own
action and through action of the appropriate specialized organizations
and agencies of which they are members.
8. Plans for the application of armed force should
be made by the Security Council with the assistance of the Military
Staff Committee referred to in paragraph 9 below.
9. There should be established a Military Staff Committee
the functions of which should be to advise and assist the Security Council
on all questions relating to the Security Council's military requirements
for the maintenance of international peace and security, to the employment
and command of forces at its disposal, to the regulation of armaments,
and to possible disarmament. It should be responsible under the Security
Council for the strategic direction of any armed forces placed at the
disposal of the Security Council. The Committee should be composed of
the Chiefs of Staff of the permanent members of the Security Council
or their representatives. Any member of the Organization not permanently
represented on the Committee should be invited by the Committee to be
associated with it when the efficient discharge of the Committee's responsibilities
requires that such a state should participate in its work. Questions
of command of forces should be worked out subsequently.
10. The members of the Organization should join in
affording mutual assistance in carrying out the measures decided upon
by the Security Council.
11. Any state, whether a member of the Organization
or not, which finds itself confronted with special economic problems
arising from the carrying out of measures which have been decided upon
by the Security Council should have the right to consult the Security
Council in regard to a solution of those problems.
Section C. Regional Arrangements. 1. Nothing
in the Charter should preclude the existence of regional arrangements
or agencies for dealing with such matters relating to the maintenance
of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional
action, provided such arrangements or agencies and their activities
are consistent with the purposes and principles of the Organization.
The Security Council should encourage settlement of local disputes through
such regional arrangements or by such regional agencies, either on the
initiative of the states concerned or by reference from the Security
Council.
2. The Security Council should, where appropriate,
utilize such arrangements or agencies for enforcement action under its
authority, but no enforcement action should be taken under regional
arrangements or by regional agencies without the authorization of the
Security Council.
3. The Security Council should at all times be kept
fully informed of activities undertaken or in contemplation under re-gional
arrangements or by regional agencies for the maintenance of international
peace and security.
CHAPTER IX. ARRANGEMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COOPERATION
Section A. Purpose and Relationships. 1. With
a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well-being which
are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations, the
Organization should facilitate solutions of international economic,
social and other humanitarian problems and promote respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms. Responsibility for the discharge of
this function should be vested in the General Assembly and, under the
authority of the General Assembly, in an Economic and Social Council.
2. The various specialized economic, social and other
organizations and agencies would have responsibilities in their respective
fields as defined in their statutes. Each such organization or agency
should be brought into relationship with the Organization on terms to
be determined by agreement between the Economic and Social Council and
the appropriate authorities of the specialized organization or agency,
subject to approval by the General Assembly.
Section B. Composition and Voting. The Economic
and Social Council should consist of representatives of eighteen members
of the Organization. The states to be represented for this purpose should
be elected by the General Assembly for terms of three years. Each such
state should have one representative, who should have one vote. Decisions
of the Economic and Social Council should be taken by simple majority
vote of those present and voting.
Section C. Functions and Powers of the Economic
and Social Council. 1. The Economic and Social Council should be
empowered:
a. to carry out, within the scope of its functions,
recommendations of the General Assembly;
b. to make recommendations, on its own initiative,
with respect to international economic, social and other humanitarian
matters;
c. to receive and consider reports from the economic,
social and other organizations or agencies brought into relationship
with the Organization, and to coordinate their activities through consultations
with, and recommendations to, such organizations or agencies;
d. to examine the administrative budgets of such specialized
organizations or agencies with a view to making recommendations to the
organizations or agencies concerned;
e. to enable the Secretary-General to provide information
to the Security Council;
f. to assist the Security Council upon its request;
and
g. to perform such other functions within the general
scope of its competence as may be assigned to it by the General Assembly.
Section D. Organization and Procedure. 1. The
Economic and Social Council should set up an economic commission, a
social commission, and such other commissions as may be required. These
commissions should consist of experts. There should be a permanent staff
which should constitute a part of the Secretariat of the Organization.
2. The Economic and Social Council should make suitable
arrangements for representatives of the specialized organizations or
agencies to participate without vote in its deliberations and in those
of the commissions established by it.
3. The Economic and Social Council should adopt its
own rules of procedure and the method of selecting its President.
CHAPTER X. THE SECRETARIAT
1. There should be a Secretariat comprising a Secretary-General
and such staff as may be required. The Secretary-General should be the
chief administrative officer of the Organization. He should be elected
by the General Assembly, on recommendation of the Security Council,
for such term and under conditions as are specified in the Charter.
2. The Secretary-General should act in that capacity
in all meetings of the General Assembly, of the Security Council, and
of the Economic and Social Council and should make an annual report
to the General Assembly on the work of the Organization.
3. The Secretary-General should have the right to
bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his
opinion may threaten international peace and security.
CHAPTER XI. AMENDMENTS
Amendments should come into force for all members
of the Organization, when they have been adopted by a vote of two-thirds
of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with
their respective constitutional processes by the members of the Organization
having permanent membership on the Security Council and by a majority
of the other members of the Organization.
CHAPTER XII. TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
1. Pending the coming into force of the special agreement
or agreements referred to in Chapter VIII, Section B, paragraph 5, and
in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5 of the Four-Nation
Declaration, signed at Moscow, October 30, 1943, the states parties
to that Declaration should consult with one another and as occasion
arises with other members of the Organization with a view to such joint
action on behalf of the Organization as may be necessary for the purpose
of maintaining international peace and security.
2. No provision of the Charter should preclude action
taken or authorized in relation to enemy states as a result of the present
war by the Governments having responsibility for such action.
NOTE
In addition to the question of voting procedure in
the Security Council referred to in Chapter VI, several other questions
are still under consideration.
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
October 7, 1944.