Document 1

General Assembly resolution: Treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa.

A/RES/44 (I), 8 December 1946

The General Assembly,

Having taken note of the application made by the Government of India regarding the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa, and having considered the matter:

1. States that, because of that treatment, friendly relations between the two Member States have been impaired, and unless a satisfactory settlement is reached, these relations are likely to be further impaired;

2. Is of the opinion that the treatment of Indians in the Union should be in conformity with the international obligations under the agreements concluded between the two Governments, and the relevant provisions of the Charter;

3. Therefore requests the two Governments to report at the next session of the General Assembly the measures adopted to this effect.

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Document 2

Letter dated 12 July 1948 from the representative of India to the Secretary-General concerning the treatment of Indians in South Africa.

A/577, 16 July 1948

New York, 12 July 1948

It will be recalled that, in June 1946, the Government of India brought to your attention the racial discrimination to which the South African nationals of Indian origin are subjected by the Government of the Union of South Africa, and requested consideration of this question by the General Assembly of the United Nations. After full consideration of the matter and prolonged deliberations, the General Assembly adopted the following resolution on 8 December 1946:

"THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

"HAVING TAKEN NOTE of the application made by the Government of India regarding the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa, and having considered the matter:

1. STATES that, because of that treatment, friendly relations between the two Member States have been impaired and, unless a satisfactory settlement is reached, these relations are likely to be further impaired;

2. IS OF THE OPINION that the treatment of Indians in the Union should be in conformity with the international obligations under the agreements concluded between the two Governments and the relevant provisions of the Charter;

3. THEREFORE REQUESTS the two Governments to report at the next session of the General Assembly the measures adopted to this effect."

2. Pursuant to paragraph 3 of this resolution, reports were submitted by the Governments of the Union of South Africa and of India for consideration by the second session of the General Assembly. These reports were first referred to the Political and Security Committee of the General Assembly; that Committee, after full discussion of the reports, adopted on 17 November 1947 the following resolution, by twenty-nine votes against fifteen with five abstentions:

"I. WHEREAS in resolution 44 (I) dated 8 December 1946 the General Assembly, taking note of an application made by the Government of India regarding the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa, observed that because of that treatment, friendly relations between the two Member States had been impaired, and unless a satisfactory agreement was reached, their relations were likely to be further impaired;

"II. WHEREAS after a careful consideration of the matter, the General Assembly was of the opinion that the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa should be in conformity with the international obligations under the agreements concluded between the two Governments and the relevant provisions of the Charter; and

"III. WHEREAS the General Assembly requested the two Governments to report at the next session of the General Assembly the measures adopted to that effect;

"IV. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

"HAVING CONSIDERED the reports submitted by the Government of India and the Government of the Union of South Africa pursuant to the aforesaid resolution;

"REAFFIRMS its resolution dated 8 December 1946;

"V. REQUESTS the two Governments to enter into discussions at a Round Table Conference on the basis of that resolution without any further delay and to invite the Government of Pakistan to take part in such discussions;

"VI. REQUESTS that the result of such discussions be reported by the Governments of the Union of South Africa and India to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall from time to time make enquiries from them and submit a report on the action taken on this resolution by the two Governments to the Assembly at its next session."

When the Committee's resolution came before the General Assembly in November 1947, it received a substantial measure of support; thirty-one Members voted in favour of the resolution, nineteen voted against, and six Members abstained. Owing, however, to a ruling that the adoption of this resolution required a two-thirds majority, it failed to be formally adopted by the General Assembly. The net result of the deliberations on this important question during the second session of the General Assembly thus was that the General Assembly failed to make any further recommendations on this subject.

3. The treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa continues to be a serious violation of the purposes and principles of the principles on which the United Nations is founded. The Government of the Union of South Africa has made no change whatever either in its discriminatory laws or in the practice of discrimination, on racial grounds alone, against its nationals of Indian origin. For example, the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946, enacted by the South African Government, which introduced a most severe measure of residential and economic segregation against Asians, still remains on the Statute Book. The continuation by the South African Government of the policy of racial discrimination against Asians and other non-whites is clearly the result of an assumption by that Government that the failure of the General Assembly of the United Nations to adopt an effective resolution on this subject last year constitutes a tacit approval by the United Nations of that policy. The present Government in the Union of South Africa stands committed to the policy of "apartheid", or racial segregation, and the domination of all non-white peoples by the Europeans; this Government has proclaimed its intention of taking away whatever restricted political rights are at present enjoyed by Indians and other Asians, and of extending the policy of residential and commercial segregation to the Cape Province, the only part of the Union of South Africa which has been comparatively free from racial segregation and political discrimination.

4. The Government of India is of the opinion that the situation of Indians in South Africa is such that it calls for fresh and urgent consideration by the United Nations, in order to uphold the basic moral principles of its Charter and to prevent further deterioration in the already strained relations between India and the Union of South Africa. The Government of India does not believe that it could be the intention of the United Nations to continue to acquiesce in the refusal of the Union of South Africa to act on the General Assembly resolution of 8 December 1946. Such acquiescence would be a denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms, on purely racial grounds, to an important section of the population of the Union of South Africa, and would gravely undermine the prestige of the United Nations, which ultimately depends upon the effectiveness with which its Members carry out the obligations which they have assumed under the Charter. If the belief that there is to be one standard of treatment for the white races and another for the non-white continues to gain strength among the latter, the future for solidarity among the Members of the United Nations, and consequently, for world peace, will indeed be dark. The Government of India therefore earnestly desires that the United Nations will consider the question of the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa again, and take appropriate action under Articles 10 and 14 of its Charter; and requests that you will be so good as to place this subject on the provisional agenda of the forthcoming session of the General Assembly.

(Signed) P. P. PILLAI

Representative of India

to the United Nations

Document 3

General Assembly resolution: Treatment of people of Indian origin in the Union of South Africa.

A/RES/395 (V), 2 December 1950

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 44(I) and 265 (III) relating to the treatment of people of Indian origin in the Union of South Africa,

Having considered the communication by the Permanent Representative of India to the Secretary-General dated 10 July 1950,

Having in mind its resolution 103 (I) of 19 November 1946 against racial persecution and discrimination, and its resolution 217 (III) dated 10 December 1948 relating to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Considering that a policy of "racial segregation" (Apartheid) is necessarily based on doctrines of racial discrimination,

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Document 4

Letter dated 12 September 1952 addressed to the Secretary-General by the permanent representatives of Afghanistan, Burma, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.

A/2183, 12 September 1952

On instructions from our respective Governments, we have the honour to request that the following item be included in the agenda of the seventh regular session of the United Nations General Assembly:

"The question of race conflict in South Africa resulting from the policies of apartheid of the Government of the Union of South Africa."

An explanatory memorandum in accordance with rule 20 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly is enclosed.

Explanatory Memorandum

The race conflict in the Union of South Africa resulting from the policies of apartheid of the South African Government is creating a dangerous and explosive situation, which constitutes both a threat to international peace and a flagrant violation of the basic principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms which are enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Although Africa's importance in world affairs is increasing rapidly, many parts of that continent still remain subject to racial discrimination and exploitation. The founding of the United Nations and the acceptance of the Member States of the obligations embodied in the Charter have given to the people os these areas new hope and encouragement in their efforts to acquire basic human rights. But, in direct opposition to the trend of world opinion, the policy of the Government of the Union of South Africa is designed to establish and to perpetuate every form of racial discrimination which must inevitably result in intense and bitter racial conflict. Apartheid, which is the declared objective of the Government of the Union of South Africa, implies a permanent white superiority over the none-Whites, who constitute the great majority of the Union's population. To achieve apartheid, the following measure are being taken:

(a) Under the notorious Group Area Act, non-Whites are compelled to abandon their present lands and premises and to move to new and usually inferior reserved areas without compensation or provisional alternative accommodation;

(b) Complete segregation is enforced in public services, such as railways, buses and post offices;

(c) The Suppression of Communism Act is being used to suppress democratic movements, especially of the non-Whites, for example, those which advocate racial equality or urge opposition to apartheid;

(d) Non-Whites are debarred from combat service in the armed forces;

(e) No voting or other political rights whatsoever are enjoyed by non-Whites, except in Cape Province, where Africans and the "Coloured" inhabitants have a limited franchise;

(f) Africans are confined to reserves, and their movements are restricted to certain places after specified hours under certain restrictive laws. The interprovincial movements of non-Whites are also restricted;

(g) Non-Whites are excluded under the Mines Works Amendment Act of 1926 from certain classes of skilled work and a systematic drive is in progress to replace them, even in the lower grades of the public services, by Whites;

(h) The education of non-Whites and their housing and living conditions are deplorable. Such facilities of this type as are available to non-Whites are vastly inferior to those offered to the White population.

As a result of these measures, a social system is being evolved under which the non-Whites, who constitute 80 per cent of the population of the Union of South Africa, will be kept in a permanently inferior state to the White minority. Such a policy challenges all that the United Nations stands for and clearly violates the basic and fundamental objectives of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Preamble and Article 1, paragraph 3, and Article 55 c of the Charter proclaim universal respect for, and the due observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms, without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. Under Article 56, all Members have pledged themselves to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the United Nations for the achievement of these purposes.

Under resolution adopted unanimously by the General Assembly in 1946, the United Nations called on governments to put an end to racial persecution and discrimination. Resolution 217 (III) proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and article 2

of the Declaration affairs the equal application of these rights without distinction as to colour, race or religion. Under resolution 395 (V), the United Nations held that the policy of apartheid was necessarily based on doctrines of racial discrimination and therefore called upon the South African Government not to implement of enforce the provisions of the Group Areas Act. These findings and this recommendation were repeated in resolution 511 (VI) adopted at the sixth session of the General Assembly.

It is recognized in all countries, as well as among liberal South African Europeans, that the solution of South Africa's racial problem lies not in any domination of one race by another, but in a partnership of races on a basis of equality and freedom.

Thus the apartheid policy of the Government of the Union of South Africa is contrary not only to the basic premises of the United Nations and to its specifics and repeated recommendations, but also to the trend of opinion all over the world.

Because they have been unable to secure redress by constitutional methods and because the South African Government has turned a deaf ear to the repeated appeals of the United Nations not to embark on a policy of racial discrimination, the non-Whites of the Union have been compelled to launch a completely non-violent resistance movement against the Government's unjust and inhuman racial policies. In their efforts to destroy this movement, the Government has so far arrested over 4,000 persons. Despite the non-violent character of the campaign, physical violence such as flogging is being used to suppress it. The South African Government's reaction to a movement of peaceful resistance against legislation which world opinion and the United Nations have repeatedly and emphatically condemned, is having wide repercussions. We are convinced that the continuance of such repression will only aggravate race conflict throughout Africa and arouse indignation elsewhere. A new tension is thus being created which is no less serious than others affecting world peace.

it is therefore imperative that the General Assembly give this question its urgent consideration in order to prevent an already dangerous situation from deteriorating further and to bring about a settlement in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations Charter.

