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NON
ALIGNED MOVEMENT (NAM)
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an
international organization of states considering themselves not formally
aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded in April 1955;
as of 2007, it has 118 members. The purpose of the organization as stated in
the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure "the national
independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned
countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism,
neo-colonialism, racism, Zionism, and all forms of foreign aggression,
occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great
power and bloc politics." They represent nearly two-thirds of the United
Nations's members and comprise 55 percent of the world population,
particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the third
world’.
A significant milestone in the development of the
NAM was the 1955 Bandung Conference, a conference of Asian
and African states hosted by Indonesian president Sukarno. The attending
nations declared their desire not to become involved in the Cold War and
adopted a "declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation", which
included Nehru's five principles. Six years after Bandung, an initiative of
Yugoslav president Tito led to the first official Non-Aligned Movement
Summit, which was held in September 1961 in Belgrade.
At the Lusaka Conference in September 1970, the member
nations added peaceful resolution of disputes and abstention from the big
power military alliances and pacts as the aim of the movement. Opposition to
stationing of military bases in foreign countries was also added as the
movement's aim.
The founding fathers of the NAM are Sukarno of Indonesia, Jawahrlal Nehru of India, and
Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, were Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and Kwame
Nkrumah of Ghana. Their actions were known as 'The Initiative of Five'.
The NAM has espoused a commitment to
world peace and security. At the seventh summit held in New Delhi in March
1983, the movement described itself as the "history's biggest peace
movement". The movement places equal emphasis on disarmament.
NAM's commitment to peace pre-dates it's formal institutionalization in
1961. The Brioni meeting between heads of governments of India, Egypt and
Yugoslavia in 1956 recognised that there exists a vital link between
struggle for peace and endeavours for disarmament.
The NAM believes in policies and
practices of cooperation, especially those that are multilateral and provide
mutual benefit to all those involved. Many of the members of the NAM are
also members of the United Nations and both organizations have a stated
policy of peaceful cooperation, yet successes that the NAM has had in
multilateral agreements tends to be ignored by the larger, western and
developed nation dominated UN. African concerns about apartheid
were linked with Arab-Asian concerns about Palestine. and success
of multilateral cooperation in these areas has been a stamp of moderate
success for the NAM. The NAM has played a major role in various ideological
conflicts throughout its existence, including extreme opposition to
apartheid regimes and support of liberation movements in various locations
including Zimbabwe and South Africa. The support of these sorts of movements
stems from a belief that every state has the right to base policies and
practices with national interests in mind and not as a result of relations
to a particular power bloc. The NAM has become a voice of
support for issues facing developing nations and is still contains ideals
that are legitimate within this context.
Between summits, the NAM is run by the
Secretary general elected at last summit meeting. As a considerable
part of the movement's work is undertaken at the United Nations in New York,
the chair country's ambassador to the UN is expected to devote time and
effort to matters concerning the NAM. A Co-ordinating
Bureau, also based at the UN, is the main instrument for directing the work
of the movement's task forces, committees and working groups.
NAM Summits:
First Conference - Belgrade, September 1-6, 1961
Second Conference - Cairo, October 5-10, 1964
Third Conference - Lusaka, September 8-10, 1970
Fourth Conference - Algiers, September 5-9, 1973
Fifth Conference - Colombo, August 16-19, 1976
Sixth Conference - Havana, September 3-9, 1979
Seventh Conference - New Delhi, march 7-12, 1983
Eighth Conference - Harare, September 1-6, 1986
Ninth Conference - Belgrade, September 4-7, 1989
Tenth Conference - Jakarta, September 1-7, 1992
Eleventh Conference - Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), October 18-20,
1995
Twelfth Conference - Durban, September 2-3, 1998
Thirteenth Conference - Kuala Lumpur, February 20-25, 2003