UN Charter

Can The UN Fulfill Its Mission In An Imperialist-Dominated World?

September 27, 2024 Stephanie Weatherbee Brito, People's Dispatch. Educate! Blockade of Cuba, Cuba, Decolonization, Gaza, Genocide, Israeli war crimes, UN Charter, United Nations (UN), US Imperialism, War crimes, World

During the months of September and October the United Nations is holding its 79th General Assembly, which is the space of broadest participation of the international body. The United Nations’ legitimacy, credibility and capacity to fulfill its founding mission to ensure peace and security have been questioned for decades, and 2023-24 was no different. Still, never before has the world witnessed a genocide unfolding before its eyes. In this context, the United Nations’ inability to do anything to stop it shines a bright and unforgiving light on the limitations of this body. Shaky Foundations Throughout its history the United Nations has been subjected to intense efforts at control or sabotage by colonial powers and US imperialist interests.

Gaza And United Nations Veto Power

June 10, 2024 Dan Becker, Consortium News. Educate! Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Recusal, UN Charter, UN Security Council, United Nations (UN)

In the United Nations Charter, the very sentence that establishes the Security Council’s permanent-five veto power ends — surprisingly — in these nine words: “. . . a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.” Let’s allow the phrase to sink in for a moment before acknowledging that there is indeed a host of conditions, requirements, litmus tests and hoops to jump through before the phrase can be invoked and applied to a resolution. But at the same time, it’s also crucial and a bit remarkable to remember that the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — are not exempt. They must abstain as well. So there it is, this little-known mechanism hiding in plain sight in Article 27 (3). It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the U.N. Charter. It gets no respect.

The Charter International System Is In Deep Crisis

March 4, 2024 Richard Sakwa, Canadian Dimension. Educate! History, Imperialism, International Law, Rules-based Order, UN Charter

In 1945, humanity came together to create the Charter international system based on the United Nations. It expressed the hope that after the most catastrophic war the world had yet seen, a comprehensive set of normative principles and institutional practices would prevent another conflict of that magnitude from ever occurring again. By coming together on a set of shared principles, the hope was that a better system of international relations would emerge. The result was the UN and its foundational Charter, reinforced subsequently by numerous declarations, protocols and conventions.

A More Equitable And Democratic World Order Is Underway

December 6, 2022 Bahman Azad, Popular Resistance. Educate! Multipolar World, Russia, UN Charter, US Imperialism

We are holding this important Conference at the time when our world is going through fundamental transformations and, as a result, is witnessing dangerous military confrontations, as marked by the current crisis in Ukraine. This crisis, more than anything else, is a direct result of the U.S. and European imperialisms’ effort to encircle Russia by the eastward expansion of NATO to the Russian borders, turning Ukraine into another military base for NATO, and thus causing an existential threat to the security of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, many have fallen for the imperialism’s propaganda of one-sided condemnation of Russia alone for violating the United Nations Charter. There is no doubt that global peace and security of all nations depends on creation of an international order based on the principles outlined in the UN Charter.

Launch: ‘Group Of Friends In Defense Of The United Nations Charter’

July 9, 2021 Joselyn Ariza, MFA Venezuela. Organize! International Law, UN Charter, United Nations, Venezuela

We, representatives of Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nicaragua, the State of Palestine, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, and Venezuela to the United Nations, are pleased to announce the official launch and establishment of the “Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations”. We seize this opportunity to reaffirm that the Charter of the United Nations and its purposes and principles remain timeless, universal, and that they are all indispensable for preserving and promoting international peace and security, the rule of law, economic development and social progress, as well as all human rights for all.

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