Original United Nations Charter Comes to Headquarters

A close view of the original copy of the Charter of the United Nations which is kept in the United States National Archives in Washington D.C. The original document was brought to Headquarters for the second-term swearing-in ceremony of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Charter is the treaty establishing the United Nations and it forms the basis of the accountability system of the Organization. It was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 by 50 of the 51 original member countries (Poland, the other original member, which was not represented at the conference, signed it later), and it entered into force on 24 October 1945, after being ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council.