Page 172 - Law of Peace, Volume ,

Pam 27-161-1

CHAPTER 9
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Section I. THE UNITED NATIONS 1
9-1. The Beginnings of the United Nations. The United the conference was between the representatives of the
Nations represents the second attempt on the part of the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom, and the United States
states of the world to organize themselves into a true com- from August 21 to September 28, 1944. The second
munity of states, wherein the security of each member phase was between the representatives of China, the
would be safeguarded not by itself alone but by the whole United Kingdom, and the United States from September
community. The fust attempt at such a goal was the 29 to October 7. This splitting of the conference served to
League of Nations. With the start of World War I1 there respect U.S.S.R. neutrality in the war against Japan. On
was general agreement that the League experiment was a February 11, 1945 the conference made the following an-
failure. However, such a realization did not amount to an nouncement:
abandonment of the idea of an international organization We have agreed that a conference of United Nations
to ensure world security. The reverse was true. On 12 should be called to meet at San Francisco in the United
June 1941 Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zea- States on the twenty-fifth April 1945, to prepare the
land, the Union of South Africa, and a number of Euro- charter of such an organization, along the lines proposed
pean governments-in-exile issued the London Declara- in the informal conversations of Dumbarton Oaks.
tion. The Declaration declared that: Fi nations answered the invitation of the Big Four to
The only true basis of enduring peace is the willing meet at San Francisco. These nations worked on the
cooperation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved of Dumbarton Oaks proposals from 25 April to 26 June
the menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and 1945. From this conference came the Charter of the
social security. United Nations and the Statute of the new International
Court of Justice. The United Nations Charter is a
The theme was repeated a few months later in the Atlantic
Charterof 14 August 1941. In it the United States and the multilateral treaty. The United Nations organization cre-
United Kingdom stated: ated by the treaty is an international person, independent
Clause C. After the frnal destruction of Nazi tyranny, of its members, possessing sufficient international per-
sonality to enable it to fulfill its purposes. *
we hope to see established a peace which will afford to all
nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own While the United Nations started out with fifty members,
boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the its membership has increased along with the increasing
men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom number of nations which make up the world community.
from fear and want. During the 1976 fall session of the General Assembly,
membership had expanded to 145 nations, and plans were
There was nothing specific in either the London Declara-
made @build facilities for a future membership of 170na-
tion or the Atlantic Charter about the mechanics of
tions. The Charter has been amended two times. First, in
preserving peace among the states following the end of the
1963 Articles 23 and 27 were amended changing the size
war. This was left to the Moscow Declaration of Decem-
and membership of the Security Council. Then, in 1973
ber 1943. In it China, the United States, United Kingdom
Article 61 was amended changing the size of the Econom-
and U.S.S.R. stated:
ic and Social Council. Both changes were made in view of
We recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest the expanding membership of the United Nations.
practicable date a general international organization, 9-2. The Structure of the United Nations. The United
based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all Nations is divided into six organs:
peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such 1. The Secretariat
states, large and small, for the maintenance of interna- 2. The Security Council
tional peace and security.
This was the fust positive announcement of the intention 1. For information on the steps which led to the adoption of the
to establish a new collective security organization after the United Nations Charter see Everymn's United Nations, 2-9 (7th ed.
war. It amounted to an abandonment of the League. At 1964), and Goodrich & Hambro, Charter of the United Nations, 3-84
(2d. ed. (1949)). The Text of The Charter may be found in DA
the time of the Moscow Declaration in 1943 the League Pamphlet 27-24, Selected International Agreements, Vol. I1 @ec. 1976),
was still in existence, though not functioning. The pp. 3-1 to 3-21.
League, after the Moscow Declaration, had no part to play 2. On the international personality of the United Nations Organiza-
in the postwar world. tion see the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on 11
April 1949, concerningReparations for LqiUries SufTered in the Senrice
At Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, in 1944 the four
of the United Nations (1949) I.C.J. Rep. 174. The U.N. Organkation is
signers of the Moscow Declaration met to draw up a given personality for itsactivities within member states by virtue of arti-
detailed plan for the new organization. The first phase of cles 104 and 105 of the Charter.