Sixth emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly

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The sixth emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly was a special session of the United Nations General Assembly from January 10-14, 1980, to deal with the situation in Afghanistan . When the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan began, the members of the UN Security Council discussed the situation. The Soviet Union's veto of a resolution prompted the other members to apply General Assembly Resolution 377 so that the General Assembly could address the issue in an emergency meeting . This was the sixth special session convened in this way since the resolution was passed in 1950. The session was dominated by discussions about its legitimacy , as the Afghan government had requested Soviet troops itself as part of its civil war. Supported by the movement of the non-aligned states , the session ended with a resolution of the General Assembly calling for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the ending of all outside interference, whether through intervention, subversion, coercion or withholding, so that the Afghan people could decide independently about their economic, social and political system.

background

On April 27, 1978, the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan , supported by the Chalq wing of the military, overthrew the Afghan government and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. On the other hand, an uprising developed which was led by the Mujahideen and fought against the new government. This asked the Soviet government for support and in December 1978 signed a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union. On this basis, the Soviet Union provided military aid. In the meantime, the United States began funding and arming the mujahideen. On December 17, 1979, Afghan President Hafizullah Amin asked for Soviet help in an offensive. The Soviets agreed and began the invasion on December 27th. They occupied Kabul, removed Amin and installed Babrak Karmal as the new president, which paved the way for a large-scale occupation.

The United Nations General Assembly sent the President of the United Nations Security Council a letter requesting a Security Council meeting to consider the matter. This document was jointly published by Egypt, Australia, the Bahamas, Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Fiji, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Colombia, Liberia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Portugal, Santa Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Suriname, Sweden, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, the United Kingdom and United States signed. The Security Council met from January 5-9, 1980. Afghanistan and the Soviet Union condemned the meeting as interference in the internal affairs of a member state and stressed that they were only exercising their friendship treaty and thus their right to common defense under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations . The United States claimed that the Soviet intervention violated the territorial integrity of Afghanistan and that the death of President Amin by Soviet troops would be an overthrow of the government. A draft resolution calling for the immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of all foreign troops was rejected on January 7th by the veto of the Soviet Union. Two days later, the Security Council adopted Resolution 462 (1980) , which found that the disagreement of its permanent members was preventing the Security Council from fulfilling its primary task of maintaining peace and security. With the resolution, the Security Council applied General Assembly resolution 377 and called an emergency meeting of the General Assembly. This resolution was passed with 12 votes in favor, two votes against (by the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic ) and one abstention (by Zambia ).

Emergency meeting

The sixth emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly began on January 10th. It was dominated by the problem of whether the General Assembly could legitimately meet on the problem. In his speech, the Afghan representative emphasized “the strongest and most categorical objections to the discussion of the so-called question of the situation in Afghanistan. The session of an emergency session of the General Assembly on this issue represents an open and monstrous interference in the internal affairs of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. ” The Soviet Union also argued that the meeting was held in contravention of the United Nations Charter, which accepts the internal affairs of the member states . Surprisingly, India sided with the Soviet Union when Brijesh Mishra, in his January 11 speech, certified that the Soviet Union would provide the aid requested by President Amin and his successor and that Soviet troops would leave Afghanistan at the request of the Afghan government .

Pakistan, on the other hand, which had taken in refugees on its border with Afghanistan, took a particularly harsh stance towards the Soviet Union and demanded the withdrawal of the troops.

The non-aligned movement finally introduced a draft, which was passed as resolution ES-6/2, in which the armed intervention in Afghanistan is strongly condemned and all states are urged to respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and the non-aligned character of the state to accept. The resolution calls for the immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan in order to enable the Afghan people to determine the economic, political and social system in Afghanistan themselves and without interference and to decide on the form of government in free self-determination . The resolution also appealed to all member states and sub-organizations of the United Nations to provide humanitarian aid through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emergency Special Sessions . United Nations. Retrieved July 17, 2008. Requires navigation to the Resolutions of the sixth emergency special session (ES-6/2).
  2. ↑ ... the strongest and most categorical objections to the discussion of the so-called question of the situation in Afghanistan. The convening of a special session of the General Assembly on this issue constitutes an open and flagrant interference in the internal affairs of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
  3. ^ A b The Sixth Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly: a multi-level perspective of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. . American Model United Nations. Retrieved on July 20, 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.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.amun.org.br  
  4. ^ A b Amin Saikal: The regional politics of the Afghan crisis . In: Amin Saikal & William Maley (eds) (Eds.): The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan . Cambridge University Press, April 1989, ISBN 9780521375887 .
  5. ↑ "strongly deplor [ing] the recent armed intervention in Afghanistan ... [and] appeals to all States to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and non-aligned character of Afghanistan and to refrain from any interference in the internal affairs of did country [and] calls for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan in order to enable its people to determine their own form of government and choose their economic, political and social systems free from outside intervention, subversion, coercion or constraint of any kind whatsoever ... "

literature

  • Secretary-General United Nations: Repertory of practice of United Nations organs. Supplement. No. 6. Volume II, Articles 9 to 22 of the Charter, covering the period 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1984 . United Nations Publications, New York 2006, ISBN 9211336597 , p. 42.