Document 5

Statement by Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Chairperson of the delegation of India, introducing the item on apartheid in the Ad Hoc Political Committee of the General Assembly.

A/AC.61/SR.13, 12 November 1952

...

16. The thirteen countries which had joined in placing the item on the agenda represented some 600 million people. They had felt that the deliberate attempt on the part of the South African Government to establish racial discrimination by a policy of apartheid, which implied permanent superiority of the white inhabitants of the non-white who comprised 80 per cent of the total population, had created a dangerous tension in South Africa with serious consequences for harmony among nations and peace in the world. They further considered that the objectives of South Africa's policy wee to force the non-European population into perpetual economic and social servitude by racial discrimination and segregation in violation of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the principles of the Charter, to which all States, including South Africa, had pledged adherence.

17. Mrs. Pandit reviewed the principal legislative acts adopted by the South African Government to implement its apartheid policy. The Group Areas Act, based on the complete segregation of racial groups, would, when implemented, involve the uprooting of thousands of non-whites, depriving them of homes, property and business premises without compensation or provisional alternative accommodations. It divided the entire population into white, native and coloured groups and defined the characteristics of each. It would prevent any direct business relations among the three groups, and relegate the non-whites to menial occupations. Under the Population Registration Act, identity cards defining his racial or ethnic group would be issued to each person over sixteen years of age, t be presented for inspection on demand by any member of the police force, which would consist entirely of whites. The Mixed Marriages Act prohibited marriages between whites and non-whites, declared such marriages null and void and imposed penalties on persons performing them. It had been justified by pseudo-scientific theories and was an insult to the non-white population. The Separate Representation of Voters Act removed so-called coloured voters in the Cape Province from a common roll vote to a separate roll. They would be represented in Parliament by four Europeans. The act had been adopted by a narrow majority, consisting largely of the Nationalist Party, against strong opposition by both Europeans and non-Europeans. It was a clear violation of one of the "entrenched" clauses of the Constitution, which required that amendment of franchise rights of the coloured population must be made by a two-thirds majority of both Houses of Parliament voting together. The Supreme Court had declared the Act ultra vires of Parliament, but the Government had overridden the Court's decision by enacting the High Court of Parliament Act. Thus, in pursuance of its racial policies, it had not hesitated to violate the Constitution. The Suppression of Communism Act had also been made a potential vehicle for the persecution of the non-white population in that it defined communism as any doctrine encouraging hostility between Europeans and non-Europeans. Finally, the Bantu Authorities Act relegated the African race to the ancient system of tribal rule for the express purpose of preventing their fusion into a modern nation. Apartheid was enforced even in the use of common public facilities, in trade unions and in the armed forces of the country. Non-whites could not fight in defence of the nation, they had no opportunities for jobs as skilled workers or in government service and therefore no scope for their social and economic betterment. The Prime Minister, Mr. Malan, had recently reaffirmed his intention to effect no changes in the laws differentiating racial groups and to continue to bar Bantus and other non-Europeans from administrative, executive and legislative posts.

18. Deprived of constitutional and legal means to seek redress of its grievances against unjust racial laws, the non-white population of South Africa had begun a campaign of passive resistance, a technique first developed in 1915 by the young Gandhi. At that time, the British Viceroy of India had expressed his deepest sympathy with the movement started in South Africa. Gandhi's theory of passive resistance or Satyagraha was based on the concept that the dignity of man required obedience to the law of the spirit; consequently, that resistance, far from being an expression of submission or cowardice, was motivated by a strength derived from an indomitable will to defy evil. It expressed a moral protest against continuing injustice, as Professor Julius Lieuwen, a European professor in a South African university, had said, and was not intended to injure the white population. Professor Lieuwen had interpreted the feeling of an increasing number of Europeans when he had called upon the South African Government to desist from further repressive measures and upon the European population to make a moral gesture of equal significance by expressing sympathy and solidarity with the resistance movement. In a statement issued jointly by the Bishop of Johannesburg and others, the wide response to the movement had been recognized, the courage and sacrifice it demanded had been emphasized and it had been described as a challenge to the entire white community as well as to all who participated in the exercise of political power in South Africa.

19. The decision to embark on a passive resistance campaign on a national scale had been taken out of desperation, but only after the Government had been given due warning and a final appeal had been made for a relaxation of repressive and discriminatory measures. When the Malan Government had replied with a threat to use the full power of governmental machinery against the alleged inciters to subversion, the resistance movement had no choice. Demonstrations had been held and volunteers selected who, after advance notice to the police authorities, had defied various laws and regulations deriving from the apartheid policy. To date, over 7,000 persons had sought arrest and been sentenced to imprisonment. It was a tribute to the discipline of the resisters that, despite great provocation by the policy and fanatical white elements, they had maintained the peaceful character of the movement. Moreover, despite brutal treatment in the prisons, the resistance had not been broken and enjoyed widespread support among all sectors of the non-white population and among the liberal whites. The Presbyterian Church of South Africa, for example, had condemned the Government's discriminatory policies, had urged tolerance of other racial groups and had exhorted its members to pursue the fight against repressive measures. The Chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral in London likewise had called upon all Christians to support the liberal forces combating apartheid. The Archbishop of York had appealed to Christians to reject the master race theory. The British Trade Union Congress, representing some eight million workers, had assured its full support to those fighting the South African Government's racial policies.

20. The international implications of South African racial policies were clear to all Member States which had pledged themselves to uphold the basic principles f the Charter, in particular those concerning the observance of human rights. Moreover, that pledge had been strengthened by the unanimous adoption of General Assembly resolution 103 (I) calling for an end to religious and racial persecution and discrimination and of resolution 377 (V), entitled "Uniting for Peace", urging an intensification of joint action to develop and stimulate respect for human rights if lasting peace was to be achieved. The Preamble of the Declaration of Human Rights further strengthened that pledge.

21. The situation in South Africa was imperilling the entire continent of Africa. Unless the United Nations acted rapidly to stir the conscience of men of goodwill everywhere to repudiate the South African Government's policies and actions, the world would be threatened with a new conflict. In his appeal, the Bishop of Johannesburg had called for a revival of the liberal tradition of the country, based on the principle of equal rights for all civilized peoples and equal opportunities for all to become civilized. He had urged a reasonable status for non-Europeans and a Government policy resting on a moral basis under which persons were evaluated by the tests of civilization and education rather than by race and colour.

22. The Bishop's statement implied that an attempt should be made to build a new patter, which would, by providing equal opportunities for all groups, create a synthesis of cultures for the greatest benefit of the whole population. India would welcome a study of the situation in South Africa with a view to assisting the Government to resolve it on a rational and humanitarian basis of mutual toleration and understanding among all racial groups. The purpose of the Indian delegation in co-sponsoring the item under discussion was not to condemn South Africa; it harboured no rancour. Its only desire was to end a situation as degrading to those who enforced the discriminatory laws as to the victims.

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Document 6

Letter dated 17 November 1952 from Mr. Z. K. Matthews, representative of the African National Congress.

A/AC.61/L.14, 19 November 1952

In the Course of a recent debate in the Ad Hoc Political Committee on the question of the race conflict in South Africa arising out of the apartheid policy of the Government of the Union of South Africa, it was suggested that I be invited to make a statement to the Committee on behalf of the African people whose views would not otherwise be available to the Committee, although they are vitally affected by the present trend of events in South Africa.

May I respectfully draw your attention to the fact that the request for a hearing by the United Nations comes from the African National Congress? In July 1952, before the item at present under discussion was placed on the agenda of the seventh session of the General Assembly, the African National Congress addressed a communication to Mr. Trygve Lie, Secretary General of the United Nations, asking for an opportunity to put their grievances before the General Assembly. (See the New York Times report, 26 July 1952). I do not know whether this request has been brought to the attention of your Committee, but as far as I am aware that is the only official request which has been addressed to the United Nations on behalf of the African people.

As a member of the National Executive of the African National Congress I have received a cable from the General Secretary of the African National Congress, Mr. W. M. Sisulu, authorizing me to speak on behalf of that organization at the United Nations, should the occasion arise. I have also received from his a copy of a memorandum setting forth the views of that organization regarding the apartheid policy of the Government of the Union of South Africa, and the grievances of the people subject to it. I am forwarding this memorandum herewith.

I feel bound to point out that ever since it became known in South Africa that there was even a remote possibility that I might be invited to make a statement before the United Nations on this subject, considerable official pressure has been brought to bear upon me not to accept such an invitation in view of the action which the Union Government would feel compelled to take against me. The University College of Fort Hare, in South Africa, with which I am connected, has also been warned that the Government "will be reluctantly compelled to take a very serious view of the matter as he (i.e., myself) is employed by your college which receives a considerable subsidy from the State". The authorities of the college, in view of this direct threat, have instructed me not to accept any invitation to appear. It is in the face of such threats of victimization that I submit the enclosed document for your consideration. As the request of the African National Congress for a hearing has not yet been considered, I do not feel called upon to decide, at this stage, on the issue of a personal appearance.

(Signed) Z.K. Matthews

President,

African National Congress (Cape)

Document 7

General Assembly resolution: The question of race conflict in South Africa resulting from the policies of apartheid of the Government of the Union of South Africa.

A/RES/616 A (VII), 5 December 1952

The General Assembly,

...

Considering that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,

Recalling that the General Assembly declared in its resolution 103 (I) of 19 November 1946 that it is in the higher interests of humanity to put an end to religious and so-called racial persecution, and called upon all Governments to conform both to the letter and to the spirit of the Charter and to take the most prompt and energetic steps to that end,

Considering that the General Assembly has held, in its resolutions 395 (V) of 2 December 1950 and 511 (VI) of 12 January 1952, that a policy of "racial segregation" (apartheid) is necessarily based on doctrines of racial discrimination,

1. Establishes a Commission, consisting of three members, to study the racial situation in the Union of South Africa in the light of the purposes and principles of the Charter, with due regard to the provision of Article 2, paragraph 7, as well as the provisions of Article 1, paragraphs 2 and 3, Article 13, paragraph 1 b, Article 55 c, and Article 56 of the Charter, and the resolutions of the United Nations on racial persecution and discrimination, and to report its conclusions to the General Assembly at its eighth session;

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Document 8

General Assembly resolution: The question of race conflict in South Africa resulting from the policies of apartheid of the Government of the Union of South Africa.

A/RES/616 B (VII), 5 December 1952

1. Declares that in a multiracial society harmony and respect for human rights and freedoms and the peaceful development of a unified community are best assured when patterns of legislation and practice are directed towards ensuring equality before the law of all persons regardless of race, creed or colour, and when economic, social, cultural and political participation of all racial groups is on a basis of equality;

2. Affirms that governmental policies of Member States which are not directed towards these goals, but which are designed to perpetuate or increase discrimination, are inconsistent with the pledges of the Members under Article 56 of the Charter;

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Document 9

Report of the United Nations Commission on the Racial Situation in the Union of South Africa ("Summary of the Commission's Conclusions").

