A/38/PV.71 General Assembly

The problem pos~ by the apartheid policy of the Government of South Africa is certainly one of the oldest confronting the United Nations. It has been examined and discussed bythe General Assembly for more than 30 years and by the SecuPty Council for more than 20. Numerous resohl'ltions and decisions have been adopted to try to put an end to the odious crimes of the apartheid regime. 42. Despite unanimous condemnation by the intema- . tional community, however, apartheid, which is a crime against humanity, continues to constitute the major challenge of our time to human dignity, to the Charter of the United Nations and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following its initial examination of this probl~m, the Security Council recognized, in its resolution 134 (1960) of 1Aprlll960, that the apartheid regime endangered international peace and security. 45. With the same aim of concealing its persistent policy of apartheid, the Pretoria regime, on 2 November last~ had constitutional changes adopted by the exclusively white electorate. These so-called constitutional proposals are aimed primarily at dividing the black population from the Coloureds and the Indians in order further to strengthen the apartheid regime. Ten days ago, on 15 November. the General Assembly adopted, by a very large majority,·without a single negative vote, resolution 38/11, in which it condemned and rejected this new racist constitution. 46. The heinous crimes of apartheid go beyond the br'l"ders ofSouth Africa. To maintain its oppression and exploitation of the black majority, the racist regime has set up a military and police force not only to repress all internal opposition but also to occupy Namibia illegally and to attack, invade or even attempt to overthrow any African State which, in conformity with United Nations resclutions, supports and assists the South African people in its struggle. This year many attacks, aggressions and invasions against Lesotho and other neighbouring African countries took place. To this may be added economic and other types of pressure exerted by Pretoria against those countries. We firmly condemn those acts, which are a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law and are a serious threat to the peace and security of this atgion ofsouthurn Africa and of the world. 47. Confronted with this inhuman policy ofapartheid, which is a deliberate and shameless affront to the conscience and dignity of the human being, the oppressed people of South Africa have no other choice than to continue its rightful struggle, using every possible me~~ <:, to eliminate this policy -of apartheid and to achie\'~ " democre.tic society without distinction as to race, colour or bttief. It is very significant that, in addition to the South African blacks, there are very many Goloureds and persons of Asian origin, and even whites, who have "n~~':')i';~ted settlement" based on the bantustans structlLoe will open the way to a solution of the problem in southern Africa, because, as stated in resolution 38/11, ~urityCouncil and countless institutions, organizations and eminent persons throughout the world and murdered the three patriots, martyrs of the freedom struggle in Africa. 68. Apartheid, this crime against humanity, as it has been declared to be by the United Nations, has likewise been repudiated by various international organizations. 69. In the Political Declaration adopted at the Seventh Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non- Aligned Countries, held in New Delhi from 7 to 12 March 1983 [seeA/38/132 and Corr.1 and2, annex, sect.l), the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries decided to maintain and intensify it3 joint efforts in support of the struggle for self-dp-termination of the peoples of southern Mrica; urg~ Governments and intev".'ltionaI organizations to put an end ~o their contacts witll South Africa; appealed to the specialized agencies ofthe United Nations and to the IMF to stop all assistance to the Pretoria regime; called upon the member countrbs ef the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and the international community in general to increase their assistance te' "'he liberation movements recognized by the Organizati~,~ of Mrican Unity [OAU) and to prevent their nationals from swelling the ranks of mercenaries helping the South African regime; and asked the world community to gi¥e the greatest possible support to the front-line States and other neighbouring countries that are the object of reprisals by the South African racists for supporting the independence struggle of the peoples of Namibia and South Africa. 70. The New Delhi Conference analysed the situation in southern Africa and stated: "Developments in the sout!l"m part of Africa show that apartheid, racial dis~ationand colonial tyranny continue to resist the forces ofchange. The struggle ofthe peoples ofsouthernMrica for self-determinrJion is an integral part of the wider struggle of the pHople of the world against all forms ofoppression, exploitation, domination, inequality and discrimination." [Ibid., para. 39.J 72. Likewise, they persist in creating bantustans, settling the black population in the most arid and impoverished lands, which ineffect robs them oftheir citizenship. There is constant repression of the workers, fundamental rights are violated, systematic murder goes on in the prisons, and other forms of oppression are practised, including the so-called constitutional proposals and other devices meant to deceive the gullible. Mr. Il/ueca (Panama) took the Chair. 73. Pretoria's aggressive policy can be s~n in its illegal occupation of part of the sovereign territory of Angola and in the innocent victims and great damage caused to the economies of Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia by its attempt to destabilize and overthrow the Governments of those countries-not to mention the aborted coup d'etat in the Seychelles. 