Twelfth Non-Aligned Summit concludes in Durban

The Constitutional Assembly adopted a constitution based on equality, universal suffrage and rights after apartheid. This was a major institutional outcome of the liberation struggle, although the...

The crisis exposed the vulnerability of developing economies to volatile capital flows and external financial pressures. It echoed NAM’s older demand for a fairer economic system, now under conditions...

The climate treaty set targets for industrialized countries, recognizing their greater historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. This principle of differentiated responsibility echoed...

India’s tests challenged NAM’s historic emphasis on disarmament and the movement’s criticism of an unequal nuclear order. The episode demonstrates the tension between collective principles and a...

Pakistan’s tests followed India’s and intensified regional rivalry. The episode showed how states that had criticized a discriminatory nuclear regime could also seek nuclear deterrence, sharpening...

The UN session opened days after the 12th NAM summit in Durban. Developing states carried debates over debt, sanctions, Palestine and reform of global institutions into the Assembly, where formal...

Indonesian President B. J. Habibie announced that East Timor could choose between special autonomy within Indonesia and separation. The proposal followed 24 years of Indonesian occupation and East...

The bombing began without explicit Security Council authorization. It intensified debate about humanitarian intervention, the UN Charter and whether powerful states applied sovereignty rules...

The agreements assigned the UN a role in organizing a direct popular consultation on a proposed autonomy arrangement. They followed prolonged East Timorese resistance and international pressure, but...

The Council authorized international civil and security presences and an interim UN administration in Kosovo. The decision followed NATO’s unauthorized bombing campaign and preserved a contested...