UN Charter: Eighty years of a fragile miracle
Our Editorial Director reflects on the 80th anniversary of
the Charter of the United Nations in the context of ongoing wars, the decline
of multilateralism, and the prophetic voice of the Popes over the decades.
By Andrea Tornielli
Eighty years have passed—and the UN Charter is feeling every
one of them.
On June 26, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was
signed in San Francisco. The Preamble sets out the goal to "save
succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “promote social progress
and better standards of life in larger freedom.”
The signatories were representatives of 50 countries
emerging from the most catastrophic—and not yet concluded—world war in human
history. That war claimed the macabre record of around 50 million deaths, most
of them civilians.
Eighty years later, this institution—a 'temple' of
multilateralism, whose very purpose lies in prioritizing negotiation over the
use of force, in maintaining peace, and in upholding international law—shows
all its wrinkles.
Yet, the UN's creation represented a true miracle, one that
occurred in the American city named after the Saint of Assisi. This fragile
miracle is in a way like the glass of the UN's "Glass Palace," but it
is one that has produced significant achievements: the codification and
development of international law, the construction of the human rights
framework, the refinement of humanitarian law, the resolution of numerous
conflicts, and many peacekeeping and reconciliation missions.
Today, more than ever, we are in need of this fragile
miracle. We must make it less fragile, believe in it—as the Successors of Peter
have believed, visiting the UN Headquarters from 1965 to 2015, recognizing the
United Nations as the appropriate legal and political response for the times in
which we live—times marked by technological power that, in the hands of
ideology, can produce horrific atrocities.
A few days ago, speaking at a conference at the University
of Padua, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto spoke with clear realism. “We
must guard the achievements of years that have led us to codify international
law, which is totally different from an international order and very often in
opposition to it. Because the international order,” the minister added, “is
normally imposed by someone, by the strongest, who can decide that in some
cases that law does not matter. That’s what we are living now… This is because
multilateralism has died, and the UN matters in the world about as much as
Europe does: nothing!”
It doesn’t take much imagination to understand what he’s
referring to. Just look at what has happened over the past three years: from
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to Hamas’ inhumane October 7 attack on
Israel; from the war that razed Gaza, turning it into a ghostly heap of rubble
and corpses, to the alarming conflict between Israel and Iran that drew in the
United States as well.
Sadly, it is true: the international order is imposed by the
strongest, who decide when to proclaim and when to ignore international and
humanitarian law, depending on what suits them.
That is why, eighty years after the beginning of that
fragile miracle, we repeat with the voice of Pope Leo XIV the “more urgent than
ever” words of the prophet Isaiah: “Nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
“Let this voice from on high be heard,” said the Pope. “Let
the wounds caused by the bloody actions of recent days be healed. Let all logic
of domination and revenge be rejected, and let the path of dialogue, diplomacy,
and peace be chosen with determination.”
Humanity must choose the path of multilateralism and
negotiation, which began eighty years ago. It is the only alternative for a
world teetering so dangerously on the edge of self-destruction.
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