74. The situation in Namibia, which will shortly be examined by the General Assembly, clearly shows the Pretoria regime's course of action. Despite the decisions of the United Nations, South Africa maintains its illegal occupation of the Territory of Namibia and the exploitation of its natural resources, trying to postpone indefinitely Namibia's accession to independence by linking it to questions totally alien to that matter, such as the presence of Cuban troops in Angola. 75. TNs attitude by South Africa, under the protection ofits Western supporters, is not an isolated instance but an inseparable part of the interventionist and cold-war policy being pursued by imperialism, primarily by the present United States Government, because the same philosophy that led to the slaughters at Sharpeville and Soweto in southern Africa and at Sabra and Shatila in the Middle East governed the recent invasion ofGrenada, and now threatens Nicaragua and the revolutionary forces in Central America. 76. The so-called "constructive engagement"-the euphemism used by the Yankee Government for its unholy alliance with apartheid-together with the economic co-operation of some countries of the West and their transnational corporations with South Africa, in violation ofspecific decisions ofthe United Nations, serve as a cover and give further encouragement to the South African racists. Moreover, the supply of weapons and advanced military technology to South Africa, in flagrant violation of the arms embargo adopted against that country, has enabled South Africa to carry out unprecedented military development, including the creation of a nuclear capacity-which has been described as a dangerous obstacle by the tenth special session of the General Assembly, devoted to disarmament-and the possible installation of missiles in that territory, with obvious danger for the independent States of Africa. 77. The report of the Special Committee against Apartheid offers a detailed and path~ic description of the present situation of the system of apartheid. Its recommendations [see A/38/22, chap. Ill) and its Programme of A~onagainst Apartheid [A/38/539) show us the path that we should take in order· to eradicate this racist excrescence in the southern part of Africa~

I call on the representative of ZID:e to introduce dr:: ~\. resolution A/38/L.29IRev.1. 104. Mr. NGUAYILA MBELA KALANDA (Zaire) (interpretation from French): The question of the restitution of works of art to countries victims of expropriation was examined for the first time by the General Assembly at its twenty-eighth session, in 1973, at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Zaire. 105. At that session, the General Assembly, on 18 December 1973, adopted resolution 3187 (XXVIII), by . which it afilI1lled that the prompt restitution to a country ofits objetsd'art, monuments, museum pieces, manuscripts and documents by another country, without charge, is calculated to strengthen international cooperation inasmuch as it constitutes just reparation for damage done; recc~ed the special obligations in this connection of those countries which tad access to such valuable objects only as a result of colonial or foreign occupation; called upon all the States concerned to prohibit the expropriation of works of art from Territories still under colonial or alien domination; and invited the Secretary-General, in consultation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and, Member States, to submit a report. 106. Since the adoption of that first resolution, the General Assembly has continued to examine this question and to give it the importance it deserves. w~lc({me the co-operation which already exists in this area. 123. It endorses the opinion expressed at the World Conference on Cultural Policies that the return of cultural property to its country of origin should be accompanied by the training of key personnel and technicians and the provision of the necessary facilities for the satisfactory conservation and presentation of the property restored [A/38/456, para. 17]. 124. Finally, the G~neralAssembly once again invites those Member States which have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property; it requests the Secretary-Genecal, in co-operation with the Director-General of UNESCO, to submit to the General Assembly at its fortieth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and it decides to include in the provisional agenda of the fortieth session an item entitled "Return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin". tow~ds the integration of the world's cultural heritage, which is the property of all. 130. Such action will take many forms. UNESCO and the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property tt;· its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation have achieved admirable results that are quite rightly commended in the draft resolution, by promoting bilateral negotiations for the restitution of cultural property, the preparation ofinventories of movable cultural property, the development of infr~--tructuresfor the protection of the latt.;r, the reduction ofillicit traffic in cultural property and the effective dissemination ofinformation to the public. This is a fundamental element in the draft resolution, since the work carried out by the above-mentioned bodies has been of vital importance and has had farreaching repercussions. 131. Similarly, the draft resolution reaffmns the great significance of the restitution to a country of its objets 136~ Mr. ALBORi~OZ(Ecuador)(interpretation/rom Spanish): The restitution of items representing the cultural heritage of a country· to their place of origin is a sign of better understanding bei.ween industrialized 143-:"1 We are all proud of our cultural traditions. The developing countries have considerably improved their 148. The Khmer civilization is one of the great civilizations of Asia and the world, by its splendour, its power and its impact. The monuments of that civilization at the time covered. an area of more than half a million square kilometres. Several dozen of them are of major NOTES 1United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Records ofthe GeneralConference. Sixteenth Session, vol. I, Resolu- tions, p. 135. 2The delegations of Angola and Hungary subsequently informed the Secretariat that they bad intended to vote in favour of the draft resolution.