Purposes and principles
The opening chapters connect international peace and security with friendly relations, cooperation and human rights. Article 2 includes sovereign equality, peaceful settlement and restrictions on the threat or use of force. These provisions set the framework within which the Charter’s institutions and procedures operate. Particular questions require the relevant article and its place in that framework.
Institutions and responsibilities
The Charter establishes the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and Secretariat as principal organs. Subsequent chapters allocate their functions and describe relationships between them. The structure joins deliberation, collective-security responsibilities, economic and social cooperation, administration and judicial settlement within one constituent instrument.
Peaceful settlement and collective security
Chapter VI concerns peaceful settlement of disputes. Chapter VII addresses action relating to threats to peace, breaches of peace and aggression. Their subjects and procedures differ. The accompanying ICJ Statute is a separate text dealing with the Court’s organisation, competence and procedure; the Charter identifies the Court as the UN’s principal judicial organ.
The original text and later amendments
The edition distinction is material. The 1945 PDF states eleven Security Council members and seven affirmative votes, whereas the UN’s current consolidated text gives fifteen and nine. Its original Economic and Social Council also differs from the later amended membership. The current UN page explains these amendments, including changes entering into force in 1965 and the subsequent ECOSOC enlargement in 1973.
Edition: the registered PDF is the original 1945 document, not an amended current consolidation. It is valuable for the Charter’s documentary history. Contemporary institutional numbers should be taken from the current official UN text and amendment history. Historical state names in the original remain part of that historical edition.
Original source: United Nations; UN Treaty Collection copy.
Related reading: Europe and International Relations · International Relations.