Declaration by United Nations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wartime poster for the United Nations, created in 1943 by the U.S. Office of War Information.

The Declaration by United Nations was a World War II document agreed to on January 1, 1942 during the Arcadia Conference by 26 governments: the Allied "Big Four" (the USA, the UK, the USSR, and China), nine American client states in Central America and the Caribbean, the four British Dominions, British India, and eight Allied governments-in-exile, for a total of twenty-six nations.

During December 1941, Roosevelt devised the name "United Nations" for the Allies of World War II, and the Declaration by United Nations, on 1 January 1942, was the basis of the modern UN.^[1] The term United Nations became synonymous during the war with the Allies and was considered to be the formal name that they were fighting under.^{[citation needed]}

By the end of the war, a number of other states had acceded to the declaration, including the Philippines, France, every Latin American state besides Argentina, and the various independent states of the Middle East and Africa. Although most of the minor Axis powers had switched sides and joined the United Nations as co-belligerents against Germany by the end of the war, they were not allowed to accede to the declaration.

The original signatories were
Big Four	United States • United Kingdom • Soviet Union • China
British Commonwealth	Australia • Canada • India • New Zealand • South Africa
Other powers	Costa Rica • Cuba • Dominican Republic • El Salvador • Guatemala • Haiti • Honduras • Nicaragua • Panama
In exile	Belgium • Czechoslovakia • Greece • Luxembourg • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Yugoslavia
Later signatories were
1942	Mexico • Philippine Commonwealth • Ethiopia
1943	Iraq • Brazil • Bolivia • Iran • Colombia
1944	Liberia • France
1945	Ecuador • Peru • Chile • Paraguay • Venezuela • Uruguay • Turkey • Egypt • Saudi Arabia • Lebanon • Syria

The parties pledged to uphold the Atlantic Charter, to employ all their resources in the war against the Axis powers, and that none of the signatory nations would seek to negotiate a separate peace with Nazi Germany or Japan in the same manner that the nations of the Triple Entente had agreed not to negotiate a separate peace with any or all of the Central Powers in World War I under the Unity Pact.