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Self Determination: principle & the law

Respect for the principles of national sovereignty
and non-interference in the internal affairs of States
in their electoral processes

UN General Assembly Resolution 44/147
82nd plenary meeting - 15 December 1989

• The General Assembly,

  Reaffirming the purposes of the United Nations to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace,

  Recalling its resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,

  Also recalling its resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970, by which it approved the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,

  Further recalling the principle enshrined in Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter of the United Nations, where it is established that nothing contained in the Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the Charter,

  Reaffirming the legitimacy of the struggle of the oppressed people of South Africa for the elimination of apartheid and for the establishment of a society in which all the people of South Africa as a whole, irrespective of race, colour or creed, will enjoy equal and full political and other rights and participate freely in the determination of their destiny,

  Also reaffirming the legitimacy of the struggle of all peoples under colonial and foreign domination, particularly the Palestinian people, for the exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination and national independence, which will enable them to decide freely on their own future,

  Recognizing that the principles of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of any State should be respected in the holding of elections,

  Also recognizing that there is no single political system or single model for electoral processes equally suited to all nations and their peoples, and that political systems and electoral processes are subject to historical, political, cultural and religious factors,

1. Reiterates that, by virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, all peoples have the right, freely and without external interference, to determine their political status and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development, and that every State has the duty to respect that right in accordance with the provisions of the Charter;

2. Affirms that it is the concern solely of peoples to determine methods and to establish institutions regarding the electoral process, as well as to determine the ways for its implementation according to their constitution and national legislation;

3. Also affirms that any extraneous activities that attempt, directly or indirectly, to interfere in the free development of national electoral processes, in particular in the developing countries, or that intend to sway the results of such processes, violate the spirit and letter of the principles established in the Charter and in the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;

4. Urges all States to respect the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of States and the sovereign right of peoples to determine their political, economic and social system;

5. Strongly appeals to all States to abstain from financing or providing, directly or indirectly, any other form of overt or covert support for political parties or groups and from taking actions to undermine the electoral processes in any country;

6. Condemns any act of armed aggression or threat or use of force against peoples, their elected Governments or their legitimate leaders;

7. Solemnly declares that only the total eradication of apartheid and the establishment of a non-racial, democratic society based on majority rule, through the full and free exercise of adult suffrage by all the people in a united and non-fragmented South Africa, can lead to a just and lasting solution to the explosive situation in South Africa;

8. Reaffirms once again the legitimacy of the struggle of all peoples under colonial and foreign domination, particularly the Palestinian people, for the exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination and national independence, which will enable them to determine their political, economic and social system, without external interference;

9. Calls upon the Commission on Human Rights, at its forty-sixth session, to give priority to the review of the fundamental factors that negatively affect the observance of the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of States in their electoral processes, and to report to the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session, through the Economic and Social Council;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session on the implementation of the present resolution under the item entitled "Enhancing the effectiveness of the principle of periodic and genuine elections". .