80 Accomplishments in 80 Years
In our last issue we listed 16 UN accomplishments in the organization's first 16 years. Here is the second installment.
80 Accomplishment in 80 Years,Part Two: 1962-1978
This period sees the emergence of "conference diplomacy," with
major UN conferences on the environment, population, food, and women; major nuclear arms control agreements; and important human rights treaties.
1962 UN Secretary General U Thant plays a crucial role as a mediator during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1963 UN Security Council calls for a voluntary embargo on arms sales to South Africa; in 1977 this embargo is made mandatory, contributing to the end of Apartheid in South Africa.
1964 The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus is established to monitor a buffer zone and encourage dialogue between the Greek and Turkish communities.
1965 Adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which provides a binding legal definition of racism, calls on member countries to combat racism, and establishes a mechanism for individuals to lodge cmplaints if they believe they are victims of racial discrimination.
1965 UNICEF receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
1967 UN helps to negotiate the Treaty of Tlateloco, which creates a nuclear-weapons-free zone in Latin American and the Caribbean. A previous treaty established a NWFZ in Antarctica (1961) and subsequent treaties established NWFZs on the Moon and outer space (1967 and 1789), the seabed (1971), the South Pacific (1980), Southeast Asia (1995), Africa (1995), and Central Asia (2006).
1967 Two landmark human rights treaties, the Convention on Political and Civil Rights and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are completed, obligating signatory countries to protect fundamental human rights. The U.S. Senate ratified the Political and Civil Rights Convention in 1992 but has never ratified the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Convention.
1967 After long negotiations, the UN Security Council adopts resolution 242 as the basis for establishing peace in the Middle East.
1968 UN General Assembly approves the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which went into effect in 1990. Non-nuclear-weapons states agree not to adopt nuclear weapons and nuclear-weapons nations promise nuclear disarmament.
1969 The International Labor Organization receives the Nobel Peace Prize for its work to ensure decent working conditions.
1972 UN Conference on the Environment, Stockholm, the first conference to make the environment a major issue.
1973 UN sends emergency force to Egypt following the Six Day War.
1974 First World Food Conference adopts the Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition. U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger declares that within ten years no child will go to bed hungry.
1974 World Population Plan of Action declares, among other things, that individuals have the right to determine the number and spacing of children through access to family planning education and services.
1975 First World Conference on Women, Mexico City, adopts a Plan of Action for governments to achieve equality, development, and peace for women.
1978. The process of decolonization causes the UN's membership to swell from 110 in 1962 to 149 in 1978.
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