Commentary: Why Singapore’s vote to support Palestine’s full membership in the UN matters

The UNGA is frequently characterised as making “symbolic” actions as its decisions do not have the legal force of the 15-member Security Council, on which permanent members such as the US sit. One of the UNGA’s most effective acts was the criminalisation of Apartheid, the racist policies of the white South African regime against its black and ethnic minority populations. In 1973, it passed the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid that elaborated how Apartheid violated international law.