Free Colonies

U.N. New York, Page 82.1 (BL-1)

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The second stamp on the first row of this album pages is a definitive that serves as a reminder of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. This General Assembley resolution from 1960 declared that foreign rule of a land and a people is a violation of human rights. It violates the local people’s right to self-determination. The declaration thereby calls for an end to colonial rule.

Today, this seems like it wasn’t a big deal, that its passing was just a formality. However, when the U.N. was formed there were several major countries in the world that had several colonies – the U.S. included. While this was not on the agenda when the U.N. was formed, within fifteen years anti-colonialism became the dominant belief in the world. All member states voted for this resolution except for a few: Australia, Belgium, Dominican Republic, France, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States abstained from voting.

The abstainers all had colonies, except for the Dominican Republic. I suspect these countries knew the resolution was justified, but were not ready to let go of their colonies. The U.S. had the Philippines at the time, and still has American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which the U.N. considers to be non-self-governing territories. The U.S. policy seems to be not to vote for anything that condemns itself.

Note

The top three stamps, the whole first row are definitive stamps. They were in use and available at the U.N. post office for many years. Generally, definitives don’t promote anything. They’re usually just depict the U.N. headquarters building, the general assembley hall, or the emblem (i.e., the world map with laurel leaves). This set, though, reminds people about major, ongoing themes or declarations of the U.N.: respect for human rights; the rights of lands and people for self-rule; and the disarmament of nuclear weopons.

Contains 8 spots: own 8 – 8 unused, 0 used.
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Album or Web Page Last changed Jun 13, 2025

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Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot	own	catalog	subject	description	comment
1.1	✓	368	Respect for Human Rights	17c (jan 1982) definitive, multicolor
1.2	✓	369	Granting Colonies Independence	28c (jan 1982) definitive, multicolor
1.3	✓	370	Second Disarmament Decade	40c (jan 1982) definitive, multicolor
2.1	✓	371	Human Environment	20c (mar 1982) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	373	Outer Space: Exploring & Peaceful Use	20c (jun 1982) comm., multicolor
2.3	✓	372	Human Environment	40c (mar 1982) comm., multicolor
3.1	✓	390	Conserve & Protect Nature	20c (nov 1982) comm., multicolor
3.2	✓	391	Conserve & Protect Nature	28c (nov 1982) comm., multicolor

Footnotes

• Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).

• Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.

• Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.

• To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.

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