‘Not an à la carte menu’: Guterres says UN Charter is ‘under assault’ as world body marks 80 years

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday issued a stark warning that the UN’s founding document, the Charter signed 80 years ago, was under assault like never before as the 193-member world body marked the 80th anniversary of the signing of its founding document.

Speaking at a special session commemorating the historic occasion, Guterres said, “We see an all too familiar pattern: Follow when the Charter suits, ignore when it does not. The Charter of the United Nations is not optional. It is not an a la carte menu. It is the bedrock of international relations,”.

His remarks came as the UN marked the 80th anniversary of the signing of its foundational charter in San Francisco on June 26, 1945. The organisation, initially formed by 50 nations in the aftermath of World War II aimed to prevent future conflicts, promote human dignity, and uphold the sovereignty and equality of all nations.

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Countries regularly accuse each other of breaching the Charter, but few face concrete consequences. In recent years Russia and Israel have been called out by the General Assembly for violating the Charter with their wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, respectively. Both conflicts still rage.

In the past week, Iran accused the United States of violating the Charter with its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and the U.S. justified them under the Charter as self-defence.

The United Nations was born out of the end of World War Two and the Charter was signed in San Francisco by an initial 50 states on June 26, 1945. It came into force four months later with the aim of saving succeeding generations from war and upholding human dignity and the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.

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While the United Nations had done a lot of good over the past eight decades, senior U.S. diplomat McCoy Pitt said the world body should not ”overlook the shortcomings that limit the UN’s potential.”

”We regret that the U.N. has lost sight of its founding mission. In this regard, wars still rage on multiple continents,” he said. ”The principles of the UN Charter must remain at the heart of this institution, not just as an agreement for a better world, but also as a continuing call to action.”