History

The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was first used in theDeclaration by
United Nations of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their
Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. States first established international organizations
to cooperate on specific matters. The International Telecommunication Union was founded in 1865 as the International
Telegraph Union, and the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874. Both are now United Nations specialized
agencies. In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling
crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement
of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in 1902. The
forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during
the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to
achieve peace and security." The International Labour Organization was also created under the Treaty of Versailles as
an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World
War. In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International
Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out
by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks,
United States in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50
countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51
Member States. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been
ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other
signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.

History of the United Nations Charter

The United Nations Charter is the treaty that established the United Nations.
The following series of events led to the writing of the Charter, and the UN's founding.

12 June 1941 - The Declaration of St. James's Palace In June 1941, London was the home of nine

exiled governments. The great British capital had already seen twenty-two months of war and in the bomb-marked
city, air-raid sirens wailed all too frequently. Practically all Europe had fallen to the Axis and ships on the Atlantic,
carrying vital supplies, sank with grim regularity. But in London itself and among the Allied governments and peoples,
faith in ultimate victory remained unshaken. And, even more, people were looking beyond military victory to the
postwar future.

14 August 1941 - The Atlantic Charter

Two months after the London Declaration came the next step to a world organization, the result of a dramatic meeting
between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill.

1 January 1942 - The Declaration of the United Nations

Representatives of 26 countries fighting the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, decide to support the by Signing the Declaration
of the United Nations.

1943 - Moscow and Teheran Conference

Thus by 1943 all the principal Allied nations were committed to outright victory and, thereafter, to an attempt to
create a world in which men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want. But the basis for a
world organization had yet to be defined, and such a definition came at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Great
Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1943.

1944-1945 - Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta

The principles of the world organization-to-be were thus laid down. But it is a long step from defining the principles and
purpose of such a body to setting up the structure. A blueprint had to be prepared, and it had to be accepted by many
nations.

1945 - San Francisco Conference

Forty-five nations, including the four sponsors, were originally invited to the San Francisco Conference: nations which
had declared war on Germany and Japan and had subscribed to the United Nations Declaration.

The Declaration of St. James's Palace

In June 1941, London was the home of nine exiled governments. The great British capital had already seen twenty-two
months of war and in the bomb-marked city, air-raid sirens wailed all too frequently.
Practically all Europe had fallen to the Axis and ships on the Atlantic, carrying vital supplies, sank with grim regularity.
But in London itself and among the Allied governments and peoples, faith in ultimate victory remained unshaken.
And, even more, people were looking beyond military victory to the postwar future. Would we win only to live in dread
of yet another war? Should we not define some purpose more creative than military victory? Is it not possible to shape
a better life for all countries and peoples and cut the causes of war at their roots?

Such were the anxious questions which troubled many minds, not only in Britain, but in all Allied countries.
On the twelfth of that month the representatives of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of
South Africa and of the exiled governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and of General de Gaulle of France, met at the ancient St. Jamess Palace and signed a
declaration.
These sentences from this declaration still serve as the watchwords of peace:
The only true basis of enduring peace is the willing cooperation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved of the
menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security;
It is our intention to work together, and with other free peoples, both in war and peace, to this end.

The Atlantic Charter

Two months after the London Declaration came the next step to a world organization, the result of a dramatic meeting
between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill.
In August 1941, the Axis was still very much in the ascendant, or so it seemed, and the carefully stage-managed
meetings between Hitler and Mussolini, inevitably ending in perfect accord, sounded grimly foreboding. Germany
had flung herself against the USSR but the might of this new ally was yet to be disclosed. And the United States,
though giving moral and material succor, was not yet in the war.
Then, one afternoon, came the news that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill were in conference
somewhere at seathe same seas on which the desperate Battle of the Atlantic was being fought and on August
14 the two leaders issued a joint declaration destined to be known in history as the Atlantic Charter.
This document was not a treaty between the two powers. Nor was it a final and formal expression of peace aims. It was
only an affirmation, as the document declared, of certain common principles in the national policies of their respective
countries on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.
Of the eight points of the Atlantic Charter, two bear directly on world organization.
After the final destruction of Nazi tyranny, reads the sixth clause, they hope to see established a peace which will
afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that
all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want.
The seventh clause stated that such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas without hindrance, and
the eighth concluded the document with this outline of peace organization:
They believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons, must come to the
abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to
be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending
the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is
essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peace-loving
peoples the crushing burden of armaments.
Other points of the Atlantic Charter also affirmed the basic principles of international justice: no aggrandizement; no
territorial changes without the freely-expressed wishes of the peoples concerned; the right of every people to choose
their own form of government; and equal access to raw materials for all nations.
A constructive purpose for the future international organization was also foreshadowed in the fifth clause, which
declared that the two statesmen desired to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic
field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security.
Coming from the two great democratic leaders of the day and implying the full moral support of the United States, the
Atlantic Charter created a profound impression on the embattled Allies. It came as a message of hope to the occupied
countries, and it held out the promise of a world organization based on the enduring verities of international morality.
That it had little legal validity did not detract from its value. If, in the ultimate analysis, the value of any treaty is the
sincerity of its spirit, no affirmation of common faith between peace-loving nations could be other than important.
Support for the principles of the Atlantic Charter and a pledge of cooperation to the utmost in giving effect to them,
came from a meeting of ten governments in London shortly after Mr. Churchill returned from his ocean rendezvous.
This declaration was signed on September 24 by the USSR and the nine governments of occupied Europe: Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and by the representatives of
General de Gaulle, of France.