A/2505 and Add.1, 1953

(a) The Commission's terms of reference in relation to certain Charter provisions and General Assembly resolutions (448)

893. (i) When setting up the Commission and establishing its terms of reference, the Assembly affirmed its own competence in principle to study and act on problems of racial discrimination. Nevertheless, in inviting the Commission to have regard to various articles of the Charter, including Article 2, paragraph 7, in carrying out its terms of reference, the Assembly undoubtedly wished the Commission to study the extent to which those articles might determine, condition or restrict the competence of the United Nations.

The Commission therefore assumed that the Assembly had placed in its terms of reference a definite instruction to study this problem. The Commission carried out that study most carefully in chapter II of the report and reached a formal conclusion. The Assembly, assisted by the commissions which it establishes and authorizes, is permitted by the Charter to undertake any studies and make any recommendations to Member States which it may deem necessary in connexion with the application and implementation of the principles to which the Member States have subscribed by signing the Charter. That universal right of study and recommendation is absolutely incontestable with regard to general problems of human rights and particularly of those protecting against discrimination for reasons of race, sex, language or religion.

The exercise of the functions and powers conferred on the Assembly and it subsidiary organs by the Charter does not constitute an intervention prohibited by Article 2 (7) of the Charter.

894. (ii) The Commission is convinced that this interpretation, which it believes to be legally correct and which has been confirmed by the invariable practice of the General Assembly, also serves the cause of peace and the legitimate aspirations of mankind. The study which it has carried out has enabled it to appreciate the serious dangers of a problem such as this, not only to the social equilibrium of the countries concerned, but also friendship and peace among nations. The Commission therefore considers that in such cases the Assembly is not merely exercising a right, but actually fulfilling a duty in using its functions and powers under the Charter.

...

897. (v) Since the Nationalist Party came to power, it has systematically applied its apartheid doctrine. To that end it has enacted and intends to continue to enact a series of statutes, regulations and administrative measures. The most important aspects of that legislation are considered in chapter VI; an attempt has been made in chapter VII to describe its effects on the various groups of the population, and in chapter VIII to compare its provisions with those of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In view of the differences observed between certain groups or specific geographic areas, these legislative and administrative measures affect to a greater or lesser degree nearly all aspects of the domestic, familial, social, political and economic life of the non-White population, who make up 79 per cent of the whole population of the country. They affect its most fundamental rights and freedoms: political rights, freedom of movement and residence, property rights, freedom to work and practise occupations, freedom of marriage and other family rights. They establish obvious inequality before the law in relation to the rights, freedoms and opportunities enjoyed by the 20 per cent of the population consisting of "Whites" or "Europeans", or of persons regarded as such.

For example, approximately 3 million Bantus live in Native "Reserves", which constitute a mere 9.7 per cent of the area of the Union; non-Europeans may not marry members of the White ethnic group; an Indian from Natal may not cross the frontier of his province to go to another province of the Union without previously obtaining a written authorization; no Bantu may buy a bottle of wine; no non-European may order a meal in a restaurant or spend a night in a hotel other than the few reserved for non-Europeans; no Bantu may move freely at night in the urban zones subject to curfew; no Bantu living on a Reserve may leave it to seek work in a town without previously obtaining a written authorization; no non-European may enroll as a student in the universities of Pretoria or Potchefstroom; no non-European may play on a Rugby football team consisting of Europeans; no non-European may operate a hoist in the gold mines of the Rand or drive a locomotive; a non-European may not be elected to Parliament, and his voting rights are restricted and are subject to different conditions from those of the Whites. Because of all kinds of restrictions, Bantus working in urban areas are obliged to live in communities where the proportion of men is nearly double that of women; in the gold-mining areas that disproportion is even greater.

898. (vi) These facts and situations constitute obvious racial discrimination. Four-fifths of the population are thereby reduced to a humiliating level of inferiority which is injurious to human dignity and makes the full development of personality impossible or very difficult.

899. (vii) The apartheid policy has given rise to the serious internal conflicts described in chapter VII, and maintains a condition of latent and ever-increasing tension in the country.

900. (viii) Among the population subjected to discrimination in the Union of South Africa there are 365,000 persons of Indian origin, who either immigrated under contract by virtue of a treaty signed by the authorities which then administered India and the rulers of the territories now belonging to the Union of South Africa, or are descended from such immigrants. These thousands of persons, who belong to the most "developed" groups, maintain ties and relations with the citizens of their country of origin, which now consist of India and Pakistan. These countries are watching with increasing anxiety the development of the policy of discrimination against that part of the population; their persistent appeals to the General Assembly to deal with the question and help to find a solution show the extent of their anxiety.

The Commission also notes the profound alarm which is spreading in Africa, the Middle East and, generally speaking, wherever the spirit of solidarity among Coloured persons has resented the attack made upon it. Publications, statements and resolutions bear witness to that alarm. The Commission is convinced that the pursuit of this policy cannot fail immediately and seriously to increase the anti-White sentiment in Africa resulting from nationalist movements, the force of which must not be underestimated. This policy is therefore contrary to the efforts of the part of mankind which believes in the unity of the destiny of peoples and the necessity of the maintenance of peace and which aspires to use such aspirations through peaceful channels of international collaboration to carry out the purposes laid down in the United Nations Charter, including that of "the right of peoples to self-determination".

There can be no doubt, therefore, that the position in the Union of South Africa is, to say the least, "likely to impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations", in the sense of Article 14 of the Charter.

901. (ix) The Commission considers that the doctrine of racial differentiation and superiority on which the apartheid policy is based is scientifically false, extremely dangerous to internal peace and international relations, as is proved by the tragic experience of the world in the past twenty years, and contrary to "the dignity and worth of the human person".

902. (x) All the previously-described discriminatory legislative and administrative measures, especially those laid down in pursuance of the apartheid policy, conflict with the solemn declaration in the Preamble of the United Nations Charter, in which the signatories state that they are determined to "reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal right of men and women and of nations large and small". They are also contrary to the purpose of the Charter to "achieve international co-operation in ... encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion".

903. (xi) Those measures are also contrary to the purposes of international economic and social co-operation laid down in Article 55 of the Charter, which states that the United Nations should, "with a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations", promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion." Thus the measures taken in application of the apartheid policy constitute a failure by the Government of the Union of South Africa to observe the obligation undertaken by it under Article 56 of the Charter, "to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55". This failure is clear to the Commission, because that Government has, after having signed the Charter, not pursued a policy for the progressive elimination of discriminatory measures contrary to the Charter, but has instead adopted new measures likely to aggravate the situation with regard to racial discrimination.

904. (xii) The Commission's study of previous General Assembly resolutions on racial persecution and discrimination showed that the racial policy pursued by the Government of the Union of South Africa is also contrary to the whole doctrine repeatedly and firmly upheld by the United Nations.

905. The members of the Commission are aware that prophecy is within neither their terms of reference nor their capacity. Nevertheless, they believe that it is their duty as free and responsible men to transmit to the Assembly a conviction which they bore in mind during their long work and which was strengthened daily. They wished to communicate their concern to the Assembly. They reached the following conclusions:

(a) It is highly unlikely, and indeed improbable, that the policy of apartheid will ever be willingly accepted by the masses subjected to discrimination;

(b) Efforts at persuasion, however powerful they may be or may become, by the Government and Europeans can never convince the non-Europeans that the policy is based on justice and a wish to promote their material and moral interests, and not on pride of race and a will to domination;

(c) As the apartheid policy develops, the situation it has made is constantly being aggravated and daily becomes less open to settlement by conciliation, persuasion, information or education, daily more explosive and more menacing to internal peace and to the foreign relations of the Union of South Africa. Soon any solution will be precluded and the only way out will be through violence, with all its inevitable and incalculable dangers.

906. The members of the Commission, faced with a situation which is so serious and which seems to them to be fraught with such grave and imminent threats, feel in duty bound to communicate to the Assembly for its consideration on certain suggestions which have occurred to them concerning the assistance which the community of peoples convened in the United Nations could, and therefore should, give to help a Member, the Union of South Africa, to solve those problems at a difficult moment in its history. The members of the Commission realize that the Commission was set up for inquiry and not as a commission of good offices, but are willing to risk reproach for an unduly wide interpretation of their terms of reference if they make the following suggestions:

908. (ii) Nevertheless, international co-operation has another duty as important if not more important: to face reality and seek by all peaceful means, not neglecting any, a manner in which to help to solve problems. Every Member State going through a serious and difficult period is entitled to receive aid and assistance. This aid must include all the friendly advice which the great family of the United Nations is able to give to one of its Members in a spirit of brotherhood. In the case of the Union of South Africa, there is a great opportunity to give both moral and material aid and assistance and thus to confirm international solidarity and co-operation by deeds.

The United Nations, in view of its serious anxiety at the development of ethnic tensions in South Africa and at the feelings which those tensions have aroused in other States and among other peoples, might express the hope that the Government of the Union of South Africa will be able to reconsider the components of its policy towards various ethnic groups. The United Nations might suggest ways and means in which the Union might draw up a new policy: for example, a round-table conference of members of different ethnic groups of the Union, which would, in an effort towards conciliation, make proposals to the Government to facilitate the peaceful development of the racial situation in the Union of South Africa. The United Nations might offer its help to that conference by sending a number of United Nations representatives, so that all parties might be sure that the principles of the Charter would guide the debates.

909. (iii) Nevertheless, the South African racial problem cannot be solved by the mere wish of a government which has decided to change its policy. In the course of its survey the Commission has stressed the multiple and complex factors from which the problem has arisen and which the apartheid policy has systematized and co-ordinated. These historical, religious, social and economic factors have played and will continue to play an active part in South African life, and their effects, even in the most favourable circumstances, can only disappear gradually. Obviously, the economic and social factors are especially important.

The non-European groups, especially the Natives, constitute the major part of the proletariat of the Union of South Africa, which suffers not only from discriminatory measures but also from those conditions which affect the proletariat of any economically under-developed country. The economic development of the whole country, the actual diminution of the social inequality which is now so great, and the opening of real opportunities and openings for individual and collective progress, together with the sincere wish of the Government and of the European population progressively to eliminate discrimination must be combined if the situation is to be appreciably improved.

The Commission therefore considers that the best course of international co-operation would be to offer the Government of the Union of South Africa at an opportune moment all the material and intellectual assistance which an international organization should and can give to one of its Members in difficulty. This assistance, if it were requested and accepted, might take the form of carrying out studies, setting up conciliation machinery, or lending, through technical, financial, economic and social assistance, the Organization's effective support to a policy and projects aimed at facilitating, in education, health, housing, agriculture, industry and public works, the maintenance of peaceful relations among the ethnic groups of the Union of South Africa and the progressive development of their collaboration in the life of the community.

