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The United Nations (UN) is an international governmental organization. It

came into being as the result of negotiations between the allied powers

during the Second World War and was an attempt to learn from the failures

of the League of Nations and to regulate international relations after the

War. The UN Charter can be regarded as the written constitution of the

UN. It is a multilateral treaty and an important source of international law

(see Multilateralism). It also contains the primary objectives of the UN: (1)

to maintain international peace through collective security; (2) to promote

international co-operation in economic and social affairs; (3) to promote

respect for human rights and universal freedoms.