Declaration by United Nations

On New Years Day 1942, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Maxim Litvinov, of the USSR, and T. V. Soong,
of China, signed a short document which later came to be known as the United Nations Declaration and the next day
the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. This important document pledged the
signatory governments to the maximum war effort and bound them against making a separate peace.
The complete alliance thus effected was in the light of the principles of the Atlantic Charter, and the first clause of the
United Nations Declaration reads that the signatory nations had
. . .subscribed to a common program of purposes and principles embodied in the Joint Declaration of the President of
the United States of America and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dated
August 14, 1941, known as the Atlantic Charter .
Three years later, when preparations were being made for the San Francisco Conference, only those states which had,
by March 1945, declared war on Germany and Japan and subscribed to the United Nations Declaration, were invited to
take part.

The original twenty-six signatories were: the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba,
Czechoslovakiam, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Union of South Africa, Yugoslavia
Subsequent adherents to the Declaration were (in order of signature): Mexico, Philippines, Ethiopia, Iraq, Brazil, Bolivia,
Iran, Colombia, Liberia, France, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria,
Lebanon

Moscow and Teheran Conferences

Thus by 1943 all the principal Allied nations were committed to outright victory and, thereafter, to an attempt to
create a world in which men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want. But the basis for a
world organization had yet to be defined, and such a definition came at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Great
Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1943. The United States Secretary of State, the venerable
Cordell Hull, made the first flight of his life to journey to Moscow for the conference. On October 30, the Moscow
Declaration was signed by Vyaches Molotov, Anthony Eden, Cordell Hull and Foo Ping Shen, the Chinese Ambassador
to the Soviet Union.
The Declaration pledged further joint action in dealing with the enemies surrender and, in clause 4, proclaimed:
That they [the Foreign Ministers] recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general
international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to
membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
In December, two months after the four-power Declaration, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, meeting for the first time at
Teheran, the capital of Iran, declared that they had worked out concerted plans for final victory.
As to peace, the Declaration read:
We are sure that our concord will win an enduring peace. We recognize fully the supreme responsibility resting upon
us and all the United Nations to make a peace which will command the goodwill of the overwhelming mass of the
peoples of the world and banish the scourge and terror of war for many generations.

Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta

The principles of the world organization-to-be were thus laid down. But it is a long step from defining the
principles and purpose of such a body to setting up the structure. A blueprint had to be prepared, and it
had to be accepted by many nations.
For this purpose, representatives of China, Great Britain, the USSR and the United States met for a
business-like conference at Dumbarton Oaks, a private mansion in Washington, D. C. The discussions were
completed on October 7, 1944, and a proposal for the structure of the world organization was submitted by
the four powers to all the United Nations governments and to the peoples of all countries for their study
and discussion.
According to the Dumbarton Oaks proposals, four principal bodies were to constitute the organization to be
known as the United Nations. There was to be a General Assembly composed of all the members. Then
came a Security Council of eleven members. Five of these were to be permanent and the other six were to
be chosen from the remaining members by the General Assembly to hold office for two years. The third
body was an International Court of Justice, and the fourth a Secretariat. An Economic and Social Council,
working under the authority of the General Assembly, was also provided for.
The essence of the plan was that responsibility for preventing future war should be conferred upon the
Security Council. The General Assembly could study, discuss and make recommendations in order to
promote international cooperation and adjust situations likely to impair welfare. It could consider problems
of cooperation in maintaining peace and security, and disarmament, in their general principles. But it could
not make recommendations on any matter being considered by the Security Council, and all questions on
which action was necessary had to be referred to the Security Council.
The actual method of voting in the Security Council -- an all-important question -- was left open at
Dumbarton Oaks for future discussion.
Another important feature of the Dumbarton Oaks plan was that member states were to place armed
forces at the disposal of the Security Council in its task of preventing war and suppressing acts of
aggression. The absence of such force, it was generally agreed, had been a fatal weakness in the older
League of Nations machinery for preserving peace.
The Dumbarton Oaks proposals were fully discussed throughout the Allied countries. The British
Government issued a detailed commentary, and in the United States, the Department of State distributed
1,900,000 copies of the text and arranged for speakers, radio programs and motion picture films to explain
the proposals. Comments and constructive criticisms came from several governments, e.g., Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the Union of
South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Extensive press and radio discussion enabled people in Allied countries to judge the merits of the new plan
for peace.
Much attention was given to the differences between this new plan and the Covenant of the League of
Nations, it being generally admitted that putting armed forces at the disposal of the Security Council was a
notable improvement.
One important gap in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals had yet to be filled: the voting procedure in the
Security Council. This was done at Yalta in the Crimea where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, together with
their foreign ministers and chiefs of staff, met in conference. On February 11, 1945, the conference
announced that this question had been resolved, and it summoned the San Francisco Conference.
We are resolved, the three leaders declared, upon the earliest possible establishment with our Allies of
a general international organization to maintain peace and security We have agreed that a Conference
of United Nations should be called to meet at San Francisco in the United States on the 25th April, 1945, to
prepare the charter of such an organization, along the lines proposed in the formal conversations of
Dumbarton Oaks.
The invitations were sent out on March 5, 1945, and those invited were told at the same time about the
agreement reached at Yalta on the voting procedure in the Security Council.
Soon after, in early April, came the sudden death of President Roosevelt, to whose statesmanship the plans
for the San Francisco Conference owed so much. There was fear for a time that the conference might have
to be postponed, but President Truman decided to carry out all the arrangements already made, and the
conference opened on the appointed date.

San Francisco Conference

Forty-five nations, including the four sponsors, were originally invited to the San Francisco Conference: nations which
had declared war on Germany and Japan and had subscribed to the United Nations Declaration.
One of these, Poland, did not attend because the composition of her new government was not announced until too late
for the conference. Therefore, a space was left for the signature of Poland, one of the original signatories of the United
Nations Declaration. At the time of the conference there was no generally recognized Polish Government, but on June
28, such a government was announced and on October 15, 1945 Poland signed the Charter, thus becoming one of the
original Members.

Fifty Nations, Soon To Be United

France suggested that Syria and Lebanon be invited and these two states were asked to attend. The conference itself
invited four other states the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, newlyliberated Denmark and Argentina. Thus delegates of fifty nations in all, gathered at the City of the Golden Gate,
representatives of over eighty per cent of the world's population, people of every race, religion and continent; all
determined to set up an organization which would preserve peace and help build a better world. They had before them
the Dumbarton Oaks proposals as the agenda for the conference and, working on this basis, they had to produce a
Charter acceptable to all the countries.

Delegations And Staff Number 3,500

There were 850 delegates, and their advisers and staff together with the conference secretariat brought the total to
3,500. In addition, there were more than 2,500 press, radio and newsreel representatives and observers from many
societies and organizations. In all, the San Francisco Conference was not only one of the most important in history but,
perhaps, the largest international gathering ever to take place. The heads of the delegations of the sponsoring
countries took turns as chairman of the plenary meetings : Anthony Eden, of Britain, Edward Stettinius, of the United
States, T. V. Soong, of China, and Vyacheslav Molotov, of the Soviet Union. At the later meetings, Lord Halifax
deputized for Mr. Eden, V. K. Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov.
Plenary meetings are, however, only the final stages at such conferences. A great deal of work has to be done in
preparatory committees before a proposition reaches the full gathering in the form in which it should be voted upon.
And the voting procedure at San Francisco was important. Every part of the Charter had to be and was passed by a
two-thirds majority.
This is the way in which the San Francisco Conference got through its monumental work in exactly two months.

One Charter, Four Sections

The conference formed a "Steering Committee," composed of the heads of all the delegations. This committee decided
all matters of major principle and policy. But, even at one member per state, the committee was fifty strong, too large
for detailed work; therefore an Executive Committee of fourteen heads of delegations was chosen to prepare
recommendations for the Steering Committee.
Then the proposed Charter was divided into four sections, each of which was considered by a "Commission."
Commission one dealt with the general purposes of the organization, its principles, membership, the secretariat and
the subject of amendments to the Charter. Commission two considered the powers and responsibilities of the General
Assembly, while Commission three took up the Security Council.
Commission four worked on a draft for the Statute of the International Court of Justice.

