Topic B: Rethinking of the UN-Charta as an Effective Right Association

Topic B: Rethinking of the UN-Charta as an Effective Rights Association

The Charta of the United Nations was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on 24 October 1945. It is the foundation agreement of the UN and comprises the goals and principles of the 193 member states that all signed it by now. The papers include 111 phrases about equality, the attempt to avoid war, human dignity, justice, social progress, or a better living standard but the main goal of the UN-Charta is the Combination of all member states to secure word peace. This aim also finds itself in the first paragraph of the contract:

The Purpose[…] of the United Nations [is]: 1. 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.

Amendments to the Charta require a two-thirds majority of the members of the General Assembly, including the approval of all five UN veto powers.

The UN currently brings together 193 countries to preserve world peace and ensure humane living conditions for a world population of more than 7.5 billion people. Since the end of the Second World War, their Charter, often referred to as the "World Constitution", has formed the basis of a new international order which is not only intended to banish war and violence from international relations. In the seven decades of its existence, the organization has been given many other responsibilities and functions, from respect for human rights to social and economic development to the protection of the environment and climate. For a long time now, not only the states, but increasingly the individual and "human security" have been at the centre of their work.

At the same time the UN is, and above all, a community of states which attach great importance to their sovereignty rights and are opposed to excessive interference in their internal affairs. Thus, they were and are not prepared to give the UN its own instruments and means of power. All decisions taken by the Organisation, and therefore all the possibilities for action, are almost entirely in the hands of the Member States, especially the major powers. Their self-interests repeatedly clash with the collective norms and mechanisms of the UN. The united Nations political practice, which is geared towards seeking consensus or compromise between (formally) equal states, is thus often difficult and slow. Critical voices therefore sometimes accuse the organization of helplessness and failure in the face of world problems.

In regard to this year’s debate, the question about the UN-Charta will be rethought and the delegates should argue in a well-founded way such as:

Having a closer look upon the history of the UN and their actions, you can see that the states sovereignty is often credited a higher importance than the actual problems and, in the intention to make the UN a more effective organization, it should get its own instruments and means of power.

It is undisputed that the UN, with all its strengths and weaknesses, is a unique institution in many respects, with considerable importance for the development of international relations. It sets out norms and values on which the actions of the individual states should be aligned.