In public international law, clausula rebus sic stantibus (Latin for "things thus standing") is the legal doctrine

allowing for treaties to become inapplicable because of a fundamental change of circumstances. It is essentially an "escape clause" that makes an exception to the general rule of pacta sunt servanda (promises must be kept). Because the doctrine poses a risk to the security of treaties as its scope is relatively unconfined, it requires strict regulations as to the conditions in which it may be invoked. The doctrine is part of customary international law, but is also provided for in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties under Article 62 (Fundamental Change of Circumstance), although the doctrine is never mentioned by name. Article 62 provides the only two justifications of the invocation of rebus sic stantibus: first, that the circumstances existing at the time of the conclusion of the treaty were indeed objectively essential to the obligations of treaty (sub-paragraph A) and the instance wherein the change of circumstances has had a radical effect on the obligations of the treaty (sub-paragraph B). If the parties to a treaty had contemplated for the occurrence of the changed circumstance the doctrine does not apply and the provision remains in effect. Clausula rebus sic stantibus only relates to changed circumstances that were never contemplated by the parties. This principle is clarified in the Fisheries Jurisdiction Case ( United Kingdom v. Iceland, 1973). Although it is clear that a fundamental change of circumstances might justify terminating or modifying a treaty, unilateral denunciation of a treaty is prohibited; a party does not have the right to denounce a treaty unilaterally.

Pacta sunt servanda (Latin for "agreements must be kept" ), is a brocard, a basic principle of civil law and of international law. In its most common sense, the principle refers to private contracts, stressing that contained clauses are law between the parties, and implies that nonfulfilment of respective obligations is a breach of the pact. In civil law jurisdictions this principle is related to the general principle of correct behavior in commercial practice including the assumption of good faith is a requirement for the efficacy of the whole system, so the eventual disorder is sometimes punished by the law of some systems even without any direct penalty incurred by any of the parties. However, common law jurisdictions usually do not have the principle of good faith in commercial contracts, therefore it is inappropriate to state that pacta sunt servanda includes the principle of good faith. With reference to international agreements, "every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be [2] performed by them in good faith." Pacta sunt servanda is related to good faith, while pacta sunt servanda does not equate with good faith. This entitles states to require that obligations be respected and to rely upon the obligations being respected. This good faith basis of treaties implies that a party to the treaty cannot invoke provisions of its municipal (domestic) law as justification for a failure to perform. However, with regards to the Vienna Convention and the UNIDROIT Principles it should be kept in mind that these are heavily influenced by civil law jurisdictions. To derive from these sources that pacta sunt servanda includes the principle of good faith is therefore incorrect. The only limit to pacta sunt servanda are the peremptory norms of general international law, called jus cogens (compelling law). The legal principle clausula rebus sic stantibus, part of customary international law, also allows for treaty obligations to be unfulfilled due to a compelling change in circumstances.

[1]

A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states andinternational organizations. A treaty may also be known as an (international) agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, pact, orexchange of letters, among other terms. Regardless of terminology, all of these forms of agreements are, under international law, equally considered treaties and the rules [1] are the same.

Treaties can be loosely compared to contracts: both are means of willing parties assuming obligations among themselves, and a party to either that fails to live up to their obligations can be held liable under international law.

Bilateral treaties are concluded between two states or entities. It is possible however for a bilateral treaty to have more than two parties; consider for instance the bilateral treaties betweenSwitzerland and the European Union (EU) following the Swiss rejection of the European Economic Area agreement. Each of these treaties has seventeen parties. These however are still bilateral, not multilateral, treaties. The parties are divided into two groups, the Swiss ("on the one part") and the EU and its member states ("on the other part"). The treaty establishes rights and obligations between the Swiss and the EU and the member states severally; it does not establish any rights and [citation needed] obligations amongst the EU and its member states. A multilateral treaty is concluded among several countries. The agreement establishes rights and obligations [citation needed] between each party and every other party. Multilateral treaties are often regional. Treaties of "mutual guarantee" are international compacts, e.g., the Treaty of Locarno which guarantees each signatory against attack [3] from another.
[3]

[3]

The history of the United Nations as an international organization has its origins in World War II. Since then its aims and activities have expanded to make it the archetypal international body in the early 21st century. US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first suggested using the name United Nations to refer to the Allies of World [1] War II. Roosevelt suggested the term to Winston Churchill who cited Byron's use of the phrase "united nations" in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which referred to the Allies at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Franklin Roosevelt adopted the name and the first official use of the term occurred on January 1, 1942 with the Declaration by the United Nations. During subsequent phases of World War II the Allies used the term United Nations to refer to their alliance.
Contents

Preliminaries[edit]
The idea for the future United Nations as an international organization emerged in declarations signed at the wartime Allied conferences: the Moscow Conferenceand the Tehran Conference in 1943. From August to October 1944, representatives of the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR met to elaborate plans at theDumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington, D.C. Those and later talks produced proposals outlining the purposes of the United Nations organization, its membership and organs, as well as arrangements to maintain international peace and security and international economic and social cooperation. Governments and private citizens worldwide discussed and debated these proposals. [1] At the Yalta Conference it was agreed that membership would be open to nations that had joined the Allies by 1 [2] March 1945. Brazil, Syria and a number of other countries qualified for membership by declarations of war on either Germany or Japan in the first three months of 1945 in some cases retroactively.