This draft had been prepared by a 44-nation Committee of Jurists which had met in Washington in April 1945. All this
sounds over-elaborate especially when the four Commissions subdivided into twelve technical committees but
actually, it was the speediest way of ensuring the fullest discussion and securing the last ounce of agreement possible.

Clashes Of Opinion
There were only ten plenary meetings of all the delegates but nearly 400 meetings of the committees at which every
line and comma was hammered out. It was more than words and phrases, of course, that had to be decided upon.
There were many serious clashes of opinion, divergencies of outlook and even a crisis or two, during which some
observers feared that the conference might adjourn without an agreement.
There was the question, for example, of the status of "regional organizations." Many countries had their own
arrangements for regional defence and mutual assistance. There was the Inter-American System, for example, and the
Arab League. How were such arrangements to be related to the world organization? The conference decided to give
them part in peaceful settlement and also, in certain circumstances, in enforcement measures, provided that the aims
and acts of these groups accorded with the aims and purposes of the United Nations.
The League of Nations had provided machinery for the revision of treaties between members. Should the United
Nations make similar provisions?

Treaties And Trusteeship

The conference finally agreed that treaties made after the formation of the United Nations should be registered with
the Secretariat and published by it. As to revision, no specific mention was made although such revision may be
recommended by the General Assembly in the course of investigation of any situation requiring peaceful adjustment.
The conference added a whole new chapter on the subject not covered by the Dumbarton Oaks proposals: proposals
creating a system for territories placed under United Nations trusteeship. On this matter there was much debate.
Should the aim of trusteeship be defined as "independence" or "self-government" for the peoples of these areas? If
independence, what about areas too small ever to stand on their own legs for defence? It was finally recommended
that the promotion of the progressive development of the peoples of trust territories should be directed toward
"independence or self-government."

Debates And Vetos

There was also considerable debate on the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the conference decided
that member nations would not be compelled to accept the Court's jurisdiction but might voluntarily declare their
acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction. Likewise the question of future amendments to the Charter received much
attention and finally resulted in an agreed solution.
Above all, the right of each of the "Big Five" to exercise a "veto" on action by the powerful Security Council provoked
long and heated debate. At one stage the conflict of opinion on this question threatened to break up the conference.
The smaller powers feared that when one of the "Big Five" menaced the peace, the Security Council would be
powerless to act, while in the event of a clash between two powers not permanent members of the Security Council,
the "Big Five" could act arbitrarily. They strove therefore to have the power of the "veto" reduced. But the great powers
unanimously insisted on this provision as vital, and emphasized that the main responsibility for maintaining world
peace would fall most heavily on them. Eventually the smaller powers conceded the point in the interest of setting up
the world organization.
This and other vital issues were resolved only because every nation was determined to set up, if not the perfect
international organization, at least the best that could possibly be made.

The Last Meeting

Thus it was that in the Opera House at San Francisco on June 25, the delegates met in full session for the last meeting.
Lord Halifax presided and put the final draft of the Charter to the meeting. "This issue upon which we are about to
vote," he said, "is as important as any we shall ever vote in our lifetime."
In view of the world importance of the occasion, he suggested that it would be appropriate to depart from the
customary method of voting by a show of hands. Then, as the issue was put, every delegate rose and remained
standing. So did everyone present, the staffs, the press and some 3000 visitors, and the hall resounded to a mighty
ovation as the Chairman announced that the Charter had been passed unanimously.

The Charter Is Signed

The next day, in the auditorium of the Veterans' Memorial Hall, the delegates filed up one by one to a huge round table
on which lay the two historic volumes, the Charter and the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Behind each
delegate stood the other members of the delegation against a colorful semi-circle of the flags of fifty nations. In the
dazzling brilliance of powerful spotlights, each delegate affixed his signature. To China, first victim of aggression by an
Axis power, fell the honour of signing first.
"The Charter of the United Nations which you have just signed," said President Truman in addressing the final session,
"is a solid structure upon which we can build a better world. History will honor you for it. Between the victory in Europe
and the final victory, in this most destructive of all wars, you have won a victory against war itself. . . . With this
Charter the world can begin to look forward to the time when all worthy human beings may be permitted to live
decently as free people."
Then the President pointed out that the Charter would work only if the peoples of the world were determined to make
it work.

