DUMBARTON OAKS, 7 October 1944

PROPOSALS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A GENERAL INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATION [1]

There should be established an international organization under
the title of The United Nations, the Charter of which should
contain provisions necessary to give effect to the proposals which
follow.

CHAPTER I

PURPOSES

The purposes of the Organization should be:

1. To maintain international peace and security; and to that end
to take effective collective measures for the prevention and
removal of threats to the peace and the suppression of acts of
aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by
peaceful means adjustment or settlement of international disputes
which may lead to a breach of the peace;

2. To develop friendly relations among nations and to take other
appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;

3. To achieve international co-operation in the solution of
international economic, social and other humanitarian problems;

and
4. To afford a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in
the achievement of these common ends.

CHAPTER II

PRINCIPLES

In pursuit of the purposes mentioned in Chapter I the Organization
and its members should act in accordance with the following
principles:

1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign
equality of all peace-loving states.

2. All members of the Organization undertake, in order to ensure
to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership
in the Organization, to fulfil the obligations assumed by them in
accordance with the Charter.

3. All members of the Organization shall settle their disputes by
peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and
security are not endangered.

4. All members of the Organization shall refrain in their
international relations from the threat or use of force in any
manner inconsistent with the purposes of the Organization.

5. All members of the Organization shall give every assistance to
the Organization in any action undertaken by it in accordance with
the provisions of the Charter.

6. All members of the Organization shall refrain from giving
assistance to any state against which preventive or enforcement
action is being undertaken by the Organization.

The Organization should ensure that states not members of the
Organization act in accordance with these principles so far as may
be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and
security.

CHAPTER III

MEMBERSHIP

1. Membership of the Organization should be open to all peace-
loving states.

CHAPTER IV

PRINCIPAL ORGANS

1. The Organization should have as its principal organs:

a. A General Assembly;

b. A Security Council;

c. An international court of justice; and
d. A Secretariat.

2. The Organization should have such subsidiary agencies as may be
found necessary.

CHAPTER V

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Section A

COMPOSITION
All members of the Organization should be members of the General
Assembly and should have a number of representatives to be
specified in the Charter.

Section B

FUNCTIONS AND POWERS
1. The General Assembly should have the right to consider the
general principles of co-operation in the maintenance of
international peace and security, including the principles
governing disarmament and the regulation of armaments; to discuss
any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace
and security brought before it by any member or members of the
Organization or by the Security Council; and to make
recommendations with regard to any such principles or questions.

Any such questions on which action is necessary should be referred
to the Security Council by the General Assembly either before or
after discussion. The General Assembly should not on its own
initiative make recommendations on any matter relating to the
maintenance of international peace and security which is being
dealt with by the Security Council.

2. The General Assembly should be empowered to admit new members
to the Organization upon recommendation of the Security Council.

3. The General Assembly should, upon recommendation of the
Security Council, be empowered to suspend from the exercise of any
rights or privileges of membership any member of the Organization
against which preventive or enforcement action shall have been
taken by the Security Council. The exercise of the rights and
privileges thus suspended may be restored by decision of the
Security Council. The General Assembly should be empowered, upon
recommendation of the Security Council, to expel from the
Organization any member of the Organization which persistently
violates the principles contained in the Charter.

4. The General Assembly should elect the non-permanent members of
the Security Council and the members of the Economic and Social
Council provided for in Chapter IX. It should be empowered to
elect, upon recommendation of the Security Council, the Secretary-
General of the Organization. It should perform such functions in
relation to the election of the judges of the international court
of justice as may be conferred upon it by the statute of the
court.

5. The General Assembly should apportion the expenses among the
members of the Organization and should be empowered to approve the
budgets of the Organization.

6. The General Assembly should initiate studies and make
recommendations for the purpose of promoting international co-
operation in political, economic and social fields and of
adjusting situations likely to impair the general welfare.

7. The General Assembly should make recommendations for the co-
ordination of the policies of international economic, social, and
other specialized agencies brought into relation with the
Organization in accordance with agreements between such agencies
and the Organization.

8. The General Assembly should receive and consider annual and
special reports from the Security Council and reports from other
bodies of the Organization.

Section C

VOTING
1. Each member of the Organization should have one vote in the
General Assembly.

