The war against Iraq outside the United Nations

In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the Charter of the United Nations. The approval of this document represented the creation of the United Nations.

The imminent attack on Iraq, lead by the United States, and seconded by Spain and Great Britain, together with other countries, is widely criticised as being military action adopted without respecting the international legality and carried out outside that expressed in the Charter of the United Nations nor respecting the resolutions of the maximum international organisation. In this respect, the Charter of the United Nations contains a very significant prologue :"We the peoples of the united nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, and for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims".

Date of publication: 19/03/2003

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