Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
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Member countries
Observer countries
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Location | Jakarta, Indonesia (Headquarters) |
Coordinating Bureau | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Membership |
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Leaders | |
• Principal decision-
making organ |
Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries |
• Presidency
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Venezuela |
• Secretary-General
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Nicolás Maduro |
Establishment | 1961 in Belgrade as the Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries |
Website
csstc |
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012[update], the movement has 120 members.
The Non-Aligned Movement as an organization was founded in Brioni, Yugoslavia in 1956, and was formalized by signing the Declaration of Brijuni on July 19th, 1956. The Declaration was signed by Yugoslavia's president, Josip Broz Tito, India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt's second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. One of the quotations within the Declaration is "Peace can not be achieved with separation, but the aspiration towards collective security in global terms and expansion of freedom, as well as terminating the domination of one country over another". The Movement advocates a middle course for states in the developing world between the Western and Eastern Blocs during the Cold War. The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomat V. K. Krishna Menon in 1953, at the United Nations.
In a speech given during the Havana Declaration of 1979, Fidel Castro said the purpose of the organization is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics". The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations' members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World.