UN Charter
The 1945 founding treaty of the United Nations
Overview
Signed in San Francisco in June 1945, the Charter prohibits the use of force except in self defense or with Security Council authorization, establishes the Council's five permanent vetoes, and charts the General Assembly and World Court. It is the closest thing international law has to a constitution, with membership now nearly universal. Its collective security design, frozen by cold war rivalry, still frames every legality debate about war. The charter also seeded decolonization through its trusteeship and self determination provisions.
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