ABSTRACT
States have historically been dependent on the exploitation of their natural resources. Colonialism and more subtle forms of imperialism allowed the powerful West to exploit natural resources of the rest – the less powerful countries in the non-European world. Since its inception, international law has always been instrumental in justifying colonial “discovery” of natural resources in foreign lands and the appropriation of those resources by colonial powers. 1 In the aftermath of decolonisation under the UN, which established the principle of formal equality among sovereign nations, the question as to the right of newly independent states over their natural resources resurfaced. It was not until 1962 that the UN General Assembly finally adopted, following intense debates between developed and developing states, a resolution recognising post-colonial states’ permanent sovereignty over natural resources (PSNR). 2