"If we fail to use it," he concluded, "we shall betray all those who have died so that we might meet here in freedom
and safety to create it. If we seek to use it selfishly - for the advantage of any one nation or any small group of nations
we shall be equally guilty of that betrayal. "

The Charter Is Approved

The United Nations did not come into existence at the signing of the Charter. In many countries the Charter had to be
approved by their congresses or parliaments. It had therefore been provided that the Charter would come into force
when the Governments of China, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and a majority of the
other signatory states had ratified it and deposited notification to this effect with the State Department of the United
States. On October 24, 1945, this condition was fulfilled and the United Nations came into existence. Four years of
planning and the hope of many years had materialized in an international organization designed to end war and
promote peace, justice and better living for all mankind.

1941 - 1950
Date

Milestones

12 June 1941

Inter-Allied Declaration
"To work together, with other free peoples, both in war and in peace"
Signed in London on 12 June 1941, the Inter-Allied Declaration was a first step towards
the establishment of the United Nations.

14 August 1941

Atlantic Charter
On 14 August 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States and
Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom proposed a set of principles
for international collaboration in maintaining peace and security. The document,
signed during a meeting on the ship H.M.S. Prince of Wales, "somewhere at sea", is
known as the Atlantic Charter.

1 January 1942

Declaration by United Nations

On 1 January 1942, representatives of 26 Allied nations fighting against the Axis
Powers met in Washington, D.C. to pledge their support for the Atlantic Charter by
signing the "Declaration by United Nations". This document contained the first official
use of the term "United Nations", which was suggested by President Roosevelt.

30 October 1943

Moscow and Teheran Conferences

In a declaration signed in Moscow on 30 October 1943, the Governments of the Soviet
Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and China called for an early
establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security. That
goal was reaffirmed at the meeting of the leaders of the United States, the USSR, and
the United Kingdom at Teheran on 1 December 1943.

21 September 19447 October 1944

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

The first blueprint of the UN was prepared at a conference held at a mansion known
as Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. During two phases of meetings which ran
from 21 September through 7 October 1944, the United States, the United Kingdom,
the USSR and China agreed on the aims, structure and functioning of a world
organization.

11 February 1945

Yalta Conference
On 11 February 1945, following meetings at Yalta, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister
Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin declared their resolve to establish "a general
international organization to maintain peace and security".

25 April 1945

San Francisco Conference

On 25 April 1945, delegates of 50 nations met in San Francisco for the United Nations
Conference on International Organization. The delegates drew up the 111article Charter, which was adopted unanimously on 25 June 1945 in the San Francisco
Opera House. The next day, they signed it in the Herbst Theatre auditorium of the

Veterans War Memorial Building.

24 October 1945

24 October 1945
The United Nations is created as its Charter is ratified by the five permanent members
of the Security Council and the majority of other signatories, and comes into force.

10 January 1946
The first General Assembly, with 51 nations represented opens in Central Hall,
Westminster, London.
17 January 1946
Security Council meets for the first time in London, adopting its rules of procedure.
24 January 1946

General Assembly adopts its first resolution. Its main focus: peaceful uses of atomic
energy and the elimination of atomic and other weapons of mass destruction.

1 February 1946

Trygve Lie of Norway becomes first Secretary-General.

24 October 1947

"United Nations Day" officially designated by the General Assembly.

May 1948

United Nations Troop Supervision Organization (UNTSO)

UNTSO was the first peacekeeping operation established by the United Nations.

10 December 1948

General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

7 January 1949

A UN envoy, Ralph Bunche secures cease-fire between the new State of Israel and
Arab States.

24 October 1949

Cornerstone laid for present UN Headquarters in New York City.

27 June 1950

Security Council, acting in the absence of the Soviet Union, calls on Member States to
help southern part of Korea repel invasion from the north. The Korean Armistice
Agreement is signed on 27 July 1953 by the UN Command and the Chinese-North
Korean Command.

1951-1960
Date

Milestones

7 April 1953

The General Assembly nominates Dag Hammarskjld as Secretary General of the

United Nations.

1954

UN High Commissioner for Refugees wins first of two Nobel Peace Prizes, for its work
with European refugees.

7 November 1956

First Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly meets on the Suez Canal
crisis and, on 5 November, decides to establish the first UN peace-keeping forcethe UN Emergency Force (UNEF).

September 160

17 newly independent States, 16 from Africa, join the UN -the biggest increase in
membership in any one year.