2. Important decisions of the General Assembly, including
recommendations with respect to the maintenance of international
peace and security; election of members of the Security Council;

election of members of the Economic and Social Council; admission
of members, suspension of the exercise of the rights and
privileges of members, and expulsion of members; and budgetary
questions, should be made by a two-thirds majority of those
present and voting. On other questions, including the
determination of additional categories of questions to be decided
by a two-thirds majority, the decisions of the General Assembly
should be made by a simple majority vote.

Section D

PROCEDURE
1. The General Assembly should meet in regular annual sessions and
in such special sessions as occasion may require.

2. The General Assembly should adopt its own rules of procedure
and elect its President for each session.

3. The General Assembly should be empowered to set up such bodies
and agencies as it may deem necessary for the performance of its
functions.

CHAPTER VI

THE SECURITY COUNCIL

Section A

COMPOSITION
The Security Council should consist of one representative of each
of eleven members of the Organization. Representatives of the
United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the
Republic of China, and, in due course, France, should have
permanent seats. The General Assembly should elect six states to
fill the non-permanent seats. These six states should be elected
for a term of two years, three retiring each year. They should not
be immediately eligible for re-election. In the first election of
the non-permanent members three should be chosen by the General
Assembly for one-year terms and three for two-year terms.

Section B

PRINCIPAL FUNCTIONS AND POWERS
1. In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the
Organization, members of the Organization should by the Charter
confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security and should agree
that in carrying out these duties under this responsibility it
should act on their behalf.

2. In discharging these duties the Security Council should act in
accordance with the purposes and principles of the Organization.

3. The specific powers conferred on the Security Council in order
to carry out these duties are laid down in Chapter VIII.

4. All members of the Organization should obligate themselves to
accept the decisions of the Security Council and to carry them out
in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.

5. In order to promote the establishment and maintenance of
international peace and security with the least diversion of the
world's human and economic resources for armaments, the Security
Council, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee
referred to in Chapter VIII, Section B, paragraph 9, should have
the responsibility for formulating plans for the establishment of
a system of regulation of armaments for submission to the members
of the Organization.

Section C

VOTING
(Note-The question of voting procedure in the Security Council is
still under consideration.)

Section D

PROCEDURE
1. The Security Council should be so organized as to be able to
function continuously and each state member of the Security
Council should be permanently represented at the headquarters of
the Organization. It may hold meetings at such other places as in
its judgment may best facilitate its work. There should be
periodic meetings at which each state member of the Security
Council could if it so desired, be represented by a member of the
government or some other special representative.

2. The Security Council should be empowered to set up such bodies
or agencies as it may deem necessary for the performance of its
functions including regional subcommittees of the Military Staff
Committee.

3. The Security Council should adopt its own rules of procedure,
including the method of selecting its President.

4. Any member of the Organization should participate in the
discussion of any question brought before the Security Council
whenever the Security Council considers that the interests of that
member of the Organization are specially affected.

5. Any member of the Organization not having a seat on the
Security Council and any state not a member of the Organization,
if it is a party to a dispute under consideration by the Security
Council, should be invited to participate in the discussion
relating to the dispute.

CHAPTER VII

AN INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

1. There should be an international court of justice which should
constitute the principal judicial organ of the Organization.

2. The court should be constituted and should function in
accordance with a statute which should be annexed to and be a part
of the Charter of the Organization.

3. The statute of the court of international justice should be
either
(a) the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice,
continued in force with such modifications as may be desirable or
(b) a new statute in the preparation of which the Statute of the
Permanent Court of International Justice should be used as a
basis.

4. All members of the Organization should ipso facto be parties to
the statute of the international court of justice.

5. Conditions under which states not members of the Organization
may become parties to the statute of the international court of
justice should be determined in each case by the General Assembly
upon recommendation of the Security Council.

CHAPTER VIII

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND
SECURITY INCLUDING PREVENTION AND SUPPRESSION OF AGGRESSION

Section A

PACIFIC SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

1. The Security Council should be empowered to investigate any
dispute, or any situation which may lead to international friction
or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether its
continuance is likely to endanger the maintenance of international
peace and security.

2. Any state, whether member of the Organization or not, may bring
any such dispute or situation to the attention of the General
Assembly or of the Security Council.

3. The parties to any dispute the continuance of which is likely
to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security
should obligate themselves, first of all, to seek a solution by
negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial
settlement, or other peaceful means of their own choice. The
Security Council should call upon the parties to settle their
dispute by such means.

