Charter

By: Representatives of the Governments of the United Nations

Date: June 26, 1945

Source: "Charter of the United Nations Preamble." June 26, 1945. Available at the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library online at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/preamble.html; website home page http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/index.html (accessed March 19, 2003).

About the Organization: Although the United Nations Charter had no one single author, the so-called "Big Three" nations—the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—took the lead in establishing the organization. The charter itself resulted primarily from international wartime conferences held in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.; Yalta, Crimea; and San Francisco, California.