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In response to growing worldwide concern with environmental issues, the General Assembly organized theUnited Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which was held inStockholm in 1972 and led to the creation of theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the same year. UNEP has attempted to find solutions to various environmental problems, includingpollution in theMediterranean Sea; the threat to aquatic resources posed by human economic activity;deforestation,desertification, anddrought; the depletion of theEarth’sozone layer by human-produced chemicals; andglobal warming. Much disagreement has arisen regarding the scientific bases of environmental concerns and the question of how to combine the goals of environmental protection and development. Although both developed and developing countries recognize the need to preserve natural resources, developing countries often charge that theenvironment has been despoiled primarily by the advanced industrialized states, whose belated environmentalconsciousness now hampers development for other countries. In other instances, developed countries have objected to the imposition of environmental standards, fearing that such regulations will hampereconomic growth and erode theirstandard of living.
UNEP succeeded in establishing, through the General Assembly, aWorld Commission on Environment and Development and in 1988 outlined an environmental program to set priorities for the 1990–95 period. International conferences, such as theUnited Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the “Earth Summit”), held inRio de Janeiro in 1992, have continued to focus attention on environmental issues. The Earth Summit, which was far larger than any previous intergovernmental global conference, incorporated input from numerous NGOs. It produced a Convention on Biological Diversity; a Framework Convention on Climate Change, or Global Warming Convention; the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (the Rio Declaration); a Statement of Principles on Forests; and a plan for thesustainable development of the Earth’s resources into the 21st century (Agenda 21). The Global Warming Convention wasamended in 1997 by theKyoto Protocol and in 2015 by theParis Agreement onclimate change, both of which aimed to limit global average temperature increases through reductions ingreenhouse gas emissions.
Dependent areas
The United Nations has expressed concern for people living in non-self-governing territories. Most importantly, the UN has affirmed andfacilitated the transition toindependence of former colonies. The anticolonial movement in the UN reached a high point in 1960, when the General Assembly adopted a resolution sponsored by more than 40 African and Asian states. This resolution, called theDeclaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, condemned “the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation” and declared that “immediate steps shall be taken…to transfer all powers” to the peoples in the colonies “without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire…in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom.” After thedecolonization period of the 1950s and ’60s, new statesexerted increasing power and influence, especially in the General Assembly. With the admission of the new states of Africa and Asia to the United Nations in the 1960s and ’70s and the end of theCold War in 1991, politics within the General Assembly and the Security Council changed as countries formed regional voting blocs to express their preferences and principles.
UN efforts to gain independence forNamibia fromSouth Africa, carried out from the 1940s to the ’80s, represent perhaps the most enduring and concerted attempt by the organization to promote freedom for a former colony. In 1966 the General Assembly took action to end theLeague of Nationsmandate for South West Africa, providing for a United Nations Council for South West Africa in 1967 to take over administrative responsibilities in the territory and to prepare it for independence by 1968. South Africa refused to acknowledge the council, and the General Assembly,secretary-general, andSecurity Council continued to exert pressure through the 1970s. In 1978 the General Assembly adopted a program of action toward Namibian independence, and the Security Council developed a plan for free elections. In 1988, with Namibian independence and the departure of Cuban troops from neighbouringAngola implicitly linked, South Africa finally agreed to withdraw from Namibia. In the following year a UN force—United Nations TemporaryAuxiliary Group (UNTAG)—supervised elections and assisted in repatriatingrefugees. Namibia gained formal independent status in 1990.
Development ofinternational law
The United Nations, like the League of Nations, has played a major role in defining, codifying, and expanding the realm ofinternational law. TheInternational Law Commission, established by the General Assembly in 1947, is the primary institution responsible for these activities. The Legal Committee of the General Assembly receives the commission’s reports and debates its recommendations; it may then eitherconvene an international conference to draw up formal conventions based on the draft or merely recommend the draft to states. TheInternational Court of Justice reinforces legal norms through its judgments. The commission and the committee have influenced international law in several important domains, including thelaws of war, the law of the sea,human rights, and internationalterrorism.
The work of the UN on developing and codifying laws of war was built on the previous accomplishments of theHague Conventions (1899–1907), the League of Nations, and theKellog-Briand Pact (1928). The organization’s first concern afterWorld War II was the punishment of suspectedNazi war criminals. The General Assembly directed the International LawCommission to formulate the principles of international law recognized at theNürnberg trials, in which German war criminals were prosecuted, and to prepare a draft code of offenses against the peace and security of mankind. In 1950 the commission submitted its formulation of the Nürnberg principles, which covered crimes against peace,war crimes, andcrimes against humanity. In the following year the commission presented to the General Assembly its draft articles, which enumerated crimes against international law, including any act or threat ofaggression,annexation of territory, andgenocide. Although the General Assembly did not adopt these reports, the commission’s work in formulating the Nürnberg principles influenced the development of human rights law.
The UN also took up the problem of definingaggression, a task attempted unsuccessfully by the League of Nations. Both the International Law Commission and the General Assembly undertook prolonged efforts that eventually resulted in agreement in 1974. The definition of aggression, which passed without dissent, included launching military attacks, sending armedmercenaries against another state, and allowing one’s territory to be used for perpetrating an act of aggression against another state. In 1987 the General Assembly adopted a series of resolutions to strengthen legal norms in favour of the peaceful resolution of disputes and against the use of force.
The UN has made considerable progress in developing and codifying thelaw of the sea as well. The International Law Commission took up the law of the sea as one of its earliest concerns, and in 1958 and 1960, respectively, the General Assemblyconvened the First and the SecondUnited Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The initial conference approved conventions on thecontinental shelf,fishing, thehigh seas, andterritorial waters andcontiguous zones, all of which were ratified by the mid-1960s. During the 1970s it came to be accepted that the deep seabed is the “common heritage of mankind” and should be administered by an international authority. In 1973 the General Assembly called UNCLOS III to discuss the conflicting positions on this issue as well as on issues relating to navigation, pollution, and the breadth of territorial waters. The resultingLaw of the Sea Treaty (1982) has been ratified by some 140 countries. The original treaty was not signed by theUnited States, which objected to the treaty’s restrictions on seabed mining. The United States signed a revised treaty after acompromise was reached in 1994, though the agreement has yet to be ratified by theU.S. Senate.
The UN has worked to advance the law of treaties and the laws regulating relations between states. In 1989 the General Assembly passed a resolution declaring 1990–99 the UN Decade of International Law, to be dedicated to promoting acceptance and respect for the principles and institutions of international law. In 1992 the General Assembly directed the International Law Commission to prepare a draft statute for anInternational Criminal Court. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted in July 1998 and later signed by more than 120 countries. The ICC, which was located atThe Hague following ratification of thestatute by at least 60 signatory countries, has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. Under the terms of the convention, no person age 18 years or older is immune from prosecution, including presidents or heads of state.
Since 1963 the United Nations has been active in developing a legal framework for combating internationalterrorism. The General Assembly and specialized agencies such as theInternational Civil Aviation Organization and theInternational Atomic Energy Agency established conventions on issues such as offenses committed on aircraft, acts jeopardizing the safety ofcivil aviation, the unlawful taking of hostages, and the theft or illegal transfer of nuclear weapons technology. In 2001, in the wake of devastating terrorist attacks that killed thousands in the United States, the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism continued work on acomprehensive convention for the suppression of terrorism.