Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples

A/RES/2878(XXVI)No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1972.

What other versions does this mandate have?

63 versions · 1966–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/105

2025A/RES/80/105Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/114Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/101Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/149Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesCompare with previous version
2021A/RES/76/105Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesCompare with previous version

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What subjects does this mandate have?

13 topics

Declarations Decolonization Foreign Interests Humanitarian Assistance National Liberation Movements Population Transfers Portugal Programme Implementation Sanctions Self-Determination of Peoples South Africa Southern Rhodesia Visiting Missions

What does this mandate say?

21 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its resolutions 1514 (XV) and 2621

XXV

and all other resolutions on decolonization, and calls upon the administering Powers, in accordance with those resolutions, to take all the necessary steps to enable the dependent peoples of the Territories

concerned to exercise fully and without further delay their inalienable right to self-determination and independence;

Approves the report of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples covering its work during 1971,49 including the programme of work envisaged for 1972;

Urges all States, in particular the administering ~owers,_ ~d the spec~alized a$encies and other organizat10ns w1thm the Umted Nations system to give effect to the relevant provisions of the programme of action contained in General Assembly resolution 2621

XXV

and to the recommendations contained in the report of the Special Committee for the speedy implementation of the Declaration and the relevant United Nations resolutions;

Reaffirms that the continuation of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations-including racism apartheid and activities of foreign economic and othe; inte~ests which ~xploit colonial peoples, as well as the wagmg of colomal wars to suppress national liberation movements in southern Africa-is incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on

49 Ibid., Supplement No. 23 (A/8423/Rev.1) and Supplement No. 23A (A/8423/Rev.1/ Add.I).

the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and poses a threat to international peace and security;

Reaffirms its recognition of the legitimacy of the struggle of the colonial peoples and peoples under alien domination to exercise their right to self-determination and independence by all the necessary means at their disposal, and notes with satisfaction the progress made in the colonial Territories by the national liberation movements, both through their struggle and through reconstruction programmes;

Condemns the policies, pursued by certain colonial Powers in the Territories under their domination, of imposing non-representative regimes and constitutions, strengthening the position of foreign economic and other interests, misleading world public opinion and encouraging the systematic influx of foreign immigrants while evicting, displacing and transferring the indigenous inhabitants to other areas, and calls upon those Powers to desist forthwith from such policies;

Urges all States and the specialized agencies and other organizations within the United Nations system to provide, in consultation, as appropriate, with the Organization of African Unity, moral and material assistance to all peoples struggling for their freedom and independence in the colonial Territories and, in particular, to the national liberation movements of the Territories in southern Africa, and in that connexion draws the attention of all States to the Assistance Fund for the Struggle against Colonialism and Apartheid of the Organization of African Unity;50

Requests all States, directly and through their action in the specialized agencies and other organizations within the United Nations system, to withhold or continue to withhold assistance of any kind from the Governments of Portugal and South Africa and from the illegal racist minority regime in Southern Rhodesia until they renounce their policy of colonial domination and racial discrimination;

Requests the colonial Powers to withdraw immediately and unconditionally their military bases and installations from colonial Territories and to refrain from establishing new ones;

Requests the Special Committee to continue to seek suitable means for the immediate and full implementation of General Assembly resolutions 1514

and 2621 (XXV) in all Territories which have not yet attained independence and, in particular, to formulate specific proposals for the elimination of the

remaining manifestations of colonialism and report thereon to the General Assembly at its twenty-seventh session;

Requests the Special Committee to make concrete suggestions which could assist the Security Council in considering appropriate measures under the Charter with regard to developments in colonial Territories which are likely to threaten international peace and security, and recommends that the Council take such suggestions fully into consideration;

Requests the Special Committee to undertake a special study on the compliance of Member States with the Declaration and with other relevant resolutions on decolonization, particularly those relating to the Territories under Portuguese domination, Namibia and Southern Rhodesia, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its twenty-seventh session;

50 Ibid., Supplement No. 23 (A/8423/Rev.1), chap. V, annex, appendix V.

Requests the Special Committee to intensify its consideration of the small Territories and to recommend to the General Assembly the most appropriate methods and also the steps to be taken to enable the populations of those Territories to exercise fully and without further delay their right to self-determination and independence;

Endorses the proposal of the Special Committee to take steps, in consultation with the Organization of African Unity, to enable representatives of national liberation movements in the colonial Territories in southern Africa to participate, whenever necessary and in an appropriate capacity, in its deliberations relating to those Territories;

Requests the administering Powers to co-operate with the Special Committee in the discharge of its mandate and, in particular, to participate in the work of the Committee relating to the Territories under their administration;

Calls upon the administering Powers to cooperate fully with the Special Committee by permitting the access of visiting groups to the colonial Territories in order to secure first-hand information concerning the Territories and to ascertain the wishes and aspirations of the inhabitants of those Territories under their administration;

Requests the Special Committee to assist the Economic and Social Council in the study envisaged in Council resolution 1651 (LI) of 29 October 1971,

bearing in mind the need to enlist the support of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Council in the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration and in the implementation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Special Committee with the facilities and personnel necessary for the implementation of the present resolution as well as the various resolutions on decolonization adopted by the General Assembly and the Special Committee.

20 December 1971.

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