United Nations Day
United Nations Day is celebrated every 24 October to commemorate the entry into force of the founding Charter of the organisation on that day in 1945.
The ratification of this founding document by the majority of signatories marked the official birth of the UN, a signature that included the five permanent members of the Security Council: China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the USSR (since 1991 and following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has become a permanent member).
By the institution’s own admission, ‘there is no other global organisation with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact of the United Nations’.
What is the Charter of the United Nations?
This Charter is the founding treaty that sets out the principles and objectives of the UN, promoting peace, international security, human rights and cooperation among nations. But what are the obligations of adhering to this document, signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945?
As an international treaty, the Charter is binding on the member states of the organisation and ‘embodies the principles of international relations, from the sovereign equality of states to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations’.
This document was initially ratified by 50 states, to which Poland would later add its signature, thus becoming one of the 51 founding states of the New York-based organisation.
Amendments in 1963, 1965 and 1973
Since its approval in 1945 the founding charter has only been amended three times. Let us look at the year, article and content of each of these amendments:
- 1963. On 17 December, the General Assembly amended Articles 23, 27 and 61 of the Charter, amendments that came into effect on 31 August 1965. Article 23 stipulated that the Security Council was composed of eleven members, a number that was increased to fifteen. Thus, Article 27 stipulated that decisions of this body would now require the affirmative vote of nine members as opposed to the previous seven. In addition, Article 61 increased the membership of the Economic and Social Council from 18 to 27.
- 1965. On 20 December the General Assembly approved the amendment of Article 109, a change which entered into force on 12 June 1968 and which provided that a General Conference of Member States for the purpose of revising the Charter could be held when and where determined by a two-thirds vote of the Members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any nine members (previously seven) of the Security Council.
- 1971. Another 20 December saw the amendment of Article 61, a final variation which entered into force on 24 September 1973. A change which, as a few years earlier, again increased the membership of the Economic and Social Council from 27 to the current 54.
What are UN International Days?
UN Day is just one of the many days that have been labelled UN International Days.
UN International Days are dates designated by the United Nations to raise awareness and promote actions on important issues such as peace, human rights, sustainable development and global health.
Each of these commemorations allows numerous actors (from those linked to the UN itself to governments and public administrations, civil society, the private sector, etc.) to give greater visibility and raise awareness of a specific issue.
Generally speaking, these days are approved by the General Assembly by means of a resolution, although there are cases in which the declaration is made by the specialised bodies linked to the UN.
Likewise, anniversaries or relevant events in history are also a reason to receive this consideration, such as the United Nations Day itself, which is the subject of this article.
But let’s learn more about how and who chooses these international days, some of the most relevant being Women’s Day, World Children’s Day, Human Rights Day, Day of Persons with Disabilities or Education Day.
Of particular relevance to Telefónica, May 17th is International Telecommunications and Information Society Day. This day marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Who chooses the international days and how?
As we have just mentioned, the member states of the General Assembly have the possibility to propose the celebration of the day in question and decide, by consensus, whether or not to approve it.
Proposals for days must be linked to the UN’s fields of action such as peacekeeping, protecting human rights or defending international law and humanitarian aid.
There are occasions when the proposals do not come from Turtle Bay, the name of the neighbourhood where the organisation’s headquarters are located in Manhattan and used as a metonymy to refer to the institution. As a curiosity we might add that, despite being on New York soil, the spaces occupied by the United Nations in this place are considered an international zone, and are therefore under the exclusive administration of the UN and not the US government.
To return to the question of the possibility of proposing dates as international days, the specialised UN agencies (such as WHO, UNESCO, FAO) also have this power.
