Iran & the History of the NAM

After WWII the German regime leaded by Adolf Hitler as the common enemy of the former Soviet Union and the United States was defeated, and so some differences accrued between these two countries and some other countries were divided based on this difference and a lot of countries were attracted two one of these blocs, though there were some countries which didn't see themselves committed to any of the Eastern and Western blocs and so they announced their neutrality in the international parties, afterwards these countries formed an organization later known as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Hence the NAM was established during the cold war in 1961 as the biggest united call for political, military, and economic independence by the independent countries.
A significant milestone in the development of the Non-Aligned Movement was the 1955 Bandung Conference, a conference of Asian and African states hosted by Indonesian president Sukarno, who gave a significant contribution to promote this movement. 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 Josip Broz Tito led to the first Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, which was held in September 1961 in Belgrade. The term Non-Aligned Movement appears first in the fifth conference in 1976, where participating countries are denoted as members of the movement.
At the Lusaka Conference in September 1970, the member nations added as aims of the movement the peaceful resolution of disputes and the abstention from the big power military alliances and pacts. Another added aim was opposition to stationing of military bases in foreign countries.
The founding fathers of the Non-aligned movement were: Sukarno of Indonesia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Jamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Their actions were known as 'The Initiative of Five '.

The important goals of this movement were:

• Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
• Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
• Recognition of the movements for national independence.
• Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations, large and small.
• Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country.
• Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself singly or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
• Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.
• Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
• Promotion of mutual interests and co-operation.
• Respect for justice and international obligations.

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran, from its first days, announced its foreign policy aligned with the NAM's goals and at the first opportunity in October 1979 at the sixth Summit in Havana, Cuba was accepted as the 88th Member of the NAM.
Right now 120 countries, almost more than two third of the UN members are members of the NAM. The NAM members don't have a systematic statute and a permanent base. The main decisions are made through the heads of states summits, these summits are held each three years, and the position of the Head of the NAM is given to the host country's head for three years. Regarding this issue the 16th summit was held in Tehran and the Islamic Republic of Iran as its host became the President of the NAM for three years.
So Iran hosted the countries which almost 60 years ago dissolved themselves from the bipolar political world; they had a motto that the Islamic republic of Iran and Imam Khomeini are its main announcers in this era. By studying Imam Khomeini's ideas we could simply reach to this issue that his thoughts were based denying the domination of superpowers.
Therefor because of the 16th NAM Head of States Summit in Tehran, through this special edition we try to compare the recommendations and aspirations of Imam Khomeini and the goals of the NAM from the participating officials.