Preamble to The Charter of United Nations

Official languages

The official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Its working languages are English and French. In some organs, Spanish is also used.


Sources of Income

The UN meets its expenditure partly from the sale of UN postage stamps and publications, fees received from visitors to the UN and profits from catering. The major amount however has to be contributed by member counties. The sum to be given by each member is decided by the General Assembly.


Preamble to The Charter

The Preamble to the UN Charter expresses the ideals and common aims of all the peoples whose governments joined together to form the United Nations. It reads…

We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.

to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women and of nations, large and small.

to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of International law can be maintained.

to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.

For Those Ends…

< to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours.

to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.

to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest.

to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.

United Nations have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.

Accordingly, our respective governments through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco who have exhibited their full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organisation to be known as the United Nations.

The UN flag was adopted by the General Assembly in October 1947. It consists of the UN emblem in white on a medium light blue background. The proportion of the flag is two to three with the emblem five-eighth of the width. There is a flag code drawn up by the Secretary General which governs the use and protects the dignity of the UN flag.