9781422285510

Purposes of the United Nations The UN’s primary goals are to keep the peace throughout the world; to develop friendly relations among nations; to achieve international co-operation in solving economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian problems. The UN also promotes respect for human rights regardless of race, sex, language, or religion.

Since 1945, the United Nations has worked to promote and protect human rights around the world. It has attempted to make peace, provide aid for people who suffer, and guarantee rights to all the world’s citizens, but it has often been unable to achieve those goals. At the same time, the United Nations holds a unique position that sometimes enables it to succeed in bringing about peace and human rights. The UN Charter The founders of a nation write a constitution when their nation is established. It contains important ideas and outlines critical principles that the country should follow as long as it exists. Nations are not alone in having constitutions: when companies or other groups form, they create documents that explain who they are and what they will do.The UN Charter is a sort of“constitution”for the United Nations. The word“charter”usually refers to a document giving rights or powers to a group of people. For example, in the Magna Carta, written in 1215, the king of England promised certain rights to the English people. In the UN Charter, the people of the world granted themselves the rights, powers, and responsibilities listed in the charter. The ideas and rules contained in the UN Charter apply to all its member states. The United Nations in 2015 includes 193 member states, nations that work together for their common good. Fifty nations signed the UN Charter in San Francisco on June 26, 1945.The charter contains 19 chapters and 111 articles.It begins with the expression,“We the peoples of the United Nations.”

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Chapter One