910. In conclusion, the Commission considers it fitting to recall the words of a man who gave evidence before it and who, after describing and censuring the apartheid policy, pointed out that the campaign of resistance in South Africa was directed against injustice but had not yet developed into hatred among men. The Commission welcomed that testimony as a ray of hope and hoped that its optimism would be confirmed by events. In any case, the Commission was convinced that if the South African Government merely indicated its wish to review its racial policy and to accept spontaneously, in complete sovereignty and independence, the fraternal collaboration of the community of nations in solving that problem, a simple gesture of that kind might even now clear the air and open a new path of justice and peace to the development of the Union of South Africa within the United Nations.

Document 10

Second report of the United Nations Commission on the Racial Situation in the Union of South Africa.

A/2719, 1954

SUGGESTION I. INTERRACIAL CONTACTS; INTERRACIAL CONFERENCE

370. Considering that the greatest contribution to harmony and understanding among the various groups could be made by frequent and repeated contacts between the individuals of which they are composed, the Commission suggests that serious and sustained efforts in that direction should be made by all the parties concerned. In particular, the Commission wishes to draw attention to the statement made in its first report (342) that "the United Nations might express the hope that the Government of the Union of South Africa will be able to reconsider the components of its policy toward various ethnic groups. The United Nations might suggest ways and means in which the Union might draw up a new policy: for example, a round-table conference of members of different ethnic groups of the Union, which would, in an effort towards conciliation, make proposals to the Governments to facilitate the peaceful development of the racial situation in the Union of South Africa. The United Nations might offer help to that conference by sending a number of United Nations representatives, so that all parties might be sure that the Principles of the Charter would guide the debates"....

SUGGESTION II. BASIC IDEAS FOR A PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT

372. The Commission has stated on a previous occasion that it is for the South African people themselves to solve their problem. It wishes, however, to set out a number of basic ideas derived from plans or projects originating in the Union of South Africa which it believes to be consistent with the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These ideas should be taken into consideration in any discussion of the solution of the racial problem. In setting them out, the Commission is fully aware of the fact that they can be put into effect only gradually and over a long period. They are as follows:

373. (A) In view of the wretched economic and social conditions in which the non-White peoples live, any steps to raise their standard of living will help to reduce internal tension in the Union. The Commission has no hesitation in stating this obvious fact...We must add that the Commission would hesitate to urge the leaders of a Member State to accept painful sacrifices had it not already expressed the opinion in its previous Report that the State could appeal for international co-operation in a task of such importance to mankind....

374. (B) In view of the predominant part undoubtedly played by economic and technical factors in inter-group tensions in the Union of South Africa, the Commission believes that it will be difficult for the government to postpone without risk steps towards an "economic" integration designed to alleviate the serious suffering caused to the Bantu people by the dispersal and inadequacy of the reserves, the over-population in relation to their natural resources, the quality of their soil and their economic and technical development and also by the discriminatory measures against Bantu workers employed in industry in the European areas. Reemphasizing its inability to present a co-ordinated plan with priorities owing to the conditions under which it has worked, the Commission can only draw attention to some of the many areas in which a re-direction of policy might make an effective contribution to the relaxation of tension.

375. (a) Announcement of a policy for the progressive reduction, with a view to the ultimate abolition, of the system of migrant labour.

The Commission's previous report (343) contains references to the harmful effects of the system of migrant labour, while the annex to the present report describes the serious limitations it places on the productivity of human labour and on economic, industrial and agricultural development (344). The Commission believes it to be an incontrovertible fact that neither the system, which is degrading to human dignity, causes a vast amount of individual and collective human suffering and disrupts family life, nor the working conditions it involves, will ever be accepted by those subjected to them and will never be regarded by an aroused world conscience as an inevitable necessity. Clearly, however, any policy directed towards the progressive eradication of this serious cause of tension implies the gradual removal of the statutory restrictions of the settlement of non-Whites in urban centres, the recognition of the Bantus' right to become permanent city-dwellers, and the genuine acceptance by the Europeans of a non-White population settled in the cities and having the right to own urban property.

376. (b) The organization of a continuous programme of fundamental adult education, with the assistance of the United Nations and UNESCO, if required, for the purpose of creating in the reserves agricultural communities receiving the maximum practical advice, information and equipment as speedily as circumstances permit, in order to ensure first the conservation and then the development of the known resources of the Reserves and the surveying and exploration of their unknown or potential resources.

377. (c) Execution of a long - (but not too long) - term plan for the organization of general education or, at the very least, for the accelerated development of a system of universal education for the non-Europeans in order to give all children the greatest possible opportunities to develop their aptitudes and their ability to serve the community, and to train the non-Europeans and qualify them for genuine full employment within their country's economy. The Commission believes that the Union of South Africa should be able to count upon moral - and material - support for such a long-term plan from all Members of the United Nations and upon its machinery for technical and financial assistance.

378. (d) Elimination of the colour bar and recognition of the principle of "equal pay for equal work". Many voices of protest have been raised in the Union of South Africa itself not only against the legislative measures establishing a colour bar and driving the non-Whites into interior and badly-paid employment, but also against the administrative measures to the same end: the so-called "Civilized Labour Policy", the policy governing the issue of licenses for carrying on commercial, industrial or craft undertakings, the conditions imposed on parties tendering for contracts for public works of supplies, etc. Contrary to what has been claimed, the establishment of equal opportunities would not lead to a sharp fall in the White population's standard of living, because the Union is suffering from a shortage of manpower, which is acute in certain branches, (345) and because, owing to their educational level, the Europeans possess a considerable advantage over the other groups, in particular the Bantus. But the proclamation of the principle that all men, whatever the colour of their skin, have equal access to all employment, and that there is equal pay for equal work would, in itself, effect an easing of tension.

379. (e) In close connection with the foregoing, the reorganization of the apprenticeship system so that it constitutes the normal means of access to specialized and better-paid employment and is thus open to children with the necessary aptitude.

380. (f) The progressive enactment of new legislation recognizing the right of Bantus, Coloureds and non-Europeans in general to become members of trade unions and to participate with full rights and complete equality in all arbitration proceedings and negotiations for the peaceful settlement of labour disputes.

381. (g) Abolition, by rapidly succeeding stages, of the pass laws which are clearly inconsistent with most of the measures and efforts suggested above and result in restrictions and disabilities in the daily lives on non-Europeans, which are incompatible with the conception of freedom and the dignity of the human person held by the United Nations....

383. Although the Commission appreciates the importance of securing equal economic opportunities for all, regardless of differences in race, colour or belief, it feels bound to state its conviction that steps to achieve political equality among ethic groups are of prime importance and cannot be continually deferred without serious danger....

SUGGESTION III. POSSIBLE ASSISTANCE BY THE UNITED NATIONS

384. Should the General Assembly take the view that all or part of the programme outlined above could provide a provisional basis for possible co-operation with the Government of the Union of South Africa, the Commission would suggest that an offer might be made to that Government to set up at its request a committee of technical exports specializing in the planning of economical and social development, particularly in multi-racial societies, who might be asked to catalogue all the various forms of assistance which the United Nations and the specialized agencies can supply. Such a proposal might doubtless strike many persons as incompatible with the timidity or caution usually associated with international operations. But while caution may be justified, timidity is not. It should be borne in mind that similar action and on an extensive scale has been taken by the United Nations in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of countries after they had suffered the consequences of a dispute; why then should it hesitate to take such action when it involves the preventing a threatened dispute? The latter is the type of situation with which the international community is confronted in South Africa.

...

For the Union of South Africa the road towards eventual reconciliation and willing collaboration among the ethnic groups is assuredly a long and arduous one, blocked by many obstacles. The essential thing, however, is the right road should be taken. The Commission sincerely believes that the road of apartheid leads to inevitable deadlock and to the threat of disputes. Despite all the difficulties inherited from the past and still acute today, Europeans, Bantus and Coloureds must necessarily wend their way together; we might almost go so far as to say that they are doomed to live together and together to build an organic community. The road of gradual integration is the only one that seems to be open and it alone is likely to lead to a peaceful future acceptable to all parties. To travel that road will require a steadfast, persevering and tenacious will, renewed from day to day, to collaborate, to negotiate and to compromise, a will to give and take. This partnership will be difficult; one side will have to jettison theories of racial superiority which give a semblance of legality to political supremacy but are in reality based on obsolete ideas to which modern science gives not a shred of confirmation; the other will have to realize that the ideas of fraternal equality and collaboration enshrined in the United Nations Charter and deep in the hearts of men cannot become reality at the stroke of a magic wand, without passing through many successive stages. Both will often have to moderate, for a time, the force of their claims and aspirations in order to fulfil their duty towards the community which is to be built up in peace. We repeat that the essential thing is that the right road should be taken.

Document 11

Third report of the United Nations Commission on the Racial Situation in the Union of South Africa

A/2953, 1955

...

306. In view of the special nature of this report the Commission considers that this is hardly the occasion for offering any fresh conclusions in the proper sense of the term.

The conclusions contained in the first report (A/2505 and Add.1) to the General Assembly concerning the effects of the policy of apartheid on economic and social life and on internal tensions between groups of human beings in the territories of the Union, concerning the dangers of isolation or dispute which, as a consequence, beset the Union's foreign relations, and concerning the conflict between the principles of apartheid, on the one hand, and the provisions of the United Nations Charter and the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on the other--all these conclusions are still valid.

Next, the Commission's second report (A/2719) had set forth various general and specific suggestions for dealing with the racial difficulties of the Union of South Africa by peaceful and non-violent means. The Commission considers that these suggestions are now as sound as when they were made and cannot honestly say that by reason of the lapse of time they should be modified in any way.

Hence the remarks which follow, in the manner of a conclusion, are intended essentially to convey supplementary information; they add certain further particulars and reflections concerning points which, in the Commission's view, should engage the attention of the General Assembly. Because these remarks supplement the previous report in certain respects, they should, it is felt, enable everybody to gain a more comprehensive and more accurate insight into the racial situation in the Union of South Africa as it appears at the end of this year of observation.

For the sake of a better understanding of these remarks, the paragraphs immediately below briefly recapitulate the principal features of the Commission's first and second reports and describe concisely the features of the present report. An interpretation of the year's developments follows thereafter, and the report closes with a section entitled "Present thoughts on past suggestions".

307. In its first report (A/2505 and Add.1) the Commission had:

(a) Given the General Assembly a short account of the geography, history, demographic situation, ethnic composition and government of the Union of South Africa which the Commission thought was indispensable to a fair appreciation of an extraordinarily complex racial situation;

(b) Defined the doctrine and programme of apartheid;

(c) Analysed and described the racial situation in South Africa, particularly as it resulted from the legislation enacted and promulgated by a Parliament representing, almost exclusively, the minority of European origin;

(d) Compared this legislation with the principles of the Charter, the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and certain important resolutions of the principal United Nations organs and found it to be utterly at variance with those principles;

(e) Offered some preliminary and tentative suggestions for the future.

