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DECOLONIZATION More than 80 nations whose peoples were under colonial rule have joined the United Nations as sovereign independent states since the UN was founded in 1945. Many other Territories have achieved self-determination through political association with other independent states or through integration with other states. The United Nations has played a crucial role in that historic change by encouraging the aspirations of dependent peoples and by setting goals and standards to accelerate their attainment of independence. The Organization has also supervised elections leading to independence — in Togoland (1956 and 1968), Western Samoa (1961), Namibia (1989) and most recently a popular consultation in East Timor (1999). Self-determination and independence The decolonization efforts of the United Nations derive from the
Charter principle of “equal rights and self-determination of
peoples”, as well as from three specific chapters in the Charter
devoted to the interests of dependent peoples. Since 1960, the United
Nations has also been guided by the General Assembly’s Declaration
on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,
by which Member States proclaimed the necessity of bringing colonialism to a speedy
end. The Organization has also been guided by General Assembly resolution
1541 (XV) of 1960, which defined the three options offering full
self-government for Non-Self-Governing Territories. |
