First emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly
The first emergency session of the General Assembly of the United Nations was an extraordinary meeting of members, which lasted from November 1 to 10, 1956 and whose object was the resolution of the Suez Crisis . The assembly resolved to form the United Nations Emergency Force to establish an international presence in the Canal Zone. The emergency meeting was called after the Security Council had not come to a decision on the unstable situation on the Canal. With the convocation, the UN General Assembly resolution 377 was applied, with which the competence for conflict resolution in this case was transferred from the Security Council to the General Assembly . On the fourth day of the meeting, the Canadian representative Lester B. Pearson presented the concept of a United Nations police force. The formation of the United Nations Emergency Force (the first peacekeeping force of the United Nations) was unanimously adopted in the General Assembly with 57 approvals; 19 states abstained from voting.
background
The crisis developed out of years of mutual attacks between Israel and Egypt . By obstructing Israeli shipping through the Suez Canal, Egypt violated the British-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 and turned to Czechoslovakia in 1955 to buy weapons. In July 1956, the United States suspended financial aid for the construction of the Aswan Dam , whereupon Egypt nationalized the owner company Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez . In September the Security Council agreed "the situation created by the unilateral action by the Egyptian government to end the international operation of the Suez Canal" and the "action against Egypt by some forces, particularly France and the United Kingdom , which pose a threat to international peace and security and serious violations of the United Nations Charter "should be discussed.
In October the Security Council passed Resolution 118 (1956) , which demanded respect for the sovereignty of Egypt and the need for the operation of the Suez Canal to be detached from the politics of a single country. However, Israel invaded Egypt shortly afterwards. A draft resolution tabled by the United States called on Israel to withdraw from Egypt behind the 1949 armistice line ; however, this draft was rejected by the veto powers France and the United Kingdom, whose troops accompanied the armed forces of Israel during the invasion. With Resolution 119 (1956) on October 31, the Security Council acknowledged its failure to maintain peace and security and applied Resolution 377, passed in 1950, calling an emergency session of the General Assembly.
Emergency meeting
On the first day of the emergency session, the General Assembly adopted a US draft resolution calling on Israel to withdraw immediately from Egypt beyond the 1949 armistice line. The resolution was adopted with 64 votes in favor, five votes against by the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Australia and New Zealand and six abstentions. Canada, which had abstained, based its position on the lack of a role for the United Nations, which would have given the ceasefire only a temporary character.
At the time, the Canadian Foreign Minister discussed Lester B. Pearson with the UN Secretary-General 's idea as a police force of the United Nations. On November 4, Canada introduced the draft to the General Assembly and the resolution was passed unanimously with 57 votes in favor; among the 19 states that abstained included Egypt, France, the United Kingdom, various Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union . On the same day, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization's chief of staff , ELM Burns , was appointed to lead the new force as commander. He was authorized to select participants from the nations that sent observers to the UNTSO and to recruit them from other member states of the United Nations, with the exception of the permanent members of the Security Council.
On November 6th, the Secretary General presented a preliminary report to the General Assembly, in which the concept and mandate of the peacekeeping force and the guidelines for establishing them were presented. This report was adopted unanimously the next day with 64 votes, with no further additions, with 12 abstaining, including Egypt, Israel, South Africa, the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. Both France and the United Kingdom supported the resolution as it provided international forces on the Suez Canal - both states had reiterated this intention all along. The Soviet Union abstained from voting because it believed the plan was against the Charter of the United Nations, but did not want to prevent the United Nations from preventing further aggression against Egypt. A committee was set up to implement the measure, consisting of delegates from Brazil, Canada, Sri Lanka, Colombia, India, Norway and Pakistan and chaired by the Secretary General.
The emergency session of the General Assembly ended on November 10, 1956 with the decision to set up the peacekeeping force, the aim of which was to keep both sides away from each other.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Security Council: First United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF I) ( English ) United Nations. November 1956. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- ↑ Security Council: Resolution 118: Complaint by France and the United Kingdom against Egypt ( English ) United Nations. October 13, 1956. Retrieved on July 17, 2008. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Security Council: Resolution 119: Complaint by Egypt against France and the United Kingdom ( English ) United Nations. October 31, 1956. Retrieved on July 17, 2008. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c General Assembly: Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly during its first emergency special session ( English ) United Nations. October 31, 1956. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
