Amendment of the United Nations Charter

The United Nations Charter can be changed only through the procedures laid down in Articles 108 and 109. Article 108 provides the ordinary amendment route, while Article 109 provides for a General Conference to undertake a broader review of the Charter.

Ordinary amendment under Article 108

An amendment requires both adoption by the General Assembly and ratification by member states.

• The amendment must be adopted by a two-thirds vote of the members of the General Assembly.
• It must then be ratified, according to their respective constitutional processes, by two-thirds of all UN members.
• The ratifying members must include all permanent members of the Security Council.
• Once these conditions are met, the amendment enters into force for all UN members, including those that did not ratify it.

General review under Article 109

A General Conference may be convened to review the Charter at a date and place fixed by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly and a vote of any nine members of the Security Council. Each UN member has one vote at the conference.

• An alteration must be recommended by a two-thirds vote of the conference.
• It takes effect after ratification through their constitutional processes by two-thirds of UN members, including all permanent members of the Security Council.
• Article 109(3) provided that, if no conference had been held before the General Assembly's tenth annual session, the proposal had to be placed on that session's agenda; convening then required a General Assembly majority and votes of any seven Security Council members.

Effect of permanent-member consent

Under both routes, every permanent member of the Security Council must ratify the change. A permanent member can therefore prevent an amendment or review alteration from taking effect by withholding ratification, even though Article 108 does not require a separate Security Council vote.