United Nations Charter

treaty_name=United Nations Charter

Organization of the document

The Charter consists of a preamble, broadly patterned after the preamble of the Constitution of the United States, and a series of articles divided into chapters.

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• Chapter I sets forth the purposes of the United Nations, including the important provisions of the maintenance of international peace and security.
• Chapter II defines the criteria for membership in the United Nations.
• Chapters III-XV, the bulk of the document, describe the organs and institutions of the UN and their respective powers.
• Chapters XVI and XVII describe arrangements for integrating the UN with established international law.
• Chapters XVIII and XIX provide for amendment and ratification of the Charter.

The most important chapters are those dealing with the enforcement powers of UN bodies:

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• Chapter VI describes the Security Council's power to investigate and mediate disputes;
• Chapter VII describes the Security Council's power to authorize economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions, as well as the use of military force, to resolve disputes;
• Chapters IX and X describe the UN's powers for economic and social cooperation, and the Economic and Social Council that oversees these powers;
• Chapters XII and XIII describe the Trusteeship Council, which oversaw decolonization;
• Chapters XIV and XV establish the powers of, respectively, the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Secretariat.