1961-1970
Date

Milestones

18 September 1961

Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold dies in an aircraft crash while on mission to

Congo.
He is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously in 1961.
Security Council Special Report on the fatal flight of the aircraft carrying SecretaryGeneral Dag Hammarskjold.

3 November 1961

The General Assembly nominates U Thant as Secretary General of the United Nations.

7 August 1963

Security Council votes voluntary arms embargo against South Africa.

4 March 1964

Security Council approves dispatch of peacekeeping force to Cyprus.

1965

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for
1965.

27 October 1966

The UN General Assembly strips South Africa of its mandate to govern South-West
Africa (Namibia).

16 December 1966

The Security Council impose mandatory sanctions against Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

22 November 1967

Following the six-day war in 1967, the Security Council, after lengthy negotiations,
adopts resolution 242 (1967), as the basis for achieving peace in the Middle East.

12 June 1968

General Assembly approves the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons and calls for its ratification.

4 January 1969

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination comes into force.

1969

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1969.

1971 - 1980
Date

Milestones

25 October 1971

The General Assembly votes to seat representatives of the People's Republic of China.

22 December 1971

The General Assembly nominates Kurt Waldheim as Secretary General of the United
Nations.

June 1972

The first UN Environment Conference is held in Stockholm, Sweden, leading to the

establishment of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), headquartered in Nairobi.

13 November 1974

The General Assembly recognizes the Palestine Liberation Organization as "the sole
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people".

June - July 1975

International Women's Year is marked by the first World Conference on Women, held in
Mexico City.

4 November 1977

The Security Council adopts mandatory arms embargo against South Africa.

May - June 1978

The General Assembly convenes, for the first time, a special session on disarmament.

18 December 1979

The General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, covering political, economic, social, cultural and civic
values.

8 May 1980

Three years after the last case was reported, the World Health Organization
(WHO) officially declares smallpox eradicated.

1981 - 1990
Date

Milestones

1981

UN High Commissioner for Refugees is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the second time, for its
assistance to Asian refugees.

25 November
1981

General Assembly adopts Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.

10 December

New UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is signed by 117 States and two entities the largest

1982

number of signatures ever affixed to a treaty on its first day.

December
1984

Secretary-General Javier Perez De Cuellar sets up a UN Office for Emergency Operations in Africa to
help coordinate famine relief efforts.

10 December
1984

General Assembly adopts the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment.

July 1985

Thousands gather in Nairobi to attend the World Conference to Review and Appraise the
Achievements of the UN Decade for Women, marking the end of the UN Decade for Women.

September
1987

Efforts of UNEP lead to the signing of the Treaty on the Protection of the Ozone Layer, known as
the Montreal Protocol a follow-up to the 1985 Vienna Convention on the Ozone Layer.

1988

United Nations Peacekeeping Forces are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At the time there were
seven peacekeeping or observer missions in operation.

April 1989

The UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) is deployed throughout Namibia to monitor South
Africa's withdrawal and provide electoral assistance.
Elections were held in November 1989; Namibia becomes independent on 21 March 1990.

2 September
1990

Convention on the Rights of the Child comes into force.

29 - 30
September
1990

UNICEF convenes the World Summit for Children, attended by 71 Heads of State and Government.
A Plan of Action is adopted.

1991 - 2000
Date

Milestones

31 May
1991

A cease-fire in the 16-year civil war in Angola is negotiated, then administered by the UN Angola
Verification Mission (UNAVEM II).

3
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations by the UN General
December Assembly, after recommendation of the Security Council.
1991
31
Agreement signed at UN Headquarters, through the good offices of the Secretary-General, between the
December Government of El Salvador and National Liberation Front (FMLN).
1991
31
January
1992

First ever Security Council Summit, with leaders from all 15 members in attendance, is held in New York
leading to the Secretary-General's report, An Agenda for Peace.

June 1992

The UN Conference on Environment and Development, the "Earth Summit", is held in Rio De Janeiro
attended by leaders from over 100 countries, the largest intergovernmental gathering in history,
resulting in Agenda 21, a plan of action for sustainable development.

17 June
1992

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali issues "An Agenda for Peace" on preventive diplomacy,
peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

1993

Eritrean independence was declared on 27 April, 1993 as a result of a referendum held with UN
verification, with more than 98.5% of registered voters voting. Eritrea was subsequently admitted to
membership in the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity.

May 1993

UN-supervised elections were held in Cambodia, resulting in a new government, and the drafting of a
new constitution, ending nearly 15 years of strife in the war-torn country.

June 1993

The World Conference on Human Rights is held in Vienna, which commemorated the International Year
for the World's Indigenous People (1993)

6 May
1994

The Secretary-General produces a report on "An Agenda for Development", a blueprint for improving
the human condition.

23 June
1994

Elections are held in South Africa from 26 to 29 April, observed by 2,527 staff of the United Nations
Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA) deployed around the country. On 25 May, the Security
Council lifted the arms embargo and other restrictions against South Africa. On 23 June, after 24 years,
South Africa took its place once again in the General Assembly.

5-15
The International Conference on Population and Development, is held in Cairo, attended by
Septembe representatives from 179 countries and addressed by 249 speakers. The Conference had population,
r 1994
sustained economic growth and sustainable development as its overall theme.
October
1994

Mozambique's first multi-party elections are held on 27-29 October, monitored by some 2,300
international observers.

1995

A worldwide, year-long programme of activities and celebrations marks theFiftieth Anniversary of the
United Nations. The theme of the anniversary was "We the peoples of the United Nations...United for a
Better World".

March
1995

The World Summit for Social Development one of the largest gathering of world leaders in history
meets in Copenhagen to renew the commitment to combating poverty, unemployment and social
exclusion.

26 June
1995

A conference is held in San Francisco, California to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the
United Nations Charter.

Septembe The Fourth World Conference on Women meets in Beijing to continue international efforts to advance
r 1995
the status of women worldwide.
22-24
October
1995

A special commemorative meeting attended by Heads of State and Government is held at Headquarters
culminating the observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations.

10
The General Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. This is a turning point in
Septembe the history of efforts towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The treaty was opened for
r 1996
signature on 24 September.
17
The General Assembly appoints by acclamation Kofi Annan, of Ghana, as the seventh United Nations
December Secretary-General with a term begining on 1 January 1997 and ending 31 December 2001.
1996

2001 - 2010
Date

Milestones

6-8 June 2001

From 6 to 8 June 2001, five years after Habitat II, the General Assembly of the United Nations holds
a special session to review and appraise implementation of the Habitat Agenda worldwide: Istanbul+5.

25-27 June 2001

During the course of the 26th special session of the General Assembly, the Member States adopt
the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS
Text of the Declaration

29 June 2001

Acting on a recommendation by the Security Council, the General Assembly appointed Kofi Annan by
acclamation to a second term of office, beginning on 1 January 2002 and ending on 31 December 2006.

12 December 2001

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the UN and to Secretary- General Kofi Annan for "their efforts in
favor of a better organized and more peaceful world".

1822 March 2002

The International Conference on Financing for Development is held in Monterrey (Mexico). The Member
States adopt the Monterrey Consensus.

812 April 2002

The Second World Assembly on Ageing seeks to ensure that people everywhere are enabled to age with
security and dignity, and continue to participate in their societies as citizens with full rights.
Report of the Second World Assembly on Ageing

810 May 2002

The Special Session on Children brings together more than 7000 people. The International Conference on
Children is the most important of its kind organized in over 10 years.

1 July 2002

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent treaty based international criminal court
established to promote precedence of rule of law and to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the
most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The Rome Statute, the legal basis for
establishing the International Criminal Court, was adopted on July 17 1998 by 120 countries participating
in the United Nations Diplomatic Plenipotentiary Conference on the establishment of an International
Criminal Court.

26 August 4 September 2002

The Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg 2002) recommends a series of measures to

reduce poverty and to protect the environment.
Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development

19 August 2003

A monument dedicated to the memory of all the United Nations staff memberswho have lost their lives in
the service of peace is unveiled on the North lawn of the United Nations garden of the Secretariat
building, at New York Headquarters.

31 October 2003

The United Nations Convention against Corruption is adopted.

1012 December 2003

The First Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is held in Geneva.
Declaration of Principles
Plan of Action
The Second Phase is held in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.
Tunis Commitment
Tunis Agenda for the Information Society

24 January 2005

The 28th Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations commemorates the 60th
Anniversary of Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps.

11 February 2005

60th Anniversary of the San Francisco Conference. The United Nations celebrates the 60 years of its
Charter, signed in San Francisco.

13 April 2005

The General Assembly adopts the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism.

8 March 2005

On the occasion of the Special Session on Children, Member States adopt aDeclaration on Human
Cloning.

1416 September 2005

The World Summit 2005 convenes more than 170 Heads of State and Government to reach major
decisions on ending poverty, promoting human rights, fighting terrorism and helping countries recover
from deadly conflict.Outcome Document

7 October 2005

The 7 October 2005, the Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, for efforts in preventing military use of
atomic energy and work in favor of a peaceful use of this type of energy.

