The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December14, 1960.

The Declaration states that “the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the United Nations Charter, and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and cooperation, and that steps should be taken to transfer, unconditionally, all powers to the Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories so that they might enjoy complete freedom and independence”.

The Declaration puts forth ordering principles which guides the progressive development of international law in accordance with the General Assembly’s own explicit mandate under Article 13, paragraph 1 (a), of the Charter of the United Nations:

– that the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights (art. 1);

– that all peoples have the right to self-determination, but that this necessarily includes the right freely to determine their political status and freely to pursue their economic, social and cultural development (art. 2);

– that all armed action or repressive measures of all kinds directed against dependent peoples shall cease (art. 4);

– that immediate steps shall be taken, in United Nations Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories (art. 5).

Declaration has essentially fulfilled its original legislative objective of consolidating the political process of legally terminating the old Colonial Empires, and of pressing on with all deliberate speed to successful conclusion of the process

United Nations Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples