Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples

[1] Adom Getachew writes, "Within fifteen years, anticolonial nationalists had successfully captured the UN and transformed the General Assembly into a platform for the international politics of decolonization.

"[1] According to Christian Reus-Smit, the resolution "produced a tectonic shift in international legitimacy", as it "successfully undermined the institution of empire.

Forty-three Asian and African states brought forward this compromise declaration which called for "immediate steps to be taken", which had many possible interpretations short of rapid decolonization.

The United Kingdom, with most remaining colonies, thought the declaration was an implied criticism of it, and also there should be a period of proper preparation for independence.

Ambassador James Wadsworth in his speech explained that they agreed with the overall objective but there were "difficulties in the language and thought" and raised various technical issues.