Reviewing provisions of the United Nations charter

Improving the United Nations Charter

Context

We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.

And for these ends to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed forces shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples... (from the Preamble to the UN Charter, 1945).

Claim

In 1945 the affirmation of the popular will to right relations in the preamble of the UN Charter was more visionary and prophetic than real.

The end of the Cold War has brought fresh opportunities to make the values enshrined in the preamble to the UN Charter a reality in international affairs. During the Cold War these values were largely abandoned to give way to traditional power politics among states. Throughout the post-war period, the moral basis for the defence of human rights was seriously damaged as governments engaged in a global battle against either communism or imperialism. Although the Charter states that armed force was only to be used in the common interest, there was a really strong process of militarization throughout the world. The economic policy of states served foreign policy – you rewarded your friends and castigated your enemies.

Counter-claim

The UN Charter is drawn in terms of obsolete precepts of national sovereignty in every article and paragraph, with control given to the five permanent members of the Security Council, so that the Charter cannot be amended or strengthened to serve as the constitution for a proper global government.