A/32/PV.66 General Assembly

I request the Rapporteur of the Fifth Committee, Mr. Belyaev of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, to present the five reports in one statement. 2. Mr. BELYAEV (Byelomssian Soviet Socialist Republic), Rapporteur ofthe Fifth Committee (interpretation from Russian): I have the honour, on behalf of the Fifth Committee, to introduce the reports containing the recommendations of the Fifth Committee for consideration and adoption by the General Assembly. 3. The report on agendaItem 98 is contained in document A{32/330. Paragraph 11 of that report contain.s a draft resolution adopted by the Committee without objection. . 4. The report on agenda item 107 fa) refers to the nominations of candidates to fill vacancies on the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions that were considered on 4 November, and is contained in document A/32/291. Paragraph 3 of that report indicater that the Fifth Committee took a unanimous decision to dispense with the secret ballot in view of the fact that there were six candidates for the six vacancies. The Fifth Committee recommends the appointment of five candidates for a three-year term to begin 1 January 1978, and one candidate for a term beginning on 15 November 1977 and ending on 31 December 1978. Those recommendations are contained in paragraph 5 (a) and (b) of the report. th~ Auditor-General of Bangladesh as a member of the Board ofAuditors for a three-year term begiJL~gon 1 July 1978. 6. The report of the Fifth Committee dn agenda item 107 (e), concerning appointments'to the Unit"d Nations Administrative Tribunal, is contained in A/32/295. Paragraph 4 of that report indicates that the Fir"} Committee on 14 October of this year d~cided by acclamation to recommend to the' General Aftsembly the appointment of Mr. Francis T. P. Fllinpton 2nd Sir Roger Bentham Stevens as members of the United Natio!l& Administrative Tribunal for a three-yea~ term beginning on 1 January 1978. The recomm~ndatioi1 of the Committee to that effect is contained in par~~aph5 ofthe report. 7. On agenda item 108, concerning personnel questions, I have the honour to present the report of the Fifth Committee contained in document A/32/314. 8. On item 108 {a), dealing with the composition of the Secretariat, the Committee decided by consensus to recommend to the General Assembly for adoption the two draft" resolutions, A and B, that are contained in paragraph 16 of its report. The representative of the United States declared that he did not associate himself with the consensus on draft resolution A. The repr2sentative of the United Kihgdom stated t..11at, had there been r. vote on that draft l"esolution, his deiegation would have abstained. On draft resolution B. after; th~ Chairman of the Committee had -. announced the consenSlls, the representatives ofthe United States and ,(If the UnUed Kingdom stated that their delegations could not participate in the consensus. 9. The teciommeud8tion of the Committee on item 108 (h), concerning other personnel questions, is contained in paragraph 17 of the report. 10. I hope that the recommendations contained in these five reports ef the Fifth Committee will be adopted by the Gener:n Ar,ge1llbly. Pursuant to rule 66 of the rules of procedure, it was decided not to discuss the reports of the Fifth Committee.

May I now invite merr.bers to tutil to the report of the Fifth Committee on agenda item 98, [A/32/330J. We shall now take a decision on the draft - re30luti~ii f'~cmnmended by the Fifth Committee in para- . graph 11 of its report. Since the Fifth Committee adopted that draft resolution without objection, may I consider that the Gell~ral As~mblywishes to do likr'vise? 12. T~e PRESIDENT: The General Assembly will now consider 0the ieports of the Fifth Committee on subitems (a), (c) and (e) of agenda item 107. The Assembly will now

We turn now to the report on item 107 (c) dealing with a vacancy in the Board ot Auditors [A/32/293/. The recommendation of the Fifth'Committee appesrs in paragraph 5 of its report. May I take it that the Assembly adopts that recommendation? . . The recommendation was ado7Jted (decision 32/309). 15., The PRESIDENT: We come now to the report on item 107 (e) dealing with vacancies in the membership of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal 1;4/321295/. The recommendation of the Fifth Committee appears in paragraph 5 of its report. May I consider that the General Assembly adopts.that recommendation?

I now call on the representative of Colombia, who wishes to speak at this stage.

With regard to agenda item 107 (c), the appointment to fill a vacancy on the Board of Auditors, the Colombian delegation would like to take this opportunity, on behalfof our Government, sincerely to thank the United Nations Secretariat for its consistent and effective co-operation throughout our membership on the Board of Auditors. 18. We would also like to reiterate our warn1 congratulations to the Government of Bangladesh on its election to the Board to replace our country. We wish it success in the task it will assume in July 1978.

