Declaration or Resolution Convented by UN

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
Millennium Declaration
Uniting for Peace' Resolution
Zionism is Racism

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

In 1948, two years after the assembly convened its inaugural session, it promulgated the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, which contained thirty articles outlining global standards for human rights. A historic act, it proclaimed the "inherent dignity" and "equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." The assembly called for the act to be "disseminated, displayed, read, and expounded" in the schools and educational institutions of all member countries. As the Chair of the UN's Commission on Human Rights, former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped to draft and pass the declaration, saying it "may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere." Human rights issues remain contentious, however, and the UN Human Rights Council continues to face criticism for, among other things, including among its members countries with poor human rights standards.

Uniting for Peace' Resolution

'Uniting for Peace' Resolution. In 1950, the United States initiated another landmark resolution of the General Assembly, Resolution 377 (PDF), known as the "Uniting for Peace" resolution. It states that if the UN Security Council "fails to exercise its primary responsibility" of maintaining international peace and security, the General Assembly can and should take up the matter itself and urge member states to consider collective action. The assembly has enacted this resolution in a handful of instances, including the Suez Crisis of 1956. UN intervention in the crisis ultimately resulted in a cease-fire, troop withdrawal, and the establishment of the first United States Emergency Force (USEF), a peacekeeping force. The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq provoked calls from a number of organizations, including the legal advocacy organization the Center for Constitutional Rights, to have the General Assembly take up the issue and override the impasse of the Security Council, but the assembly did not do so.

Millennium Declaration

The General Assembly proclaimed that its fifty-fifth session in 2000 would be designated the Millennium Assembly. At a summit that year, Annan unveiled the UN's Millennium Declaration. It set forth what are known as the Millennium Development Goals, a collection of "time-bound and measurable" targets for, among other things, reducing poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, and improving access to primary education. Other proposals included a security agenda relating to international law, peace operations, and stopping small-arms trafficking; and an environmental agenda that urged "a new ethic of conservation and stewardship." The development goals continue to be invoked by many governments and NGOs as a way to spur more aid toward the developing world. Significant inroads have been made on education, infant mortality, and poverty. In 2015, the General Assembly set new goals for sustainable development (PDF).

Zionism is Racism

Zionism is Racism' Resolution of 1975. Also known as Resolution 3379, this is the assembly's most controversial resolution, in which it determined that "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." Yet the UN Partition Plan for Palestine approved of and helped create the state of Israel in 1947. In his address to the UN General Assembly on the day the resolution was passed, Israeli ambassador Chaim Herzog stated that, "for us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value." He then tore a copy of the resolution in half. The resolution was eventually repealed, in 1991. In 2001 during the UN's world conference on combatting racism in Durban, South Africa, similar language on Zionism was introduced but later dropped. Fourteen countries, including the United States, boycotted the 2011 meeting commemorating the Durban conference, and while reasons varied by country, most expressed concerns of anti-Semitism.