In its second report (A/2719), the Commission:

(a) Supplemented its previous report by giving fuller particulars of the country's economic structure and development, for undoubtedly economic reality is the factor which, in a particular racial situation, exerts the most direct influence, the influence most heavily charged with individual or collective emotion or resentment and hence often the most decisive influence;

(b) Made further comparative analyses on the lines described above;

(c) Gave an account of one year of life in the Union of South Africa (1953-54) under apartheid;

(d) Studied the various solutions to the racial problem which had been proposed in the Union of South Africa itself by institutions, political parties or persons directly concerned and particularly qualified;

(e) As expressly requested in its terms of reference, offered carefully considered suggestions which, it believed, could "alleviate the situation and promote a peaceful settlement".

308. In the present report, the Commission:

(a) Continues its custom of analysing and studying the implications of new legislation and regulations;

(b) Presents a methodical and descriptive account of events of some significance which occurred between August 1954 and July 1955 and which affected or threw fresh light on the racial situation in South Africa.

It was not without some hesitation that the Commission entitled the second part of its report "Development of the situation", for a racial situation which is the product of 300 years of local history, of traditional customs and behaviour and, inevitably, of collective emotions attributable to some extent to special (but ever-present) circumstances can hardly develop perceptibly in the space of 12 months. The Commission's function, in formulating its conclusions, is, however, precisely to discuss, behind the imperceptible or the barely perceptible, some faint signs or clues which may herald a new trend in events or in thinking.

The Commission approached its task not less humbly but a little more confidently than before. Having been an objective observer of the Union of South Africa for almost three years it has been able gradually to accumulate a wider selection of documents, to draw on more varied sources of information, to acquire a more thorough knowledge of the factors which motivate the Afrikaner population, the descendants of the Voortrekkers and Boers whose past was both arduous and heroic.

In its conclusions the Commission has ventured to attempt an interpretation of the events recounted above and also of some other facts and imponderables, which will be discussed later, because it has been encouraged, however paradoxical this may appear at first sight, by the very fact of its remoteness from the scene. Naturally, it does not claim that there can be any substitute for the personal contact which it would have desired, and the absence of which it deplores, with the realities, complexities, disconcerting primitiveness and unexpected ultramodernism of South Africa. Yet, by reason of its knowledge of crises and occurrences of the more or less recent past which, in some respects, present an analogy with the multiracial situation in South Africa, the Commission believes that precisely this perspective of distance--which it would not enjoy at Pretoria or the Cape--offers certain advantages. In a world where strictly local problems no longer exist, far less solutions which depend exclusively on local factors, this perspective and this distance make it possible to adopt an objective approach which is sometimes difficult to achieve in a field where emotional factors play a considerable part. The Commission trusts that it has achieved this objectivity in the pages which follow.

309. In the first place, the Commission considers that the general lines of the policy of apartheid have not changed in the year which has elapsed since it wrote its second report. Indeed, the new Government under Mr. Strijdom has announced its intention of carrying out this policy of apartheid to its full extent.

Secondly, as indicated in part II, chapter I, of the present report, during the year a series of legislative measures were enacted which, like those mentioned in the Commission's previous reports, are consistent neither with the obligations assumed by the Union of South Africa under the Charter nor with certain provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Thirdly, certain discriminatory legislation which had been enacted in earlier years and which the Commission had analysed at the time became operative or continued in operation during the year. The Commission would draw particular attention to the Bantu Education Act, which is discussed in the present report.⁽¹⁾ Not only does this Act imply a negation of the principles of human rights--an aspect considered by the Commission in its second report (A/2719, paras. 110-111)--but also its application will, in the Commission's opinion, invite other dangers to which it wishes to draw the Assembly's attention.

(a) Apartheid in education, symbolized by the words "Bantu education"--a term detested by all the non-Europeans, who demand, according to their slogan, not education "made to measure" but "universal" education--is liable to accentuate even more and to spread among the entire Native population a Bantu nationalism with a strong anti-White orientation. The Commission believes that the Nationalist Government, in carrying its policy of school segregation to extremes, may receive some sad surprises, including a stiffening in the anti-European attitude of the Bantu population. Should this occur, apartheid in this as no doubt in other fields would produce an effect very contrary to the pacification and reduced friction which its proponents say they hope to achieve.⁽²⁾

(b) As indicated in the section relating to Bantu education, Afrikaans is being introduced somewhat prematurely and very extensively side by side with English in school curricula.⁽³⁾ This means that children under 10 years of age will have to study three different languages (every Bantu child speaks one of the seven vernacular idioms), which will certainly overtax their minds and memories to the detriment of other possibly more useful and more necessary subjects.

The Commission further considers that the effect of this measure will be to weaken among the Natives the influence and spread of the English language which, because of its universality, is a cultural asset of great importance and a closer link with their racial brethren of Africa and America whose social, economic and cultural progress they watch with pride.

Fourthly, the Commission reaffirms what it had said in its earlier reports⁽⁴⁾: the continuation of the policy of apartheid constitutes a serious threat to national life within the Union of South Africa. The reactions, described in the present report, of the various social groups to the legislation passed or to the measures enacted merely confirm this view.

Fifthly, the material assembled by the Commission, especially that mentioned in the section dealing with the "international repercussions of the race problem" likewise confirms the Commission in yet another opinion (stated elsewhere), viz., that the policy of apartheid is a seriously disturbing factor in international relations, and the least that can be said of it is that it is "likely to impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations". This, then, is one of those situations which, under Article 14 of the Charter, may form the subject of recommendations by the General Assembly.

The material also shows that the attention of the world, particularly of the Coloured world, is firmly focussed on South Africa disapprovingly and often with a resentment which sometimes distorts the view and may even lead to extreme opinions and may finally become a potential source of international disputes.

Sixthly, despite what has been said under points one to three above, despite the declarations of responsible members of the Government, in which they invariably profess their explicit and unequivocal adherence to the principles of apartheid and their intention of translating it into reality, nevertheless the policy of apartheid, so far as it has been possible to observe its operation in law and in practice during the year under review, seems still to be characterized mainly by gradualism and flexibility. That had also been the Commission's observation in its first report (A/2505 and Add.1, para. 423). Indeed, this gradualism seems to have become more marked in recent times, in other words the pace at which the apartheid programme is being carried into effect has been slowed even further.

In July 1955, at the end of the parliamentary session, the objective appeared almost as far away as one year before.⁽⁵⁾

Another noteworthy point is that the Government apparently recognizes more or less explicitly and discreetly that complete territorial separation might well be a theoretical objective unattainable in practice.

Last year, one chapter in the Commission's report was entitled "One year of life in South Africa under apartheid". The Commission would hesitate to give this title to its report today. The title should rather be "One year of life in a country proceeding towards apartheid", but proceeding slowly, extremely slowly, cautiously and carefully. At the rate at which the Government is promoting each day a fuller measure of apartheid, it may well take many years before the theories of the new apartheid bear even a modest resemblance to actual fact. By then, the succession of generations, White and Black, will have changed the course of events.

Seventhly, there is ample evidence of the flexibility of apartheid already mentioned by the Commission; this flexibility is somewhat unexpected on the part of political leaders who remain firm in their statements of principle. It is to be found mainly in the form of exceptions to traditional segregation, or to discrimination as prescribed by regulations, whenever some overriding interest makes an exception desirable in the eyes of the Government.⁽⁶⁾

Eighthly, the Commission also notes a significant hesitancy in the application of the policy of apartheid, for example the notable delay in "proclaiming" the principal group areas, although the Minister of Native Affairs had announced, on 23 March 1955, that these areas would be proclaimed in quick succession; the delay in reaching a decision on the Holloway Commission's report on the feasibility of actually introducing complete apartheid in higher education;⁽⁷⁾

and the Government's delay in publishing the voluminous report on the social and economic development of the Native reserves, of capital importance so far as the policy of apartheid is concerned, which was completed almost a year ago by the Tomlinson Commission.

Ninthly, the Commission cannot avoid asking in public the questions which it asked itself. Is this slowness to act the sign of mere caution or discretion on the part of the Government, in anticipation of possible national and international repercussions? Is it the sign of intellectual hesitation regarding the methods to be employed in guiding the South African nation towards future structural patterns which are still considered realizable? Or is it not rather the sign of certain nascent misgivings about the legitimacy, or the attainability, of the proposed objectives?

The Commission cannot supply the answers. It sincerely hopes that this year, when action to promote apartheid was, if not almost at a standstill, at least very slow, marks the beginning of a change of mind in favour of the principles upheld by the United Nations.

310. The Commission considers, however, that it should mention certain factors which, in its opinion, may have influenced the trend thought to be discernible and which may have affected, in the manner indicated, the rate and intensity of implementation of the policy of apartheid.

The Commission believes that this flexibility, this delay, these misgivings, not to mention the countless new obstacles which arise unexpectedly on the way however clearly it may be drawn on the theoretical map of apartheid, may have been influenced by the following facts:

(a) On the strength of the information classified and analysed in the body of the present report, the Commission continues to believe, as it had stressed in its second report (A/2719, para. 177), that, so far as the economy of South Africa is concerned, despite the attempts to brake the employment of Native workers in industry, despite the drive for increased mechanization in European factories designed to replace part of the hitherto indispensable Bantu labour, despite the theoretical limitation of the number of Bantus admitted to live in locations" in the sky" in Johannesburg apartment buildings, nevertheless the integration of Native workers in "European" industry, commerce, agriculture and domestic service continues unabated.⁽⁸⁾

In other words the trend towards greater apartheid desired by the present Government is counter-balanced by a trend in the exactly opposite direction, an insidious, slow, but continuous and apparently irreversible, trend towards integration.

(b) The increasing demand for manpower, the steady influx of unskilled or semi-skilled workers to the constantly more numerous mines or factories⁽⁹⁾ and the settlement of both non-Europeans and Europeans in urban areas have encouraged the trend towards detribalization, a trend which conflicts with the Government's efforts to consolidate or even to re-establish the tribal system in the Native reserves, hostels, compounds or reserved quarters of urban and rural areas.

(c) The internal reactions of important "social" groups which the Commission has studied in detail in the body of its report.⁽¹⁰⁾

These groups have steadfastly opposed the policy of apartheid, arguing cogently that this policy is irreconcilable with the moral principles and the respect for human dignity which the civilized world has accepted as standards of national and international conduct, and stressing that the policy has no chance of being translated into reality.

