The Future in the Past (Session 3)

The World Citizen Book Club’s third session on The Future in the Past by Dr. S.M. Sharei covered Chapters 5, 6, and 7, taking participants further into the book’s analysis of how the UN Charter’s own provisions could be used to constitutionalize the United Nations.

About the Book

A forgotten clause in the UN Charter, the “San Francisco Promise,” offers a way forward to reform the United Nations from its current democratic deficit and the Security Council’s veto power. The permanent five members of the Security Council agreed to a clause allowing for Charter Review ten years after the UN came into force. This promise was activated in 1955 but was later breached and abandoned. The review conference, endowed in the Charter and legally still valid, could pave the way for writing a constitution for the UN, allowing it to reinvent itself to better face global challenges and transform into a governance body fulfilling the objectives set out in the UN Charter’s preamble.

About the Author

Dr. S.M. Sharei specializes in public international law and the UN Charter and is the founding Executive Director and President of the Center for United Nations Constitutional Research (CUNCR). In addition to his PhD and LLM in International Law, he holds an MS in Computer Science and a BSc in Applied Economics and Management. His research focuses on Security Council democratization and UN Charter constitutional transformation. CUNCR’s work under his direction includes the “Climate Justice, Democracy and Governance” series and the “How to Assemble Parliamentary Assemblies” program on institutional capacity-building among regional inter-parliamentary institutions. He has over 30 years of activism in nuclear disarmament, UN reform, the International Criminal Court, and democratic global governance.

Discussion Highlights

This session covered three substantial chapters that examined the legal framework surrounding Article 109(3), the geopolitical obstacles to Charter review, and the potential pathways for constitutionalizing the United Nations. Participants discussed how strengthening the UN through democratic reform could help address pressing global challenges including climate change, armed conflict, and humanitarian crises that transcend national borders.