United Nations Charter ratified

Event
Wed, 10/24/1945

In 1945, the representatives of fifty countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter as proposed by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944.

Although the Charter was signed on 26 June 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, after the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.

The preamble to its Charter states:

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 practice 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 force 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,

have resolved to combine our efforts
to accomplish these aims

  • Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who
    have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of
    the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.