The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514, was a resolution of the

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during its fifteenth session, that affirmed

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

for countries and peoples under colonial rule. The declaration characterized foreign rule as a violation of human rights, affirmed the right to

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

, and called for an end to colonial rule. Adom Getachew writes, "Within fifteen years, anticolonial nationalists had successfully captured the UN and transformed the General Assembly into a platform for the international politics of decolonization." According to

Christian Reus-Smit Christian Reus-Smit (born 8 August 1961) is Professor of International Relations (IR) at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane Australia. He is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of IR. Reus-Smit's research focuses on the insti ...

, the resolution "produced a tectonic shift in international legitimacy", as it "successfully undermined the institution of empire." It was adopted by the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

on December 14, 1960. 89 countries voted in favour, none voted against, and nine abstained:

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Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tr ...

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, and

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. The Declaration is cited by

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third -generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...

, Preamble

Context

A declaration on

decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

was first proposed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, calling for the rapid independence of the remaining colonies. However a number of states considered that too rapid decolonization would lead to chaos in those former colonies, so they resolved to bring the matter more rapidly to the General Assembly. Forty-three Asian and African states brought forward this compromise declaration which called for "immediate steps to be taken", which had many possible interpretations short of rapid decolonization. The United States had long encouraged decolonization, and was expected to support the declaration, but abstained as a result of pressure from the United Kingdom. Despite abstaining, one U.S. representative,

Zelma George Zelma Watson George (December 8, 1903 – July 3, 1994) was a well-known African-American philanthropist who was famous for being an alternate in the United Nations General Assembly and, as a headliner in Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera '' The Medium' ...

, led an ovation after the vote. Many states felt the U.S. had let them down. Many European and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

states had voted for the declaration, so there was not a broad western position on it. The United Kingdom, with most remaining colonies, thought the declaration was an implied criticism of it, and also there should be a period of proper preparation for independence. While having limited influence on other delegates, the UK views influenced the U.S. vote, which was escalated to a final decision by

President Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War I ...

. U.S. Ambassador James Wadsworth in his speech explained that they agreed with the overall objective but there were "difficulties in the language and thought" and raised various technical issues. Senator

Wayne Morse Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing his party's leadership and for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds. ...

characterized it in one instance as "the United States State Department bent over backwards to read the paragraph incorrectly".

Legacy

The declaration was a milestone in the process of

. In 2000, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Resolution 1514, UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 55/146 that declared 2001–2010 the

Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism The United Nations General Assembly designated the years 2011–2020 as the third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, recalling that 2010 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration on the granting of independence to colo ...

. This follows on from 1990–2000 having been the

International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism The United Nations General Assembly designated the years 2011–2020 as the third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, recalling that 2010 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration on the granting of independence to colo ...

References

External links

Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesUnited Nations Trusteeship Agreements or were listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-Governing
in The Office of th
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
website *ECOSOC Resolution 2007/25, 26 July 2007
Support to Non-Self-Governing Territories by the specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations50th Anniversary on 14 December 2010 of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
in the UN Radio.

by E. McWhinney
procedural history note and audiovisual material
on the ''Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples'' in th

* ttps://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/1514%28XV%29 Text of the declaration {{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) Decolonization 1514 1960 in law 1960 in the United Nations December 1960 events

Context

Legacy

See also

References

External links