208 UNITED NATIONS AT A GLANCE
References and resources Publications Publications about the United Nations and its activities can be purchased online at the United Nations Publications website, un.org/publications. The following are just a few suggested titles: Basic Facts about the United Nations This comprehensive handbook designed for the general public sets forth the structure of the United Nations, how the Organization works, the main issues it deals with and their importance for people everywhere. Along with explaining the roles played by the UN principal organs and the family of UN organizations, individual chapters explore UN contributions to international peace and security, economic and social development, human rights, humanitarian action, international law and decolonization. A series of appendices documents UN membership, peacekeeping operations, budget and contact information for UN information centers, services and offices. The latest edition of the book has been substantially revised to account for many of the significant developments that have taken place in the world and in the United Nations itself since the last edition (previously titled The UN Today), in 2008. United Nations Charter Signed on 26 June 1945, the Charter of the United Nations is the Organization’s constitutive instrument, setting out the rights and obligations of Member States and establishing the United Nations principal organs and procedures. An international treaty, the Charter codifies basic tenets of international relations, from the sovereign equality of states to the prohibition of the use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 with the ratification of the Charter by its first signatories. Since then, it has continued to grow while remaining true to this pledge—one all the more relevant in the face of the tremendous global transformations that, in the twenty-first century, are confronting humankind.