Proclamation of 1985
The United Nations Charter, the founding treaty to form the United Nations, established the governing structure, purpose and framework of the United Nations, naming the 6 main organs as General Assembly, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, Security Council, the Secretariat, and International Court of Justice (only organ not in UNHQ-NY). The charter binds its members to this treaty and supersedes other treaties. The UN Charter discussions began during the San Francisco Conference on 25 April 1945 and opened for signatures on 26 June 1945. It was effective on 24 October 1945, UN Day, after ratified by the 5 permanent members in the Security Council: China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
This proclamation of 1985 acknowledges the UN Charter’s 40th anniversary signing on June 26, 1945 and Mayor Feinstein’s Proclamation declared 23 to 30 June 1985 as ‘UN Days’ in San Francisco. The UN Days opened with a ceremony filled with symbols of peace, including white carnations, singing by the San Francisco Boys Choir, and girl and boy scouts carrying the flags of the UN member states. Three of the original signatories of the 1945 UN Charter signing were present in 1985. They were Harold Stassen of the United States of America, General Carlos Romulo of the Philippines, and Charles Malik of Lebanon. Overall, 131 diplomats from 97 countries travelled to San Francisco for these events, including a two-day conference with the overall goal of evaluating the effectiveness of the UN in its first four decades.
The 1985 Proclamation was a gift from the Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein to the United Nations and UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar accepted it.
The proclamation states, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT I, Dianne Feinstein, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, do hereby proudly proclaim June 23-30, 1985 as UNITED NATIONS CHARTER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO, do commend everyone working to make the UN effective, and do warmly welcome all participants to our City for this historic occasion.