Category: UN Creation

The United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO) was a convention of delegates from 50 Allied nations of World War II that took place from April 25 through June 26, 1945 in San Francisco. At this conference, the delegates reviewed and rewrote the Dumbarton Oaks agreements resulting in the creation of the United Nations Charter.

Conference Documents

Contemporary Accounts:

• Huntington Gilchrist, Colonial Questions at the San Francisco Conference, Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev., Vol. 39, p. 982 (October 1945)
• William Johnstone, The San Francisco Conference, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 18, p. 213 (September 1945)
• Grayson Kirk and Lawrence H. Chamberlain, The Organization of the San Francisco Conference, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol 60, p. 321 (September 1945)
• John B. Whitton, The Chairmanship of the San Francisco Conference, A.J.I.L., Vol. 39, p. 535 (July 1945)

Eliahu Elath, Zionism at the UN: A Diary of the First Days (trans. from Hebrew, 1975) – Day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of Elath’s time representing the Jewish Agency at the 1945 UNCIO conference in San Francisco.

In the second phase of the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations the Chinese Government had put forward certain proposals which were agreed to at that time between China, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Government of the U.S.S.R. agreed to join in sponsoring the proposals for presentation to the San Francisco Conference. The proposals, which were submitted to the San Francisco Conference on May 1, 1945, were:“(1) The Charter should provide specifically that adjustment or settlement of international disputes should be achieved with due regard for principles of justice and international law.“(2) The Assembly should be responsible for initiating studies and making recommendations with respect to the development and revision of the rules and principles of international law.(3) The Economic and Social Council should specifically provide for the promotion of educational and other forms of cultural co-operation.”

The question of trusteeship was placed tentatively on the agenda of the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, but no provisions concerning it were included in the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals. It was understood that the question would be a subject of subsequent study and would be placed on the agenda of the United Nations Conference. At Yalta the matter was discussed and agreement was reached on the following policy:“(1) That the five Governments with permanent seats in the Security Council should consult each other prior to the United Nations Conference on providing machinery in the World Charter for dealing with territorial trusteeships which would apply only to (a) existing mandates of the League of Nations; (b) territory to be detached from the enemy as a result of this war; and (c) any other territory that may voluntarily be placed under trusteeship.“(2) That no discussions of specific territories were to take place during the preliminary consultations on trusteeships or at the United Nations Conference itself. Only machinery and principles of trusteeship should be formulated at the Conference for inclusion in the Charter, and it was to be a matter for subsequent agreement as to which territories within the categories specified above would actually be placed under trusteeship.”

The Dumbarton Oaks Proposals provided that there should be an International Court of Justice as the principal judicial organ of the organization, but the Proposals left open the question of whether the Court’s Statute should be the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice with such modifications as were necessary, or a new Statute based on that of the Permanent Court.The United States Government, acting on behalf of itself and the other governments sponsoring the San Francisco Conference, invited a Committee of Jurists to meet in Washington for the purpose of preparing a Draft Statute of the Court and submitting it to the San Francisco Conference.The Committee took the Statute of the Permanent Court as a basis and proceeded to revise it article by article. The revision consisted, on the one hand, of the effecting of certain adaptations of form, and on the other hand, of the introduction of certain new features considered desirable.

For a full account of the discussions of the Committee, see Documents of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, Vol. XIV.

Talks were held in London between representatives of the British Commonwealth as a preliminary to the San Francisco Conference. They were attended by the representatives of Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa and the United Kingdom. The statement issued at the close of the meetings contained the following passage: “We have examined, generally and in detail, the tentative proposals resulting from the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, and we have had a valuable exchange of views. We are agreed that the proposals provide the basis for a charter of such an organization, fully recognizing that in certain respects they call for clarification, improvement and expansion.”