GA/AP/794, 17 February 1978
The Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, Leslie O. Harriman (Nigeria), in an appeal today to non-governmental organizations for observance of the International Anti-Apartheid Year, called for "total isolation of the apartheid regime" and for "action against vested interests collaborating with the apartheid regime".
The text of the appeal reads as follows:
On behalf of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, I address this urgent appeal to international, national and local public organizations for action in support of the United Nations resolutions against apartheid and for the effective observance of the International Anti-Apartheid Year beginning on 21 March 1978.
The Special Committee had emphasized the universal significance of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
I may recall that at the turn of the century, in July 1900, the Pan African Conference in London declared, in the words of the late Dr. W.E.B. DuBois: "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line…" Since then millions of people have sacrificed their lives, in the struggle against colonialism and racism, to destroy that "colour line" and build one humanity.
The present struggle in South Africa for the eradication of apartheid and for the establishment of a non-racial society is the final stage of that struggle for one humanity. It is a struggle for freedom and human dignity, for peace and international co-operation.
The heroic men, women and children of South Africa are risking their lives not only for the liberation of their country from racist tyranny but for all mankind. Their struggle is a matter of vital concern to peoples all over the world.
The oppressed people of South Africa, under the leadership of their national liberation movement, are also fighting the crucial battle for the total emancipation of the continent of Africa from centuries of humiliation and suffering.
In their long and arduous struggle, the black people of South Africa have constantly upheld the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and have inspired millions of people all over the world. But they have been destined to make undue sacrifices because the racist oppressors have proved intransigent and inhuman, and because foreign vested interests have reinforced the system of modern slavery. Mankind has an inescapable duty to stop this criminal collaboration with the racists and enable the South African people as a whole, irrespective of race, colour or creed, to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
The struggle in South Africa reached a new and decisive stage on 16 June 1976 with the callous massacre by the apartheid regime of African school children demonstrating peacefully in Soweto against racial discrimination in education. The apartheid regime has failed to suppress the national upsurge that followed that massacre despite its constant and indiscriminate killings of peaceful demonstrators, jailings of thousands of opponents of apartheid, and the torture and murder of numerous patriots.
In its desperation, the apartheid regime is greatly increasing its military arsenal and is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons. It has threatened neighbouring independent states and defied the United Nations. It is staging trials of numerous patriots under obnoxious racist laws providing for death sentences. It is rushing the establishment of bantustans to deprive the African people of their rights and confine them to disjointed patches of land which it seeks to use as hostages and reservoirs of cheap labour.
The Special Committee has repeatedly warned that the policies and actions of the apartheid regime were designed to deprive the oppressed people of peaceful means to secure their inalienable rights. On its recommendation, and after consistent defiance by the apartheid regime of repeated appeals to abandon its disastrous course, the General Assembly has recognized the right of the oppressed people and their national liberation movement to continue its struggle by all available and appropriate means of their choice, including armed struggle.
Recent reports from South Africa indicate the beginnings of an armed conflict between the apartheid regime and the freedom fighters. The outlawing of the liberation movements in 1960, and the unceasing escalation of repression which followed, culminating in the bans on numerous organizations in October 1977, should leave no doubt that the freedom fighters captured in this struggle are entitled to international support.
The Special Committee had expressed the hope that the events following the Soweto massacre would arouse world public opinion and lead to concerted and effective international action to destroy apartheid. While there has been some significant further action at the international and national level-by Governments, organizations and the public-those hopes have not been fulfilled. Some Governments and economic and other interests continue to collaborate with the apartheid regime and frustrate international action in support of the struggle for national liberation.
The Special Committee, therefore, calls for the mobilization of public opinion all over the world for the total isolation of the apartheid regime, for action against vested interests collaborating with the apartheid regime, and for all necessary assistance to the oppressed people and their national liberation movement. It attaches great importance to the work of the anti-apartheid and solidarity movements and other non-governmental organizations and encourages them to widen their activities to the maximum in this crucial period in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its thirty-second session.
The International Anti-Apartheid Year must be a year of action, of action involving millions of peoples all over the world, of action in full solidarity with the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement.
The Special Committee appeals to organizations to take all appropriate action, in particular:
(a) For the total isolation of the apartheid regime in all fields-military, nuclear, diplomatic, political, economic, cultural, sporting etc.;
(b) To publicize the struggle for liberation in South Africa;
(c) To provide all forms of assistance to the oppressed people and their national liberation movement, including humanitarian and educational assistance to the victims of apartheid, and assistance to the national liberation movement for its legitimate struggle;
(d) To secure the liberation of all persons imprisoned or restricted for acts arising from their opposition to apartheid;
(e) To campaign for the accession by all States, which have not yet done so, to the International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of Apartheid;
(f) To persuade the Governments which continue to collaborate with South Africa to cease such collaboration and facilitate effective international action against apartheid;
(g) To denounce corporations and financial institutions which make investments in, or provide loans to, South Africa; and
(h) To establish national committees for the International Anti-Apartheid Year, and to implement an effective programme of action for the Year.
The Special Committee would appreciate information from all organizations on the actions they have taken or contemplate in accordance with the United Nations resolutions and in observance of the International Anti-Apartheid Year.