On December 14

On this day in ...
... 1960, in New York, via Resolution 1514 (XV), the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. It affirmed peoples' right to self-determination, and further stated:

The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-operation.

The history of this instrument -- including the choice of a declaration rather than a treaty, and a General Assembly rather than a Security Council resolution, and judicial citations to the declaration -- may be found here.

(Prior December 14 posts are here, here, here, and here.)