24 October 2005

The United Nations celebrates its 60th Anniversary.

20 December 2005

The General Assembly of the UN creates the Peacebuilding Commission to help countries emerging from
conflict to achieve a sustainable peace.

15 March 2006

The General Assembly establishes the Human Rights Council. Its main purpose is to address situations of
human rights violations and to provide recommendations.

13 October 2006

The General Assembly nominates Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General of the United Nations.

12 October 2007

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize 2007conjointly to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and to Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts in collecting and
diffusing knowledge on climactic changes induced by humans.

3 May 2008

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities enters into force. It is the first international
human rights treaty that was negotiated with the participation of civil society.

January 12, 2010

An earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale hit Haiti, killing 300,000 people and devastating the
country. The deadliest disaster in the history of UN peacekeeping operations killed 101 members of the
UN family .

July 2, 2010

The General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the
empowerment of women

2011 - 2020
Date

Milestones

21 June 2011

General Assembly appoints Ban Ki-moon to second term as UN Secretary-General.

July 2011

The Republic of South Sudan formally seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as a result of an internationally
monitored referendum held in January 2011, and was admitted as a new Member State by the United
Nations General Assembly on 14 July 2011.

31 October 2011

The global population reaches 7 billion.

June 2012

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
from the 20th through the 22nd of June 2012 in order to agree on new policies aimed at promoting global

economic development and environmental protection. At the conclusion of the conference UN member
states adopted the final document of Rio+20, "The Future We Want."
29 November 2012

The General Assembly accorded non-Member Observer State status to the State of Palestine (Resolution
A/RES/67/19).

11 October 2013

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
for its silent but useful work to contribute to peace in the world.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger[edit]

Target 1A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than
$1.25 a day[9]

Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth of poverty]

Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 1B: Achieve Decent Employment for Women, Men, and Young People

GDP Growth per Employed Person

Employment Rate

Proportion of employed population below $1.25 per day (PPP values)

Proportion of family-based workers in employed population

Target 1C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from
hunger

Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age

Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption [10]

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education[edit]

Target 2A: By 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls
and boys

Enrolment in primary education

Completion of primary education[11]

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women[edit]

Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by
2005, and at all levels by 2015

Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament[12]

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates[edit]

Target 4A: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Under-five mortality rate

Infant (under 1) mortality rate

Proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles[13]

Goal 5: Improve maternal health[edit]

Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal
mortality ratio

Maternal mortality ratio

Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Target 5B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Adolescent birth rate

Antenatal care coverage

Unmet need for family planning[14]

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases[edit]

Target 6A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

HIV prevalence among population aged 1524 years

Condom use at last high-risk sex

Proportion of population aged 1524 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of

HIV/AIDS

Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those
who need it

Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs

Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other
major diseases

Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria

Proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets

Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial
drugs

Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis

Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under DOTS (Directly Observed
Treatment Short Course)[15]
2013 educational improvement
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability[edit]

Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and
programs; reverse loss of environmental resources

Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the
rate of loss

Proportion of land area covered by forest

CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)

Consumption of ozone-depleting substances

Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits

Proportion of total water resources used

Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected

Proportion of species threatened with extinction

Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access
to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on water
supply)

Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and
rural

Proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation

Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least
100 million slum-dwellers

Proportion of urban population living in slums[16]

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development[edit]

Target 8A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading

and financial system

Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction both

nationally and internationally

Target 8B: Address the Special Needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

Includes: tariff and quota free access for LDC exports; enhanced programme of debt
relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA (Official
Development Assistance) for countries committed to poverty reduction

Target 8C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small
island developing States

Through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly

Target 8D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries
through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long
term

Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed
countries (LDCs), Africa, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.

Official development assistance (ODA):

Net ODA, total and to LDCs, as percentage of OECD/DAC donors GNI

Proportion of total sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services
(basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation)

Proportion of bilateral ODA of OECD/DAC donors that is untied

ODA received in landlocked countries as proportion of their GNIs

ODA received in small island developing States as proportion of their GNIs

Market access:

Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from
developing countries and from LDCs, admitted free of duty

Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles

and clothing from developing countries

Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as percentage of their GDP

Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity

Debt sustainability:

Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and number
that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)

Debt relief committed under HIPC initiative, US$

Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services

Target 8E: In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable,
essential drugs in developing countries

Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis

Target 8F: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new
technologies, especially information and communications

Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population

Personal computers in use per 100 population

Internet users per 100 Population[17]