The Future in the Past (Session 1)

The World Citizen Book Club launched a five-part series on The Future in the Past: Reconstructing Article 109(3) of the UN Charter Towards The San Francisco Promise to Constitutionalise the United Nations and International Law by Dr. Shahr-Yar Mahmoud Sharei. This first session covered Chapters 1 and 2 of this groundbreaking work on UN reform.

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. As a compromise during the founding of the UN, the permanent five members of the Security Council agreed to a clause that allowed 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 a process of writing a constitution for the UN, allowing it to reinvent itself to better face current and future global challenges and fulfill the objectives set out in the UN Charter’s preamble.

About the Author

Dr. Shahr-Yar Mahmoud 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). He holds a PhD and LLM in International Law, an MS in Computer Science, and a BSc in Applied Economics and Management. Under his direction, CUNCR has embarked on research and dialogue focusing on global governance, including the “Climate Justice, Democracy and Governance” seminar series and the Youth Climate Ambassador (YCA) program. His thesis on upholding the “San Francisco Promise” and the rediscovery of Article 109(3) has been instrumental in advancing UN constitutional transformation. For over 30 years, Dr. Sharei has been an activist in nuclear disarmament, UN reform, the International Criminal Court, and democratic global governance, including service on the governing council of the World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy.

Discussion Highlights

This opening session introduced the book’s central argument: that Article 109(3) of the UN Charter provides a legal pathway to convene a review conference that could fundamentally transform the United Nations. Participants explored the historical context of the San Francisco Promise and how its rediscovery could address the UN’s democratic deficit, particularly the outsized power of the Security Council’s veto.