2 - The formative years (1945–1962)

Summary

This chapter analyzes the development of the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources through the political organs of the United Nations in the period up to 1963. The chapter first discusses the concerns during the immediate post-war years regarding the scarcity, optimum utilization and conservation of natural resources, which led to a number of initiatives in the UN. Part of the discussion relates to the question whether a State has the right to dispose freely of its own natural resources or that, in the management of its natural resources, it should take into account the overall needs of the world economy as well.

Latin American countries, especially Chile, took the initiative of introducing the principle of permanent sovereignty in the UN. They used the United Nations as the main forum to express their uneasiness about their relationship with the United States, which they perceived as very unequal. Consequently, they consistently emphasized principles such as national sovereignty, sovereign equality and non-intervention as well as the primacy of national law and domestic courts. Their initiatives resulted, first, in General Assembly Resolution 626 (VII), often perceived as the genesis of the principle of permanent sovereignty but which became branded as ‘the nationalization resolution of the Seventh General Assembly session’.