Page "United Federation of Planets" Paragraph 5

The Federation is founded under a document known as the Charter of the United Federation of Planets October 9, 2161, which is occasionally referred to informally as the " Constitution.

" It draws text and inspiration from the United Nations Charter and other sources.

An important guiding principle — indeed, it is listed as General Order One in the list of Starfleet general orders — is the Prime Directive, which forbids any interference in the natural development of any pre-warp civilization.

This is intended to prevent even well-intentioned Federation personnel from introducing changes which could destabilize or even destroy other pre-warp-era cultures through interference.

In practice, however, consistent application of the Prime Directive tends to be a controversial issue, and the Federation does not always abide strictly by it, such as when it attempted to strongarm the Organians into forming an alliance with it, or when it initially approved the forced relocation of the Ba ' ku from their adopted homeworld — although it was eventually determined that the Ba ' ku were not a pre-warp civilization.

Starfleet's Omega Directive supersedes the Prime Directive allowing for any means possible to destroy the Omega particle if encountered ,.

Other aspects of the Articles provide for rule of law, equality among individuals and protection of civil and creative liberties, which appears to be based on principles found in contemporary Western political theory.

It includes a set of guarantees of civil rights, the " Seventh Guarantee " being analogous to the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and its protection against self-incrimination.