75th
Session of UN General Assembly Underway 75th Anniversary of the Adoption of the UN Charter - Dougal MacDonald - 
A commemoration of the
75th Anniversary of the UN is held September 21, 2020.
The
75th Session of the UN General Assembly opened on September 15. The
theme of this year's General Assembly is "The Future We Want, the UN We
Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism." This
theme is supposed to guide all activities of the UN and its bodies,
including the High-Level General Debate, which took place from
September 22 to 26 and concluded on September 29. This
year, the UN commemorates its 75th anniversary on October 24, which has
been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. UN Day marks the
anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the Charter of the
United Nations. With the ratification of this founding document by the
majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of
the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being. The Charter
of the United Nations is the organization's foundational treaty. It was
signed by 50 of the UN's original members in San Francisco on June 26,
1945, six weeks after Nazi Germany surrendered at the end of the Second
World War. The Charter entered into force on October 24, 1945, the
official date of the UN's formation, after being ratified by the
original five permanent members of the Security Council -- the Republic
of China (replaced by the People's Republic of China on October 25,
1971), France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United
Kingdom and the United States -- and a majority of the other
signatories. All UN members are duty-bound to uphold the 111 articles
of the UN Charter. Further, Article 103 of the UN Charter states that
obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty
obligations. The Preamble to the Charter states
four main general aims: - 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. Article One of
the Charter clearly states the United Nations' four main purposes:
- 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 for the suppression of acts of
aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by
peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and
international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes
or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace; -
to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the
principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to
take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
- to achieve international co-operation in solving
international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or
humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for
human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction
as to race, sex, language, or religion; and - to be
a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of
these common ends. The first four principles of the
UN are clearly stated at the beginning of Article 2: -
The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of
all its Members. - All Members, in order to ensure
to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall
fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance
with the present Charter. - All Members shall
settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner
that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
- All Members shall refrain in their international relations
from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or
political independence of any state, or in any other manner
inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. While
stating in words their allegiance to the articles of the UN Charter,
the U.S. imperialists and their allies take every opportunity to defy
the Charter in deeds. They routinely violate national sovereignty,
continuously humiliate or commit open aggression against other
countries, and refuse to be held to account for their misdeeds which
threaten all of humanity. This situation underscores the need to reform
and renew the UN. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the
signing of the UN Charter, it is important to again stress the pressing
need for the UN and its bodies to enshrine and uphold the equality and
sovereignty of all nations and for all nations big and small to uphold
the norms and laws of international relations so as to ensure
international peace. This must be done not just by using empty words
but in actual deeds. One of the most critical needs
is to reform the UN Security Council. Two fundamental principles of
international relations are that all nations have equal standing and
that the right to sovereignty of all nations must be upheld. These
hard-won principles were paid for by the blood of millions in World War
II and stand diametrically opposed to the imperialist dictum that
"Might Makes Right." Upholding these principles is the duty of all
nations to ensure that never again will the world be subject to a
global war. The United Nations Charter espouses these principles but
they are contradicted in practice by the composition of the Security
Council which is not in line with the needs of the times.
The Security Council is entrusted with the crucial issue of
maintaining peace. Under Chapter VII of the Charter, the Security
Council can take enforcement measures to "maintain or restore
international peace and security," ranging from economic and/or other
sanctions not involving the use of armed force to international
military action. Five big powers remain the
permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France,
Russia and the U.S. This is not only totally unrepresentative of the
majority of the 193 countries which make up the UN today but these big
powers have a veto on all matters that come before the Security
Council. Although "power of veto" is not explicitly mentioned in the
Charter, Article 27 states that "substantive" decisions require "the
concurring votes of the permanent members." The permanent members vote
according to their own national interests, not the interests of the
world's people which are sacrificed as a matter of course. Since
1972, the U.S. has used its veto power more than any other permanent
member. The Security Council usurps the decision-making process,
rendering the decisions of the General Assembly ineffective. The
renewal of the composition of the Security Council arrangements is
needed to make the UN democratic and effective as an instrument to
maintain world peace and stop its use to justify the bullying and
aggression of the U.S. and its NATO allies and partners, which is
causing havoc in the world today.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 37 - October 3, 2020
Article Link:
75th
Session of UN General Assembly Underway: 75th Anniversary of the Adoption of the UN Charter - Dougal MacDonald
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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