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UN Charter Outdated

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UN Charter Outdated
‘The United Nations Charter is outdated and needs to be amended’. Agree or disagree. Give reasons.

In order to comment on the need of amendment to the United Nations Charter, a look into the background and aims of the United Nation is a must. Historically, the United Nations was formed as an aftermath of the failure of the League of Nations to prevent the Second World War. The main basis for the formation of the United Nations was to establish security among nations in order to prevent a Third World War. In 1944, the United Nations Charter was drafted by the four Super powers: the United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union.

In order to help the United Nations to effectively maintained peace and security, the Security Council was set up. The Security Council is one out of six organs that was established under the United Nations and govern by the United Nations Charter. The objective of Security Council is to maintain the international peace and security. The Security Council is a small body that consist of a limited number of Members. There are five permanent Members and ten non-permanent Members. The five permanent members compromised of the United Kingdom, United States of America, Russia, France and China which are considered as Great Powers. They are known as the Big Five. The other ten non-permanent Members are elected on a term basis. Although the Membership is only limited to fifteen States, it is worth noting that the decisions of the Security Council does extend to other States. Up until now, it is the veto power enjoys by the five permanent members which has been the central of criticism regarding the UN Charter. Though there had been amendments made in terms of the composition of the UN Organs and voting requirements, the fact that the privilege enjoyed by the permanent members remained unchanged is somewhat alarming.

Those who are a Member of the Security Council enjoy voting power when deciding on issues of international peace.

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