Establishment[edit]
On April 25, 1945, the United Nations Conference on International Organization began in San Francisco. In addition to governments, a number of non-government organizations, including Rotary International and Lions Clubs International received invitations to assist in the drafting of a charter. After working for two months, the fifty nations represented at the conference signed the Charter of the United Nations on June 26. Poland, which was unable to send a representative to the conference due to political instability, signed the charter on October 15, 1945. The charter stated that before it would come into effect, it must be ratified by the Governments of the Republic of China, France, the USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. This occurred on [3] October 24, 1945, and the United Nations was officially formed.

The League of Nations formally dissolved itself on 18 April 1946 and transferred its mission to the United Nations.

Activities[edit]
The United Nations has achieved considerable prominence in the social arena, fostering human rights, economic development, decolonization, health and education, for example, and interesting itself in refugees and trade. Main article: History of United Nations Peacekeeping The leaders of the UN had high hopes that it would act to prevent conflicts between nations and make future wars impossible. Those hopes have obviously not fully come to pass. From about 1947 until 1991 the division of the world into hostile camps during the Cold War made agreement on peacekeeping matters extremely difficult. Following the end of the Cold War, renewed calls arose for the UN to become the agency for achieving world peace and cooperation, as several dozen active military conflicts continued to rage across the globe. The breakup of the Soviet Union has also left the United States in a unique position of global dominance, creating a variety of new problems for the UN (See the United States and the United Nations).

Facilities[edit]In December 1945, the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, by unanimous votes,
requested that the UN make its headquarters in the United States. The UN accepted this suggestion and, after considering sites in the Black Hills, Flushing MeadowsCorona Park, Navy Island and what would become the World Trade Center site, constructed the United Nations headquarters building in New York City in 1949 and 1950 beside the East River on land purchased with an $8.5 million donation from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The UN headquarters [4] officially opened on January 9, 1951, although construction was not formally completed until October 9, 1952. Under special agreement with the United States, the UN enjoys certain diplomatic privileges and immunities, but generally the laws of New York City, New York State, and the United States apply. While the principal headquarters of the UN remain in New York City, major agencies base themselves in Geneva, The Hague, Vienna, Nairobi and elsewhere.

Structure and associated organizations[edit]

This section requires expansion.(January 2011)

The basic constitutional makeup of the United Nations has changed little, though vastly increased membership has altered the functioning of some elements. The UN as a whole has generated a rich assortment of non-governmental organizations and special bodies over the years: some with a regional focus, some specific to the various peacekeeping missions, and others of global scope and importance. Other bodies (such as the International Labour Organization) formed prior to the establishment of the United Nations and only subsequently became associated with it.

The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was first used in theDeclaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. States first established international organizations to cooperate on specific matters. The International Telecommunication Union was founded in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, and the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874. Both are now United Nations specialized agencies. In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in 1902. The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security." The International Labour Organization was also created under the

Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War. In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.

History of the United Nations Charter

The United Nations Charter is the treaty that established the United Nations. The following series of events led to the writing of the Charter, and the UN's founding.

12 June 1941 - The Declaration of St. James's Palace

In June 1941, London was the home of nine exiled governments. The great British capital had already seen twentytwo months of war and in the bomb-marked city, air-raid sirens wailed all too frequently. Practically all Europe had fallen to the Axis and ships on the Atlantic, carrying vital supplies, sank with grim regularity. But in London itself and among the Allied governments and peoples, faith in ultimate victory remained unshaken. And, even more, people were looking beyond military victory to the postwar future.

14 August 1941 - The Atlantic Charter

Two months after the London Declaration came the next step to a world organization, the result of a dramatic meeting between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill.

1 January 1942 - The Declaration of the United Nations

Representatives of 26 countries fighting the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, decide to support the by Signing the Declaration of the United Nations.

1943 - Moscow and Teheran Conference

Thus by 1943 all the principal Allied nations were committed to outright victory and, thereafter, to an attempt to create a world in which men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want. But the basis for a world organization had yet to be defined, and such a definition came at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1943.

1944-1945 - Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta

The principles of the world organization-to-be were thus laid down. But it is a long step from defining the principles and purpose of such a body to setting up the structure. A blueprint had to be prepared, and it had to be accepted by many nations.

1945 - San Francisco Conference

Forty-five nations, including the four sponsors, were originally invited to the San Francisco Conference: nations which had declared war on Germany and Japan and had subscribed to the United Nations Declaration.