UN Secretary-General Guterres warns 80-year-old founding charter ‘not an a la carte menu’

The 193-member global organization celebrated the 80th anniversary of the foundation document’s signing, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a warning Thursday that the U.N. Charter was being attacked like never before, according to Reuters report.

“We see an all too familiar pattern: Follow when the Charter suits, ignore when it does not. The Charter of the United Nations is not optional. It is not an a la carte menu. It is the bedrock of international relations,” Antonio Guterres stated, cited by Reuters.

Although nations frequently accuse one another of violating the Charter, few actually face repercussions. In recent years, Israel and Russia have faced criticism from the General Assembly for their Charter violations in the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, respectively. Both conflicts are still going on, as per the report.

As per Reuters, Iran accused the United States of violating the Charter last week when it launched strikes on Iranian nuclear installations, but the United States defended the strikes by claiming they were necessary for self-defense.

The United Nations was founded after World War II, and the Charter was signed in San Francisco by the first 50 states on June 26, 1945. Four months later, it went into effect with the intention of protecting future generations from war and preserving human dignity and the equal rights of men and women as well as of all nations, no matter how big or little.

Senior U.S. diplomat McCoy Pitt stated that although the United Nations has accomplished much in the last eight decades, the organization should not “overlook the shortcomings that limit the UN’s potential, Reuters added.

“We regret that the U.N. has lost sight of its founding mission. In this regard, wars still rage on multiple continents,” according to Reuters, quoting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres . “The principles of the UN Charter must remain at the heart of this institution, not just as an agreement for a better world, but also as a continuing call to action.”