4. If, nevertheless, parties to a dispute of the nature referred
to in paragraph 3 above fail to settle it by the means indicated
in that paragraph, they should obligate themselves to refer it to
the Security Council. The Security Council should in each case
decide whether or not the continuance of the particular dispute is
in fact likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace
and security and, accordingly, whether the Security Council should
deal with the dispute, and, if so, whether it should take action
under paragraph 5.

5. The Security Council should be empowered, at any stage of a
dispute of the nature referred to in paragraph 3 above, to
recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment.

6. Justiciable disputes should normally be referred to the
international court of justice. The Security Council should be
empowered to refer to the court, for advice, legal questions
connected with other disputes.

7. The provisions of paragraph 1 to 6 of Section A should not
apply to situations or disputes arising out of matters which by
international law are solely within the domestic jurisdiction of
the state concerned. Section B

DETERMINATION OF THREATS TO THE PEACE OR ACTS OF AGGRESSION AND
ACTION WITH RESPECT THERETO
1. Should the Security Council deem that a failure to settle a
dispute in accordance with procedures indicated in paragraph 3 of
Section A, or in accordance with its recommendations made under
paragraph 5 of Section A, constitutes a threat to the maintenance
of international peace and security, it should take any measures
necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security
in accordance with the purposes and principles of the
Organization.

2. In general the Security Council should determine the existence
of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of
aggression and should make recommendations or decide upon the
measures to be taken to maintain or restore peace and security.

3. The Security Council should be empowered to determine what
diplomatic, economic, or other measures not involving the use of
armed force should be employed to give effect to its decisions,
and to call upon members of the Organization to apply such
measures. Such measures may include complete or partial
interruption of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio and
other means of communication and the severance of diplomatic and
economic relations.

4. Should the Security Council consider such measures to be
inadequate, it should be empowered to take such action by air,
naval or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore
international peace and security. Such action may include
demonstrations, blockade and other operations by air, sea or land
forces of members of the Organization.

5. In order that all members of the Organization should contribute
to the maintenance of international peace and security, they
should undertake to make available to the Security Council, on its
call and in accordance with a special agreement or agreements
concluded among themselves, armed forces, facilities and
assistance necessary for the purpose of maintaining international
peace and security. Such agreement or agreements should govern the
numbers and types of forces and the nature of the facilities and
assistance to be provided. The special agreement or agreements
should be negotiated as soon as possible and should in each case
be subject to approval by the Security Council and to ratification
by the signatory states in accordance with their constitutional
processes.

6. In order to enable urgent military measures to be taken by the
Organization there should be held immediately available by the
members of the Organization national air force contingents for
combined international enforcement action. The strength and degree
of readiness of these contingents and plans for their combined
action should be determined by the Security Council with the
assistance of the Military Staff Committee within the limits laid
down in the special agreement or agreements referred to in
paragraph 5 above.

7. The action required to carry out the decisions of the Security
Council for the maintenance of international peace and security
should be taken by all the members of the Organization in co-
operation or by some of them as the Security Council may
determine. This undertaking should be carried out by the members
of the Organization by their own action and through action of the
appropriate specialized organizations and agencies of which they
are members.

8. Plans for the application of armed force should be made by the
Security Council with the assistance of the Military Staff
Committee referred to in paragraph 9 below.

9. There should be established a Military Staff Committee the
functions of which should be to advise and assist the Security
Council on all questions relating to the Security Council's
military requirements for the maintenance of international peace
and security, to the employment and command of forces placed at
its disposal, to the regulation of armaments, and to possible
disarmament. It should be responsible under the Security Council
for the strategic direction of any armed forces placed at the
disposal of the Security Council. The Committee should be composed
of the Chiefs of Staff of the permanent members of the Security
Council or their representatives. Any member of the Organization
not permanently represented on the Committee should be invited by
the Committee to be associated with it when the efficient
discharge of the Committee's responsibilities requires that such a
state should participate in its work. Questions of command of
forces should be worked out subsequently.

10. The members of the Organization should join in affording
mutual assistance in carrying out the measures decided upon by the
Security Council.

11. Any state, whether a member of the Organization or not, which
finds itself confronted with special economic problems arising
from the carrying out of measures which have been decided upon by
the Security Council should have the right to consult the Security
Council in regard to a solution of those problems.