I should like to thank the General Assembly for the great honour done to my country and.its Auditor-General by electing him a United Nations auditor. We are overwhelmed by the confidence that has been shown in us and the honour done to us. 20. I should like to take this opportunity to convey to the other United Nations auditors the assurance of our sincerest co-opetation in carrying out our task in the highest traditions ofthe United Nations. 21. I should like also to acknowledge, on behalf of my delegation, the unstinted services rendered by the Auditor- General of Colombia, who tilled the post with such distinctioJl for quite a number of years. Our Auditor- General will look to him for advice and guidance.

We shall now consider the report of . the Fifth Committee on agenda item 108 [A/32/314/. The Assembly will take a decision on the draft resolutions

We come now to draft resolution L. The Committee adopted draft resolution B also by consensus. May I take it that the Assembly decides to do the same'?

I shall now call on repres.~ntatives who wish to explain their position on the resolutioTJs under this item.

I regret that the United States was unable to support draft resolutions A and B in document A/32/314 when they were considered by the Fifth Committee because of references to resolution 31/26. Resolution 31/26 has many good aspects which my delegation can support; however, our position on those elements that we cannot support remains the same.

My delegation did not stand in !re way of a consensus on the two draft resolutions which were recommended by the Fifth Committee to the Assembly in document A/32/314. However, my delegation's position on resolution 31/26 is on record and has not changed. We voted against paragraph 2 of that resolution last yearand abstained in the vote on the res',)lution as a whole, -although. as we made clear atthe time, much of it_had our support. Certain references to resolution 31/26 mthese two resolutions therefore present us with great difficUlty. Accordingly, my delegation would like to put on record that, had there been a vote on the tw() draft resolutions, we would have abstained in the vote on ea~h.

I nQw invite representatives to turn to the recommendation of the Fifth Committee in paragraph 17 of its report in document A/32/314. The Committee adopted the recommendation without objec-:-.- tion. May I take it that the General Assembly wishes to do-_ the same'? .AGENDA ITEM 26 Restitution of works of art to countries victims of expropriation: report of the Secretary-General (concluded)

No one is unaware that a cultural heritage in its broadest sense constitutes the basis on which any nation builds both its present ane! its future; and when -' the General Assembly adopted resolution 3187 (XXVIII), as well as other relevant prior and subsequent resolutions, the international communi_ty wished to express its active , interest in the cultural heritage of nations and the importance of safeguarding it. . ~-- 31. The restitution of"works of art to .counlries victims of expropriation is a matter of concerti to the developing countries, which attach the utmost importance to it, for those countries have suffered under the imperialist yoke in all its fonns, and by the time they threw off tIiat yoke irrevocably imperiaIism had plundered their wOIKs of art, thus gravely enc~oaching -on.their cultural heritage and on their civiIization:We, in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, are still suffering from the harmful conseq1}en~sofcolonialism in regard to oUJ national cultural heritage. Throughout the centuries, Libya expeliencedthe greatest civilizaL"n and the best evidence -Of this 'fact'can be fOund in the historical remains still-, extant, as represented by the cities of archeological interest along the Mediterranean coast and in our desert·and also manuscripts, drawings, museum pieces and works of art. Moreover, coionialism, before leaving Libya's shores-for ever, strove to plunder these remains and to keep theJIl for itself in its ar~heological museums, forgetting·that these obj~cts constitute one_of the aspects of Libya's_renaissance, that they were c.reated on Libyan soil and that they should of ne.cessity birestored to Libya. This should help. us to"aSsess Libya's contribution through- -ouf history ang to draw from it a culture with which we -need to be familiar and of which our present culture ~s but the cQU-tinuation. The Libyan Arab', .Jamahiriya, after carrying outan exhaustive survey of the atftreasures still in its ppssessioIl, discovered that a number of them had been stolen. The people of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya feel grief and regret espeCially when their student sons visit museums abroad and: realize that their cultural heritage is being kept in t.ltose museums-instead of remainingJn their country of origin, where they would be a co~tinuing adornment of Libyan cultural life.-. ,~. .. ' 32. Our P~esident, MuammaI: AI-Qadhafl. spoke of this -problem at the Fourth Conference of Heads of State or - Government of Non-Aligned Countries, held in Algiers in . September 197~, when he said: '-. ''We 'are -speaking about:futperialism and we are suffering the effects ofiffiperialism. That·is·.why we need to mount a battle agamst this plunder of our works of art. We have suffered from irltperialism through the wars which were·unleashed against.our country; that is why a part.of our CJuntry~suff~rec(~mimperialism and why our heritage-our manuscriPts and our works of artfound its way to museums in imperialist countries following the imperialist a.ttack unleashed against our country. Are '!le going tQ remain with our anns folded? Are we go~ng to be~plun~red-again'?" . ,. ~ ~- -.... President A1~a~afi. -aIs_o~entioned this problem at the Fifth Conference_ of Heads of Stateor Government of Non-Aligned Countries; held in Colombo in August 1976, when he said: "The Libyan Arab,Jamahiriya is one of the countries which had suffered grievously in the imperialist epoch. 33. On this subject my country presented to the Colombo Conference a draft resolution reaffmning previous resolutions of the General Assembly and calling on all countries in pOs:iessionof such works ofart to safeguitId them and to restore L;'em promptly to their countries of origin, since that would tend to strengthen international relations. The draft resolution also called upon the UNESCO Committee of Experts to keep under review the restitution ofworks of art to countries victims of expropriation and to adopt without delay adequate measures for the restoration of those works ofart to their countries of origin.l 34. My delegation has taken note of the report of the Secretary-General [A/32/203J, which indicates that certain countries have reacted positively on this question and are giving it their attention. We hope that the General Conference of UNESCO at its next session will be able to appoint a joint intergovernmental committee'to consider ways and means of facilitating bilateral negotiations with a view to the restoration of works of art to their countries of origin, since mIch objects were expropriated dUring the imperialist period. These measures will make it possible to safeguard human rights and human values.

