The Story of the U.N.'s Declaration on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources 49 American Bar Association Journal 1963

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49 A.B.A. J. 463 (1963)
The Story of the U.N.'s Declaration on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources

handle is hein.journals/abaj49 and id is 463 raw text is: The Story of the U.N.'s Declaration on
Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources
Mr. Sehwebel, who was legal adviser to the United States Delegation
to the Seventeenth General Assembly of the United Nations, traces in
detail the debate on adoption of the U. N. Declaration on Permanent
Sovereignty over Natural Resources. He points out that the legislative
history supports the United States interpretation that appropriate
compensation means prompt, adequate and effective compensation
and that the Declaration's affirmation of the binding character of
foreign investment agreements is of great importance.
by Stephen M. Schwebel * Assistant Legal Adviser, Department of State

THE UNITED NATIONS General
Assembly adopted at its Seventeenth
Session a resolution which, the delegate
of Bulgaria complained, comprised a
charter of foreign investment.1 The
resolution,2 entitled Permanent Sov-
ereignty over Natural Resources, is
the capstone of more than ten years of
consideration of the subject by the
General Assembly, the Human Rights
Commission, the Economic and Social
Council and a special Commission on
Permanent Sovereignty over Natural
Resources.3 It was adopted by a vote
of 87 in favor, two opposed and 12
abstentions. The United States voted
with the majority; France and South
Africa were the two dissenters; and
the Communist bloc (including Cuba)
and, for varying reasons, Ghana and
Burma abstained.
The resolution reads:
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 523(VI) of
12 January 1952 and 626 (VII) of 21
December 1952,
Bearing in mind its resolution 1314
(XIII) of 12 December 1958, by which
it established the Commission on
Permanent Sovereignty over Natural
Resources and instructed it to conduct
a full survey of the status of permanent

sovereignty over natural wealth and
resources as a basic constituent of the
right to self-determination, with rec-
ommendations, where necessary, for
its strengthening, and decided further
that, in the conduct of the full survey
of the status of the permanent sov-
ereignty of peoples and nations over
their natural wealth and resources, due
regard should be paid to the rights
and duties of states under internation-
al law and to the importance of en-
couraging international co-operation
in the economic development of devel-
oping countries,
Bearing in mind its resolution 1515
(XV) of 15 December 1960, in which
it recommended that the sovereign
right of every state to dispose of its
wealth and its natural resources should
be respected,
Considering that any measure in this
respect must be based on the recogni-
tion of the inalienable right of all
states freely to dispose of their natural
wealth and resources in accordance
with their national interests, and on
respect for the economic independence
of states,
Considering that nothing in para-
graph 4 below in any way prejudices
the position of any Member State on
any aspect of the question of the rights
and obligations of successor states and
governments in respect of property ac-
quired before the accession to complete
sovereignty of countries formerly under
colonial rule,

Noting that the subject of succes-
sion of states and governments is being
examined as a matter of priority by
the International Law Commission,
Considering that it is desirable to
promote international co-operation for
the economic development of develop-
ing countries, and that economic and
financial agreements between the de-
veloped and the developing countries
must be based on the principles of
equality and of the right of peoples
and nations to self-determination,
Considering that the provision of
economic and technical assistance,
loans and increased foreign investment
must not be subject to conditions which
conflict with the interests of the recip-
ient state,
Considering the benefits to be de-
rived from exchanges of technical and
scientific information likely to promote
the development and use of such re-
sources and wealth, and the important
part which the United Nations and
other international organizations are
called upon to play in that connexion,
Attaching particular importance to
1. United Nations General Assembly, Sev-
enteenth Session, Second Committee, Provi-
sional summary Record of the 859th Meeting,
U.N. Doec. A/C.2/SR.859, p. 5. (U.N. S.R.
document numbers given below refer to the
provisional summary record of the numbered
meeting of the Second Committee at the As-
sembly's Seventeenth Session.)
2. General Assembly resolution 1803(XVII)
of December 14, 1962.
3. See, Hyde, Permanent Sovereignty over
Natural Wealth and Resources, 50 A.J.ITL.
L. 854.

May, 1963 * Vol. 49 463