In this connexion, the Commission would refer to the statements of certain Members of Parliament and to the attitude of the churches and certain scientific institutions.⁽¹¹⁾

(d) The moral force of international public opinion. The Commission is convinced that the Union Government must have given serious and careful consideration to the remarkable fact that year after year, and during the last session even more forcefully than before, the General Assembly, by a more than two-thirds majority, has proclaimed that this racial policy is contrary to the Principles of the Charter and has suggested that it should be reconsidered.⁽¹²⁾

The Government of the Union of South Africa must also have been aware of the moral force of the other great expressions of world opinion which the Commission describes in its report⁽¹³⁾ and others which the Commission did not mention but which must certainly have come to the knowledge of the South African Government: the opinion of most of the world's leading periodicals which have discussed racial tension in the Union and which are unanimous in their judgment of the policy of apartheid.

(e) Another factor closely connected with the above which the Commission mentioned in its first report is the fact that, in this century of extensive and rapid communication, it is impossible to prevent the groups against whom discrimination is practised in the Union of South Africa from "catching" the idea of aspiring to a better, more humane and more equalitarian life, with the full enjoyment of the political, social, economic and cultural rights which millions of human beings in other countries enjoy. These include millions of persons of African descent, a circumstance which confirms the belief that colour differences cannot exclude the non-Europeans of South Africa from the enjoyment of any of the rights guaranteed by law or custom to other citizens.

Every day more and more non-Europeans are confronted with some basic facts of international life: for example, they have now become aware that there is not another country in any of the five continents that has set up racial segregation as an absolute and eternal principle or what might even be called a principle of divine right. In no other country of the world is there an ethnic minority labouring to clear up to its own advantage a racial muddle which it has itself created. The South African Government is the only Government in the world which believes that it can carry out such a fabulous experiment successfully and, to quote a familiar metaphor frequently used by Bantu preachers and journalists, that it can "unscramble a plate of scrambled eggs". South Africa is the only country in the British Commonwealth which does not accept universal suffrage even as an objective to be achieved gradually in the distant future. South Africa is the only country in Africa where the Natives are not represented by their own kind in any legislative or consultative assembly. South Africa is the only country in the world where the Natives are rigorously excluded from certain categories of employment by the legislation of a minority intent on reserving them for itself.

Yet at the same time--a phenomenon which is, as it were, on the other side of the balance--the South Africans, all South Africans, both European and non-European, watch with something like fascination the peaceful conquests and progress of the Negroes north of the Limpopo, variously deploring or welcoming, as the case may be, the latter's advancement.⁽¹⁴⁾

We could quote many more such extracts. Every issue of the Bantu World (Johannesburg) has a special column entitled "Those Near Us, but Far Away" which makes a point of reporting such news items.

It is also noteworthy that America in general holds a kind of fascination for non-Europeans in the Union of South Africa. This is particularly true of the United States whose present experiment in racial desegregation is being followed with rapt attention. This is evident from a mere perusal of the Bantu Press. The South African Negroes are proud of the amazing progress of their overseas brethren of African origin; they are proud of their economic progress, proud of their continuously more brilliant social victories and proud of their eminent cultural achievements. They aspire to closer links with them and the English language is the first and most indispensable of these links.

An educated South African Native, Selby Bangani Ngcobo, M.A., B. Econ., has said that the progress of Negroes in the United States was being closely observed by the Bantu patriot, who regarded it as proof that it was possible for a people of African origin to reach the highest levels of civilization in a relatively short time (La Nation sud-africaine, Collection "Profil des Nations," Editions du Rocher, Monaco, p. 69).

In the Commission's opinion this situation--in which the emotions of the century and the great currents of world thought penetrate the most tightly closed frontiers, while the non-Europeans of South Africa are aware that they are denied the opportunities, progress and the rights that, at least in principle, are held to be the due of all human beings in other African territories and in other continents--such a situation has distressing implications for the future. Its effect is to stir up latent discontent and to prompt painful and irritating comparisons; in short, it adds to interracial tension.

311. The Commission considers that a solution of the problems arising out of the relationships between the White minority and the Bantu majority should be sought in more and more frequent interracial contacts, conferences and round-table discussions between men of good will, White and non-White.

The Commission is becoming more and more deeply convinced, however, that these inter-governmental or inter-group contacts should take place in the presence of proper and very high-ranking representatives of the United Nations (the President or Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly, the Presidents of the Security Council, of the Economic and Social Council, of the Trusteeship Council, the Secretary-General, or their qualified representatives) so that the principles of the Charter and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be effectively represented at the discussion and planning of solutions.

In these days, the United Nations is bringing its influence to bear--with difficulty perhaps, even laboriously, but nevertheless effectively--to secure the cessation of conflicts and a reconciliation between nations which are at odds. Some day--and it is hoped that the day will come soon--this influence will be regarded as necessary to facilitate the settlement of "threatening racial conflicts or deteriorating colonial disputes" (A/2719, para. 355).

312. The Commission draws the General Assembly's attention once again to a suggestion made in its second report (A/2719, para. 384) entitled "Suggestion III. Possible assistance by the United Nations", namely that the United Nations should offer its co-operation to the Union of South Africa including, as special technical assistance, the intellectual and material resources which the United Nations and the specialized agencies can command, for the purpose of promoting international studies and contacts and carrying out economic and social measures conducive to a peaceful settlement of the racial tension in the Union in the spirit of the Charter and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In its previous report the Commission offered this suggestions quite explicitly but at the same time very discreetly and cautiously. It would be extremely gratified if a discussion on this suggestion were to be held in the General Assembly.

The Commission realizes that this proposal may come as a surprise. The Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, in the rules which they have drawn up for technical assistance, have stipulated that every assistance project must be preceded by a specific application from the Member State concerned. These rules, undoubtedly wise in most cases, were drawn up by the United Nations itself; accordingly, if it so desires, it can certainly make changes or variations therein or permit exceptions thereto, as circumstances or particular cases may require.

There is no reason why the United Nations should not decide that it is itself prepared to offer assistance to a Member State which is experiencing difficulties threatening both the stability of its national life and the continuance of its peaceful relations with outside communities.

The Union of South Africa cannot of course be likened in any respect to an under-developed country like those for which technical assistance is intended within the limited meaning of the term as now interpreted in the United Nations. The Union of South Africa is a country whose natural resources, and the enterprising spirit of whose leading minority, guarantee growing economic prosperity; but the authorities of the Union are faced, in their relations with a Native majority indispensable to the very life of the nation and an integral part of its structure, by social problems of such magnitude and scope that the disinterested assistance of the international community is undeniably justified by the principles of solidarity which the assembled peoples have incorporated in the Charter.

Nor does the Commission fail to appreciate that such assistance projects, if agreed upon, would have little chance of immediate acceptance by the Government of the Union of South Africa. But the fact that such assistance, in its general lines, would be planned by United Nations experts; the assurance that the offer of such assistance would always be open to any Government of the Union disposed to accept it; and the very existence of such projects--all these would certainly have a beneficial (even though long-range) effect on the development of the situation in South Africa.

Such an offer of assistance and good offices on the part of the United Nations would clearly have much to commend it: first, the most diverse circles are becoming more and more convinced that hardly any national problem is without its international implications and repercussions, which means that every such problem concerns the bodies set up by man to further peace and social progress. It is also coming to be realized that the problems of South Africa are among those whose international implications are most obvious.

Secondly, an atmosphere of détente and international co-operation, particularly noticeable now at Geneva [at the time of the Commission's session] has spread throughout the world after the Four-Power Conference and makes it incumbent on all Governments and international agencies to do everything in their power and to use all their imagination to settle all disputes.

It seems to us impossible that the Government of the Union of South Africa can remain for ever deaf to the appeal and to the generous and disinterested offers of good offices tendered by all mankind in its earnest desire to promote the implementation of the principles of the Charter and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.⁽¹⁵⁾

313. Lastly, a new development has occurred this year which would justify, if justification were needed, such an offer of assistance by the United Nations to the Union of South Africa. It was with deep satisfaction that our Commission noted that another United Nations Commission, the Commission on Human Rights--an inter-governmental body--adopted a resolution of considerable implications, with great boldness of thought and in equally forceful language, giving universal application to the principle of United Nations technical assistance for the promotion of human rights. We had formulated this same principle last year in our own report, within the limitations of our terms of reference. By adopting this resolution, the Commission on Human Rights has opened to the United Nations a new field of action for the promotion of human rights, the possibilities of which are immense but the effectiveness of which will depend on the willingness of the United Nations to take practical steps.

The suggestions we made last year in our report are so obviously allied to the resolution of the Commission on Human Rights that we feel we should reproduce the gist of the resolution as adopted by the Economic and Social Council at its twentieth session (resolution 586 (XX)), together with the paragraph of our previous report containing our proposals which are still valid in respect of the Union of South Africa (A/2719, para. 384).

"The Economic and Social Council,

"Recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft resolution:

"The General Assembly,

"Considering that by Articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter the States Members of the United Nations have pledged themselves to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.

"Recognizing that technical assistance, by the international interchange of technical knowledge through international co-operation among countries, represents one of the means by which it is possible to promote the human rights objectives of the United Nations as set forth in the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

"...

"Taking note of resolution 730 (VIII) of the General Assembly authorizing the Secretary-General to render, at the request of any Member State, technical advice and other services which do not fall within the scope of existing technical assistance programmes, in order to assist the Government of that State within its territory in the eradication of discrimination or in the protection of minorities, or both,

"...

"1. Decides to consolidate the technical assistance programmes already approved by the General Assembly (relating to the promotion and safeguarding of the rights of women, the eradication of discrimination and protection of minorities, and the promotion of freedom of information) with the broad programme of assistance in the field of human rights proposed in this resolution, the entire programme to be known as 'Advisory services in the field of human rights';

"2. Authorizes the Secretary-General:

"(a) Subject to the directions of the Economic and Social Council, to make provision at the request of Governments, and with the co-operation of the specialized agencies where appropriate and without duplication of their existing activities, for the following forms of assistance with respect to the field of human rights:

(i) Advisory services of experts;

(ii) Fellowships and scholarships;

(iii) Seminars;

"(b) To take the programme authorized by this resolution into account in preparing the budgetary estimates of the United Nations."

"384. Should the General Assembly take the view that all or part of the programme outlined above could provide a provisional basis for possible co-operation with the Government of the Union of South Africa, the Commission would suggest that an offer might be made to that Government to set up at its request a committee of technical experts specializing in the planning of economic and social development, particularly in multi-racial societies, who might be asked to catalogue all the various forms of assistance which the United Nations and the specialized agencies can supply. Such a proposal might doubtless strike many persons as incompatible with the timidity or caution usually associated with international operations. But while caution may be justified, timidity is not. It should be borne in mind that similar action and on an extensive scale has been taken by the United Nations in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of countries after they had suffered the consequences of a dispute; why then should it hesitate to take such action when it involves the preventing of a threatened dispute? The latter is the type of situation with which the international community is confronted in South Africa.

