United Nations Security Council Resolution 1318
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United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Security Council Resolution
United Nations Security Council Resolution
A United Nations Security Council resolution is a UN resolution adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council; the UN body charged with "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security"....

 1318
, adopted unanimously on September 7, 2000, after holding a meeting of world leaders on occasion of the Millennium Summit
Millennium Summit
The Millennium Summit was a meeting among many world leaders lasting three days from 6 September to 8 September 2000 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Its purpose was to discuss the role of the United Nations at the turn of the 21st century. At this meeting, world leaders...

, the Council endorsed the United Nations Millennium Declaration
United Nations Millennium Declaration
On 8 September 2000, following a three day Millennium Summit of world leaders at the headquarters of the United Nations, the General Assemblyadopted the Millennium Declaration....

 on ensuring an effective role for the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

.

I

The Security Council committed itself to the principles of the United Nations Charter
United Nations Charter
The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...

; the equality, sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

, territorial integrity
Territorial integrity
Territorial integrity is the principle under international law that nation-states should not attempt to promote secessionist movements or to promote border changes in other nation-states...

 and independence of all nations; respect for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

; and confirmed the non-use or threat of force in international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

.

II

The Council pledged to be involved in all stages of conflict, from prevention to post-conflict peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....

. All regions would have equal priority, but special attention would be given to Africa.

III

It strongly encouraged strategies to determine the root causes of conflicts. Peacekeeping operations would be strengthened with clear mandates
Mandate (international law)
In international law, a mandate is a binding obligation issued from an inter-governmental organization like the United Nations to a country which is bound to follow the instructions of the organization....

 with security, well-trained and equipped personnel and consultations with troop-contributing countries. The capacity for peacekeeping forces had to be enhanced and funding improved.

V

It was crucial that ex-combatants were disarmed
Disarmament
Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...

, demobilised
Demobilization
Demobilization is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and military force will not be necessary...

 and reintegrated
Social integration
Social integration, in sociology and other social sciences, is the movement of minority groups such as ethnic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of societies...

, and that such programmes should be included into the mandates of peacekeeping operations.

VI

The Council called for international action against illicit arms trafficking and the perpetrators of crimes against humanity
Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...

, genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

 and war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s be tried. Furthermore, it was important that peacekeepers were sensitised against HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

/AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 in all operations.

VII

Contacts with regional and international organisations had to be strengthened in accordance with Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter
Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter
Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter deals with regional arrangements. It authorizes regional organizations and even requires attempts to resolve disputes through such agencies prior to intervention by the UN Security Council...

. In the case of Africa, continued co-operation and co-ordination between the United Nations and Organisation of African Unity to address conflicts was emphasised.

VIII

Ultimately, the responsibility to resolve conflicts was with the parties themselves. Peacekeeping operations designed to implement peace agreements would only be successful if there was genuine commitment from the concerned parties. Finally, the Council called upon all states to secure a world free from war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

.

See also

  • List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1301 to 1400 (2000 – 2002)
  • Millennium Development Goals
    Millennium Development Goals
    The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...


External links

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