CHAPTER I
PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES
Article 1
The Purposes of the United Nations are:
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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 for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace,
and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles
of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international
disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
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To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle
of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate
measures to strengthen universal peace;
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To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of
an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting
and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
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To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of
these common ends.
Article 2
The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article
1, shall act in accordance with the following
Principles.
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The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all
its Members.
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All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting
from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them
in accordance with the present Charter.
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All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in
such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not
endangered.
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All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat
or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence
of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the
United Nations.
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All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action
it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving
assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive
or enforcement action.
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The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United
Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary
for the maintenance of international peace and security.
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Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations
to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction
of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement
under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application
of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll.
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