...

It is to be hoped that this resolution of the Commission on Human Rights, which has already been approved by the Economic and Social Council, will be accepted by the General Assembly and be more than a pious wish, more than a well-meaning--but completely ineffectual--token of good intentions.

The Union of South Africa, it seems to us, might be a field where this resolution could be applied. That is why we think it our duty to reaffirm here that this possibility for United Nations action could and, in our view, should be used. The only difference between our suggestions and the resolution adopted by the Commission on Human Rights is this: in our suggestions technical help is offered by the United Nations; in the resolution such help is to be requested by the Government concerned. We have already indicated why and how the United nations can remove this minor difficulty created by the Organization's own procedures.

In any case, it is our firm belief that if the United Nations were to adopt the principle embodied in our suggestions, were to enter resolutely upon the course of action recommended by the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council, and were to decide, with all the caution that wisdom dictates and after making all the prerequisite studies, to undertake this new kind of technical assistance, it would be opening in the field of its supreme responsibilities new, unexplored channels for United Nations activity; it would be a decision to discharge one of the most noble tasks entrusted to the United Nations by the Charter of the peoples, that of dealing with racial tensions and finding peaceful solutions in keeping with the high purpose of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to safeguard the dignity of man.

314. The deeper one delves into the human problems of South Africa the more strongly one gains the conviction that the situation in that country is historically and sociologically unique.

The situation may be summed up as that of a colony without a mother country, and hence very different from the situation in most colonial countries. In the latter the White minority becomes conscious again of the fact that it is a majority and powerful when it considers itself in association and identifies itself with the mother country. This association and this solidarity with the mother country give the White element a feeling of security with which to face the course of events and relieve it of the anxieties that cloud a minority's view of an uncertain future.

That was still the position of the descendants of the English or Scottish settlers in South Africa under the Botha, Hertzog and Smuts Governments, and so it remained, with some modifications of course, after the Nationalist Government's advent to power in 1948. The Union's membership of the British Commonwealth reassures them and gives them a sense of security. Should circumstances in South Africa deteriorate beyond repair, they have the comforting feeling that they could withdraw to the old country with which they have kept very strong sentimental ties.

The Afrikaners have no similar consolation. They are, among the White minority, the majority at present in power; they feel isolated, they feel no solidarity with a distant mother country and they are confronted with a growing majority of Negroes and Coloureds. This no doubt explains, at least partly, some reactions of the leaders of the Union of South Africa.

The Commission takes the view that this isolation (which it realizes and which, it knows, is such a great strain that the White minority is often on the point of faltering under the burden and takes refuge in questionable gestures) ought to influence the Union to seek the solidarity which the United Nations endeavours to create among its Members. What is meant here is not, of course, racial solidarity but that human solidarity which transcends the ties that history, geography, tradition and biological appearances have forged between man and man. We mean a solidarity which is based on a common striving towards justice and social progress according to common and generally accepted principles, a solidarity which should become daily more intimate, more urgent and more effective. This solidarity, in which the Union of South Africa may share actively, if it so desires, and from which it may derive great benefit progressively, will become, because of its material strength and moral authority, the most effective guarantee of the security so anxiously sought by minorities such as the White minority in South Africa against the threats which, rightly or wrongly, they discern in the future.

Surely this is the basis for the solutions to the problems of the future, not solutions gratifying the vain and dangerous aspirations of some threatened and sensitive national prestige but, we think the only solutions which offer any chance of success and peace in the treatment of racial disputes as in the conduct of colonial conversations.

Accordingly we sincerely hope and wish that the Union of South Africa may reconsider its policy towards the United Nations and enter into close and extensive co-operation with the Organization in the various fields where this co-operation is possible, and in particular that it may accept, in a spirit of solidarity, the numerous and varied forms of help and assistance which the United Nations can offer to it in the treatment of the Union's problems.

This hope is strengthened by a perusal of recent issues of the newspaper Die Transvaler, hitherto regarded as the bulwark of South African isolationism. The Commission cannot think of more fitting words with which to close this report than those used in an editorial which appeared in that newspaper and which said:

"The factor which in the past so powerfully contributed to the formation of Afrikanerdom may prove to be fatal in the future: this factor is isolation."⁽¹⁶⁾

To this opinion the Commission subscribes wholeheartedly.

Document 12

Appeal by leaders of the African National Congress, the South African Indian Congress and the Liberal Party of South Africa for a boycott of South African produce by the British people.

December 1959

In May, 1960, the Union of South Africa will be 50 years old. The Government is preparing to celebrate this jubilee with great enthusiasm, but most South Africans see no cause for celebration. During this 50 years Non-White South Africans have almost completely lost their rights to be represented in Parliament, their right to take any job for which they are fitted, their right to hold land in freehold; their school education is now to be of a specific kind, the open universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand are to be closed to them, they cannot move about freely within the country of their birth. At the same time these White South Africans who believed in these rights and freedoms have seen them destroyed one by one.

"What has been the response of Non-White South Africans to these attacks on them? They have sent deputations and submitted petitions to the authorities and they have tried to influence the course of events through their meager Parliamentary representation. When these approaches were unsuccessful they turned to passive resistance and then boycott. They have consistently forsworn violence and pledged themselves to non-violence. But with trade unions frowned upon, strikes illegal and their buying power limited, Non-White South Africans face real problems in mounting sufficiently effective internal pressures to be able to influence the South African Government. They look for assistance abroad and particularly to the people of Britain, by whose Parliament the original Act of Union was approved.

Next year it is proposed to conduct a limited boycott of South African produce in Britain for a period of one month. The boycott is a protest against apartheid, the removal of political rights, the colour bar in industry, the extension of passes to African women and the low wages paid to Non-White workers. In the towns and cities of South Africa over half the African families live below the breadline.

It has been argued that Non-White people will be the first to be hit by external boycotts. This may be so, but every organization which commands any important Non-White support in South Africa is in favour of them. The alternative to the use of these weapons is the continuation of the status quo and a bleak prospect of unending discrimination. Economic boycott is one way in which the world at large can bring home to the South African authorities that they must either mend their ways or suffer for them.

This appeal is therefore directed to the people of Great Britain to strike a blow for freedom and justice in South Africa and for those whom the state would keep in continuing subjection in the Union. If this boycott makes the South African authorities realise that the world outside will actively oppose apartheid it will have struck that blow for freedom and justice in our country."

The statement is signed by:

Sgt. Albert J. Luthuli
President-General, African National Congress
Groutville Mission,
P.C. Groutville,
Natal, South Africa.

Sgt. G. M. Naicker
President, South African Indian Congress

Sgt. Peter Brown
National Chairman, Liberal Party of South Africa.

Document 13

Letter dated 25 March 1960 from the representatives of Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Ethiopia, Federation of Malaya, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Republic and Yemen to the President of the Security Council requesting consideration of the situation in South Africa (after the shooting of peaceful demonstrators at Sharpeville).

S/4279 and Add.1, 25 March 1960

Under instructions from our Governments and in accordance with Article 35, paragraph (1) of the United Nations Charter, we save the honour to request an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider the situation arising out of the large-scale killings of unarmed and peaceful demonstrators against racial discrimination and segregation in the Union of South Africa. We consider that this is a situation with grave potentialities for international friction, which endangers the maintenance of international peace and security.

The representatives of the following States Members of the United Nations:

(signed) A.R. PAZHWAK (Afghanistan)

U. THANT (Burma)

Caimerom MEASKETH (Cambodia)

Alfred EDWARD (Ceylon)

Tesfaye GEBRE-EGZY (Ethiopia)

Dato' Nik Ahmed KAMIL (Federation of Malaya)

Alex QUAISON-SACKEY (Ghana)

CABA Sory (Guinea)

C.S. JHA (India)

E.J. LAPIAN (Indonesia)

M. VAKIL (Iran)

Adnan PACHACHI (Iraq)

Koto MATSUDAIRA (Japan)

A.M. RIFA'I (Jordan)

Thephathay VILAIHONGS (Laos)

Georges HAKIM (Lebanon)

John COX (Liberia)

Mohieddine FEKINI (Libya)

El Mehdi Ben ABOUD (Morocco)

Rishikesh SHAHA (Nepal)

Aly S. KHAN (Pakistan)

L. D. CAYCO (Philippines)

Jamil M. BARODDY (Saudi Arabia)

Omar ADEEL (Sudan)

Jotisi DEVAKUL (Thailand)

Mongi SLIM (Tunisia)

Seyfullah ESIN (Turkey)

Rafik ASHA (United Arab Republic)

Kamil A. RAHIM (Yemen)

Document 14

Security Council resolution: Question relating to the situation in the Union of South Africa.

S/RES/134 (1960), 1 April 1960

The Security Council,

Having considered the complaint of twenty-nine Member States contained in document S/4279 and Add.1 concerning "the situation arising out of the large-scale killings of unarmed and peaceful demonstrators against racial discrimination and segregation in the Union of South Africa",

Recognizing that such a situation has been brought about by the racial policies of the Government of the Union of South Africa and the continued disregard by that Government of the resolutions of the General Assembly calling upon it to revise its policies and bring them into conformity with its obligations and responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations,

Taking into account the strong feelings and grave concern aroused among Governments and peoples of the world by the happenings in the Union of South Africa,

1. Recognizes that the situation in the Union of South Africa is one that has led to international friction and if continued might endanger international peace and security;

2. Deplores that the recent disturbances in the Union of South Africa should have led to the loss of life of so many Africans and extends to the families of the victims its deepest sympathies;

3. Deplores the policies and actions of the Government of the Union of South Africa which have given rise to the present situation;

4. Calls upon the Government of the Union of South Africa to initiate measures aimed at bringing about racial harmony based on equality in order to ensure that the present situation does not continue or recur, and to abandon its policies of apartheid and racial discrimination;

5. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Government of the Union of South Africa, to make such arrangements as would adequately help in upholding the purposes and principles of the Charter and to report to the Security Council whenever necessary and appropriate.

Document 15

Resolution adopted by the Second Conference of Independent African States.