On 4 October 1973, in this Assembly, President Mobutu Sese Seko said:- ~1. Mr. VAN COPPENOLLE (Belgium) (interpretation from French): On behalf of the member countries of the European Community, the Belgian delegation wishes to - recall' that we share the legitimate aspirations of the sponsors of the draft resolution A/32/L.18/Rev.2 on tlte restitution of works of art to countries victims of expropnation. "Among the claims of the under-equipped countries, particularly the former colonial countries, there is a matter of vital importance. This relates to the cultural heritage of our countries. During the colonial period we sl,lffered not only flOm colonialism, slavery, economic exploitation, but also and above all from the barbarous, .systematic pillaging of all our.works of art."2 36. Since that memorable date, the General Assembly has decided to take action with a view to the restitution of those works of art to the countries victims of expropria- 38. -Thus it is easy to understand from the order in which the three requirements I have just cited are given that the cultural requirement is by far the most important, because it is the very basis of a people's sense of itself and consequently the most authentic expression of a nation's desire for independence. Therefore the restitution ofworks of art is an important prerequisite for the implementation of any policy of cultural independence in the developing countries since those works of art are the most basic element of the cultural heritage of our peoples. My delegation, therefore, can only reiterate its support for draft resolution A/32/L.18/Rev.2 now before us, of which it is, indeed, one of the sponsors. We hop~ th.at all the delegations present will support the draft resolution and help the United Nations to implement the decisions contained therein.

There are no further speakers on agenda item 26. The Assembly will now vote on draft resolution A/32/L.18/Rev.2.

I call on the representative of Belgium, who wishes to explain his vote after the vote. 42. Unfortunately, the nine members of the Community were not in a position to vote for the draft resolution for legal reasons. In particular, some member States have not yet ratified the UNESCO Convention of 1970,3 which causes them certain difficulties. It is for that reason that we 3 Conventic,n on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of P11tural Property, adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations F..ducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on 14 November 1970. 43. I should like to add on behalf of Belgium, which has settled this matter by satisfactory bilateral arrangements with Z2ire. that i take pleasure in thanking the Permanent Repre~ntative of Rwanda for the kind words he addressed to m,V country.

My de1.~gation actively and fully participated at every stage in the preparation of dr~ft

We shall now take a decision on draft resolution A/32/L.19 and Add.I. At the thirty-first session of the General Assembly a draft resolution containing similar provisions was adopted without a vote. There is no request for a vote. May I take it that the .~ssembly adopts that draft resolution? The meeting rose at 4.35 p.m.