UN Charter (1945): Article 2

Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations, signed at San Francisco on 26 June 1945 and in force from 24 October 1945, enumerates the cardinal principles by which the Organization and its Members "shall act" in pursuit of the purposes laid down in Article 1. Where Article 1 states the ends of the UN, Article 2 prescribes the rules of conduct. It comprises seven paragraphs. Article 2(1) affirms the sovereign equality of all Members; Article 2(2) obliges good-faith fulfilment of Charter obligations; Article 2(3) requires the pacific settlement of disputes; Article 2(4) prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state; Article 2(5) requires assistance to the UN in its actions; Article 2(6) extends the principles to non-members so far as necessary for international peace; and Article 2(7) bars UN intervention in matters essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state, subject to enforcement measures under Chapter VII.

The keystone is Article 2(4), the general prohibition on inter-state force, which the International Court of Justice in Nicaragua v. United States (1986) recognised as both a treaty obligation and a rule of customary international law, indeed a norm of jus cogens. Its only Charter exceptions are individual or collective self-defence under Article 51 and enforcement action authorised by the Security Council under Chapter VII (Articles 39–42). Article 2(7)'s domestic-jurisdiction clause is the principal textual shield of state sovereignty against UN interference, though its scope has narrowed as human-rights and humanitarian concerns are increasingly treated as matters of international, not merely domestic, character. The "enforcement measures" proviso means Chapter VII action — as in Resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya — overrides the domestic-jurisdiction bar.

In contemporary practice (2026), Article 2(4) remains the legal frame for debates over Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, condemned by General Assembly Resolution ES-11/1 as a violation of the Charter, and over earlier interventions such as the 1999 NATO Kosovo campaign and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, both contested precisely because they lacked clear Security Council authorisation. The "Friendly Relations Declaration" (GA Resolution 2625, 1970) elaborated these principles, and the Definition of Aggression (GA Resolution 3314, 1974) gave content to the prohibition on force. The doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (2005 World Summit Outcome) reflects the continuing tension between Article 2(7) sovereignty and humanitarian intervention.

For the examination, Article 2 is core to the International Relations and International Law optional/section across UPSC, FSOT, CSS and BCS. Candidates are typically asked to distinguish Article 2(4) from its exceptions (Article 51 self-defence and Chapter VII authorisation), to assess the erosion of Article 2(7) in the face of R2P and human-rights enforcement, and to apply the principles to named crises. Precise citation of paragraph numbers, the Nicaragua case, and key General Assembly resolutions distinguishes a strong answer from a vague one.