24 June 1960

The Conference of Independent African States meeting in Addis Ababa,

Having learned with indignation of the death of many African political leaders in the prisons of the Union of South Africa, thus adding to the already long list of victims of the shameful policy of racial discrimination;

Recalling resolution No. 1375 (XIV), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, condemning the policy of apartheid and racial discrimination practised by the Government of the Union of South Africa;

Recalling further the Security Council's Resolution of April 1, 1960, recognizing the existence of a situation in South Africa which, if continued, might endanger international peace and security;

Reaffirming the declaration of Bandung and the resolutions adopted by the United Nations, the Government of the Union of South Africa still persists in its evil policy of apartheid and racial discrimination;

1. Desires to pay homage to all victims of the shameful policy of apartheid and racial discrimination;

2. Decides to assist the victims of racial discrimination and furnish them with all the means necessary to attain their political objectives of liberty and democracy;

3. Calls upon Member States to sever diplomatic relations or refrain from establishing diplomatic relations, as the case may be, to close African ports to all vessels flying the South African flag, to enact legislation prohibiting their ships from entering South African ports, to boycott all South African goods, to refuse landing and passage facilities to all aircraft belonging to the Government and companies registered under the laws of the Union of South Africa and to prohibit all South African aircraft from flying over the airspace of the Independent African States;

4. Invites the Arab States to approach all petroleum companies with a view to preventing Arab oil from being sold to the Union of South Africa and recommends that the African States refuse any concession to any company which continues to sell petroleum to the Union of South Africa;

5. Invites the Independent African States which are members of the British Commonwealth to take all possible steps to secure the exclusion of the Union of South Africa from the British Commonwealth;

6. Recommends that appropriate measures be taken by the United Nations in accordance with Article 41 of the Charter;

7. Appeals to world public opinion to persevere in the effort to put an end to the terrible situation caused by apartheid and racial discrimination;

8. Decides to instruct the Informal Permanent Machinery to take all steps necessary to secure that effect shall be given to the above recommendations and to furnish full information on cases of racial discrimination in the Union of South Africa, so that the outside world may be correctly informed about such practices.

Document 16

Telegram from Mr. W.B. Ngakane, on behalf of the Consultative Committee of African leaders (Johannesburg, 16-17 December 1960) to the Secretary-General.

United Nations Archives, 16-17 December 1960

The Secretary-General
The United Nations Organisation
New York

Conference of African leaders welcomes Security Council Resolution on South Africa and proposed visit of Secretary-General, firmly urge get true picture of South Africa by meeting African leaders.

Pondoland situation alarming. Military operations against unarmed Africans. Recommend UNO send commission of observers.

Support demand South West African people for independence. Nationalist government no moral nor legal right to rule.

Document 17

Report of the Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold, on certain steps taken in regard to the implementation of Security Council resolution 134 (1960) including his visit to South Africa.

S/4635, 23 January 1961

1. By the resolution which the Security Council adopted on 1 April 1960, it requested the Secretary-General in consultation with the Government of the Union of South Africa, "to make such arrangements as would adequately help in upholding the purposes and principles of the Charter and to report to the Security Council whenever necessary and appropriate".

2. In his interim report of 19 April 1960, the Secretary-General informed the Security Council that after an exchange of communications between the Minister of External Affairs of the Union of South Africa himself, through the Permanent Representative of the Union Government, he had accepted a proposal of the Union Government that preliminary consultations between the Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs and himself should be held in London after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, probably in early May 1960.

3. It will be recalled that paragraph 5 of the interim report stated that:

"The consultations rendered necessary by the provisions of paragraph 5 of the Security Council's resolution of 1 April 1960 will be undertaken on the basis of the authority of the Secretary-General under the Charter. It is agreed between the Government of the Union of South Africa and myself that consent of the Union Government to discuss the Security Council's resolution with the Secretary-General would not require prior recognition from the Union Government of the United Nations authority."

4. In his second interim report of 11 October 1960, the Secretary-General informed the Security Council that during the preliminary discussions which took place in London on 13 and 14 May 1960 between the Secretary-General and the Minister of External Affairs of the Union of South Africa, it was agreed that the basis for future discussions would flow from paragraph 5 of the first interim report and that agreement had also been reached character and course of the further consultations to take place in Pretoria. It was also stated that "during the contemplated visit to the Union of South Africa, while consultation throughout would be with the Union Government, no restrictive rules were to be imposed on the Secretary-General".

5. In paragraphs 5 and 6 of the second interim report, the Secretary-General explained that:

"Due to circumstances resulting from the mandate given to me by the Security Council by resolutions S/4387, S/4405 and S/4426 dated 14 and 22 July and 9 August 1960 in connexion with the United Nations operation in the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville), I have been unable to visit the Union of South Africa as envisaged in the interim report. On four occasions, precise plans were made for the visit but on each occasion it became necessary first to postpone, then to cancel those plans owing to developments in the Republic of the Congo.

"During a meeting at Headquarters with the Minister of External Affairs of the Union of South Africa on 28 September 1960, a new invitation was extended to me by the Prime Minister of the Union Government to visit the Union early in January 1961."

6. It will be recalled that I stated in the same report that it would be my hope to arrange for the visit at the time suggested for the purpose of the requested consultations with the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa and that it would be my intention to explore with the Prime Minister the possibility of arrangements which would provide for appropriate safeguards of human rights, with adequate contact with the United Nations.

7. Accordingly I visited the Union of South Africa between 6 and 12 January 1961. It had been my plan to stay two additional days, but due to the convening of the Security Council on a question relating to the mandate given to me by the Council, I felt it necessary to hold myself available to members of the Council when the United Nations operation in the Republic of the Congo was being discussed.

8. While in the Union of South Africa, consultations took place between the Secretary-General and the Prime Minster of the Union at six meetings on 6, 7, 10 and 11 January 1961. In Cape Town, Umtata (Transkei), Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Secretary-General had opportunities to have unofficial contacts with members of various sections of the South African community.

9. Having regard to paragraph 5 of Security Council resolution S/4300, the Secretary-General wishes to state that during the discussions between the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa so far no mutually acceptable arrangement has been found. In the view of the Secretary-General this lack of agreement is not conclusive and he wishes to give the matter his further consideration.

10. The exchange of views in general has served a most useful purpose. The Secretary-General does not consider the consultations as having come to an end, and he looks forward to their continuation at an appropriate time with a view to further efforts from his side to find an adequate solution for the aforementioned problem.

11. The Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa has indicated that further consideration will be given to questions raised in the course of the talks and has stated that "the Union Government, having found the talks with the Secretary-General useful and constructive, have decided to invite him at an appropriate time, or times, to visit the Union again in order that the present contact may be continued."

Document 18

Statement by Mr. Peter Smithers, representative of the United Kingdom, to the Special Committee against Apartheid

A/SPC/SR.242, 5 April 1961

...

Mr. Smithers (United Kingdom) said that his delegation had not participated in the general debate, since its views on the general issue were well known. The policies of the United Kingdom Government, both in its former African territories which were now independent and in those progressing rapidly towards independence, proved more eloquently than words the gulf separating those policies from the system of apartheid practised in the Union of South Africa.

His delegation had always attached the greatest importance to the observance of Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter, which assured Member States, especially those which found themselves in a minority, of reasonable immunity from interference in their internal affairs. Some representatives maintained that the General Assembly had established the fact that Article 2, paragraph 7, did not apply to the question of apartheid; but that would mean that the General Assembly could amend the Charter. The paragraph was an indispensable part of the Charter, and it was in the interest of all Member States to abide by it. However, the question of apartheid was unique in that it involved the deliberate adoption, retention and development of policies based entirely on racial discrimination. Moreover, those policies were directed amongst and against the permanent inhabitants of the territory concerned. The problem caused grave international repercussions, in Africa mainly, but also in other continents, as events at the recent Commonwealth Conference had shown. While the importance attached by the United Kingdom to Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter remained undiminished, it regarded apartheid as being now so exceptional as to be sui generis, and his delegation felt able to consider the three-Power draft resolution (A/SPC/L.59/Rev.1) on its merits.

There was a serious reservation to be made in connexion with operative paragraph 5. It was true that the policies of the Union Government had led to international friction, but his delegation could not agree that, at present at least, they endangered international peace and security. There was some danger that such phrases might become a kind of standard incantation introduced, almost as a matter of routine, into General Assembly resolutions. Hence it was not desirable for the words "and that their continuance endangers international peace and security" to form part of the resolution, and in a separate vote on those words his delegation would abstain.

Apartheid was an essay in folly. It was, however, easier to recognize folly than to find wisdom and to prescribe it for others. As the Defence Minister of India had pointed out (241st meeting), one State had no right to prescribe what other should do. The word "collective" in operative paragraph 3 might give rise to considerable difficulties, and his delegation would therefore abstain on that paragraph. With those two exceptions, his delegation would vote in favour of the three-Power draft resolution.

The draft resolution (A/SPC/L.60/Corr.1) purported to advise States the course of action they should take, and he shared the misgivings expressed by the Defence Minister of India concerning operative paragraph 5. It might be argued that the use of the word "consider" in the first line left States free to do as they pleased, but the operative word was "recommends". It was inconceivable that any delegation voting in favour of such a recommendation should not be prepared itself to implement it, and such delegations would, in fact, be committing their Governments to breaking off diplomatic relations with the Union Government and imposing economic sanctions.

To break off diplomatic relations was a perfectly legal and proper procedure, but the question was whether it would have the desired effect. The establishment of diplomatic relations was not a kind of prize conferred on Governments whose policies a country approved or tolerated. Its purpose was not to pay a compliment to a Government, but to secure certain conveniences. The first task of a diplomatic mission was to supply its own Government with accurate information and wise advice concerning the country and Government to which it was accredited, and without such information and advice it would be difficult to form a policy. Its second duty was to carry out the instructions of its own Government and to seek to influence the Government to which it was accredited. It would be ludicrous to sacrifice one of the few remaining means of influencing the Union Government when the avowed intent of the co-sponsors was to influence that Government.

Regarding the imposition of economic sanctions, it had been pointed out that such punitive measures were unprecedented in the history of the United Nations. It was true that the Committee was dealing with an unprecedented problem, but Member States might one day face similar action in other circumstances. Such measures would certainly do most harm to those whom the Committee wished to help; many people in South Africa and other countries would be thrown out of work. It was easy to sneer at the power of "commercial interests", but in the free world these meant the jobs of ordinary men and women. To add to the sum of human misery in many lands could be justified only if it were likely to achieve the desired end, but such action would make a change in the policies of the Union Government less, rather than more, probable. Past experience showed that such action greatly strengthened the position of a Government; it would cause many patriotic South Africans who opposed the policies of apartheid to rally to the support of the Government. There were many moderate and liberal-minded white people in South Africa, and economic sanctions would have an adverse effect on their prospects, which appeared to be increasing at present, of bringing about a change in their Government's policies. No boycott in the past had ever attained its object, and surely no delegation really expected that the draft resolution would achieve what had never been achieved before; on the contrary, it would bring the United Nations into ridicule and contempt.

The representative of the Ukrainian SSR had made great play at the 241st meeting with the economic interests of the United Kingdom in South Africa. The United Kingdom thought it desirable to make investments and develop industries in other countries, and it welcomed similar activities by others in the United Kingdom. The promotion of international trade improved relations between countries; he had the impression that the Government of the Soviet Union took the same view, and was sorry that the outlook of the Ukrainian SSR was so reactionary.

He urged the co-sponsors of the draft resolution (A/SPC/L.60/Corr.1) to turn back from the dangerous course on which they had em