Section C

REGIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
1. Nothing in the Charter should preclude the existence of
regional arrangements or agencies or dealing with such matters
relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as
are appropriate for regional action, provided such arrangements or
agencies and their activities are consistent with the purposes and
principles of the Organization. The Security Council should
encourage settlement of local disputes through such regional
arrangements or by such regional agencies, either on the
initiative of the states concerned or by reference from the
Security Council.

2. The Security Council should, where appropriate, utilize such
arrangements or agencies for enforcement action under its
authority, but no enforcement action should be taken under
regional arrangements or by regional agencies without the
authorization of the Security Council. 3. The Security Council
should at all times be kept fully informed of activities
undertaken or in contemplation under regional arrangements or by
regional agencies for the maintenance of international peace and
security.

CHAPTER IX

ARRANGEMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CO-OPERATION

Section A

PURPOSE AND RELATIONSHIPS
1. With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and
well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations
among nations, the Organization should facilitate solutions of
international economic, social and other humanitarian problems and
promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Responsibility for the discharge of this function should be vested
in the General Assembly and, under the authority of the General
Assembly, in an Economic and Social Council.

2. The various specialized economic, social and other
organizations and agencies would have responsibilities in their
respective fields as defined in their statutes. Each such
organization or agency should be brought into relationship with
the Organization on terms to be determined by agreement between
the Economic and Social Council and the appropriate authorities of
the specialized organization or agency, subject to approval by the
General Assembly.

Section B

COMPOSITION AND VOTING
The Economic and Social Council should consist of representatives
of eighteen members of the Organization. The states to be
represented for this purpose should be elected by the General
Assembly for terms of three years. Each such state should have one
representative, who should have one vote. Decisions of the
Economic and Social Council should be taken by simple majority
vote of those present and voting.

Section C

FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
1. The Economic and Social Council should be empowered:

a. to carry out, within the scope of its functions,
recommendations of the General Assembly;

b. to make recommendations, on its own initiative, with respect to
international economic, social and other humanitarian matters;

c. to receive and consider reports from the economic, social and
other organizations or agencies brought into relationship with the
Organization, and to co-ordinate their activities through
consultations with, and recommendations to, such organizations or
agencies;

d. to examine the administrative budgets of such specialized
organizations or agencies with a view to making recommendations to
the organizations or agencies concerned;

e. to enable the Secretary-General to provide information to the
Security Council;

f. to assist the Security Council upon its request; and
g. to perform such other functions within the general scope of its
competence as may be assigned to it by the General Assembly.

Section D

ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURE
1. The Economic and Social Council should set up an economic
Commission, a social commission, and such other commissions as may
be required. These commissions should consist of experts. There
should be a permanent staff which should constitute a part of the
Secretariat of the Organization.

2. The Economic and Social Council should make suitable
arrangements for representatives of the specialized organizations
or agencies to participate without vote in its deliberations and
in those of the commissions established by it.

3. The Economic and Social Council should adopt its own rules of
procedure and the method of selecting its President.

CHAPTER X

THE SECRETARIAT

1. There should be a Secretariat comprising a Secretary-General
and such staff as may be required. The Secretary-General should be
the chief administrative officer of the organization. He should be
elected by the General Assembly, on recommendation of the Security
Council, for such term and under such conditions as are specified
in the Charter. 2. The Secretary-General should act in that
capacity in all meetings of the General Assembly, of the Security
Council, and of the Economic and Social Council and should make an
annual report to the General Assembly on the work of the
Organization.

3. The Secretary-General should have the right to bring to the
attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion
may threaten international peace and security.

CHAPTER XI

AMENDMENTS

Amendments should come into force for all members of the
Organization, when they have been adopted by a vote of two-thirds
of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance
with their respective constitutional processes by the members of
the Organization having permanent membership on the Security
Council and by a majority of the other members of the
Organization.

CHAPTER XII

TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

1. Pending the coming into force of the special agreement or
agreements referred to in Chapter VIII, Section B, paragraph 5,
and in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5 of the Four
Nation Declaration, signed at Moscow, October 30th, 1943, the
states parties to that Declaration should consult with one another
and as occasion arises with other members of the Organization with
a view to such joint action on behalf of the Organization as may
be necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace
and security.

2. No provision of the Charter should preclude action taken or
authorized in relation to enemy states as a result of the present
war by the Governments having responsibility for such action.

NOTE

In addition to the question of voting procedure in the Security
Council referred to in Chapter VI, several other questions are
still under consideration.