Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples

A/RES/40/56No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 18Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, published in 1986.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 1986–2011

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/65/118

2011A/RES/65/118Fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesLatestCompare with previous version
1991A/RES/45/33Thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and PeoplesCompare with previous version
1986A/RES/40/56Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

22 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms the inalienable right of ali peoples under colonial rule to self-determination and independence in accordance with the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, contained in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV);

Declares that the continuation of colonialism in ali its forms and manifestations, including racism and apartheid, is incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, the Declaration and the principies of international law;

Expresses its conviction that the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration should provide an opportunity for Member States to rededicate themselves to the principies and objectives enunciated in that document and for concerted efforts to be made to remove the last vestiges of colonialism in ali regions of the world;

Strongly condemns South Africa's continued illegal occupation ofNamibia, its defiance ofUnited Nations resolutions, its brutal repression of the Namibian people, its agressive activities and acts of destabilization against neighbouring independent African States and its policies of apartheid, as well as its acquisition of nuclear-weapon capability, which constitute a threat to international peace and security;

Ca/Is upon Member States, in particular colonial Powers, to take effective steps with a view to the complete, unconditional and speedy eradication of colonialism in ali its forms and manifestations and to the faithful and strict observance of the relevant provisions of the Charter, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,39 as well as other relevant resolutions and

Resolutions adopted witbout reference to a Main Committee

decisions of the General Assembly and those of the Security Council;

Urges Member States to do their utmost to promote, in the United Nations and the specialized agencies and other organizations ofthe United Nations system, effective measures for the ful! and speedy implementation of the Declaration in ali colonial Territories to which the Declaration applies;

Ca/Is upon Member States to render, as a matter of urgency, ali moral and material assistance to the peoples under colonial rule in their struggle to exercise their right to self-determination and independence, in accordance with the Charter and the Declaration;

Urges the administering Powers and other Member States to ensure that the activities of foreign economic and other interests in colonial Territories do not run counter to the interests of the inhabitants of those Territories and do not impede the implementation of the Declaration;

Requests Member States to take legislative, administrative or other measures in respect of their nationals and the bodies corporate under their jurisdiction that illegally own and operate enterprises, including transnational corporations, in the international Territory of Namibia in order to put an end to such operations;

l O.

Urges Member Sta tes to discontinue ali economic, financia!, trade and other relations with the racist minority régime of South Africa in respect of Namibia and to refrain from entering into any relations with South Africa which may lend legitimacy or support to its continued illegal occupation of that Territory;

l l. Requests Member States, as well as the organizations ofthe United Nations system, to ensure that the permanent sovereignty of the colonial Territories over their natural resources is fully respected and safeguarded;

l 2. Reaffirms that ali administering Powers are obliged, under the Charter and in accordance with the Declaration, to create economic, social and other conditions in the Territories under their administration which will enable those Territories to achieve genuine independence and economic self-reliance;

Requests the administering Powers concerned to adopt the necessary measures to discourage or prevent any systematic influx ofimmigrants and settlers into the Territories under their administration which might disrupt the demographic composition ofthose Territories and prevent the genuine exercise of the right to self-determination and independence by their peoples, and to avoid any forced displacement, complete or partial, of the population of colonial Territories;

Further requests the administering Powers to preserve the cultural identity, as well as the national unity, of the Territories under their administration and to encourage the full development of the indigenous culture, with a view to facilitating the unfettered exercise of the right to self-determination and independence by the peoples of those Territories;

Reaffirms its strong conviction that the presence of ali kinds ofmilitary bases and installations in colonial Territories could constitute a major obstacle to the implementation of the Declaration and that it is the responsibility of the administering Powers concerned to ensure that the existence of such bases and installations does not hinder the peoples ofthe Territories from exercising their right to self-determination and independence in conformity with the purposes and principies of the Charter and the Declaration;

Ca/Is upon the administering Powers concemed to continue to take ali necessary measures not to involve those Territories in any offensive acts or interference against other States and to comply fully with the purposes and principies of the Charter, the Declaration and the resolutions and decisions of the United Nations relating to military activities and arrangements by colonial Powers in the Territories under their administration;

Requests Member States, in particular the administering Powers, to adopt appropriate measures to prevent the recruitment, financing, training and transit of mercenaries in their territories for use against the national liberation movements struggling for freedom and independence from the yoke of colonialism, racism and apartheid;

Considers it incumbent upon the United Nations to continue to play an active role in the process of decolonization and to intensify its efforts for the widest possible dissemination of information on decolonization, with a view to the further mobilization of intemational public opinion in support of complete decolonization;

Urges Member States to ensure the full and speedy implementation of the Declaration contained in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) and other relevant resolutions of the United Nations;

Invites the Security Council to continue to give special attention to the situation in and around Namibia and to consider imposing mandatory sanctions against South Africa under Chapter VII of the Charter;

Requests the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to render, or continue to render, within their respective spheres of competence, ali possible moral and material assistance to the peoples ofthe colonial Territories and to their national liberation movements, to take measures to withhold from the apartheid régime ofSouth Africa any form of collaboration or assistance in the financia!, economic and technical fields and to discontinue all support to that régime until the people of Namibia have exercised their right to self-determination and independence in a united Namibia and until apartheid has been eradicated and a non-racial, united and democratic State based on the will of ali South African people has been established in accordance with the relevant resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly and the Security Council;

Invites non-govemmental organizations having a special interest in the field of decolonization to intensify their activities in co-operation with the United Nations;

Requests the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the lmplementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples to continue to examine the full compliance of all States with resolution 15 l 4 (XV) and other relevant resolutions on the question of decolonization, to seek the most suitable ways for the speedy and total application of the Declaration to ali Territories to which it applies and to propose to the General Assembly specific measures for the complete implementation of the Declaration in the

remaining colonial Territories;

Invites all States to co-operate fully with the Special Committee in the complete fulfilment of its mandate.

99th p/enary meeting

2 December 1985

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Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples

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