S/PV.1075 Security Council

Mr. President, 1 am most grateful to you for your kind and generous words to my country and myself in thanking me for our efforts last month. 1 am olily sorry that we were not successful in bringing the itemat present under discussion to a conclusion, but 1 hope that we have set the field for you to be able to finish off the work. Two periods in the Chair would, of course, not only be totally unauthorizedunder the rules, but it would, 1 think, be more than 'flesh and blood could stand and 1 am very glad to relinquish my functions as President into your good and faithful hands. Adoption of the agenda Letter dated 11 July 1963 addressed l'O the President of the Security Council, by the representatives of Algeria, Burundi,Cameroon, CentralAfrican' Repub- lic, Chad, Congo (Brazzavi Ile), Congo (LeopoldviUe), Dahomey, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana,Guinea, Ivory Coost, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauri- tania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone,. Somalia, Sudan, Tanganyika, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Republic and Upper Volta (S/5348): (g) Report by the Secretary-General in pursuance of the resolution adopted by the Security Council at its l056th meeting on 7 August 1963 (S/5438 and' Add.1-5); . (!) Letter dated 23 October 1963 from the repre- sentafives of Algeria, Central African Republic, Ceylan, Congo (Brazzavi Ile), Congo (Leopoldvi Ile), Dahomey, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Ma- laysia, Mali, MaL\dtania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan,Senegal.. Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanganyika, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Republic and Upper Volta addressed to the President ofthe SElcurity Council (S/5444 and Add.1) 4. Thé PRESIDENT: In accordance with the previous deeisionof.tl1e.Council, 1 propose to invite the repre- sellt~tîv~~.ofIJldia., Li1:ler~a, Madagascar, Tunisia and Sierra Leone to takeplaôes at· theCouneil table. 5. Ml'. BENHIMA (Morocco) (translated from French): Exactly a week ago this morning, the people of the United states, joined in their sorrow by the whole world, paid their :Last respects to their late President in a ft'·>~ral ceremony marked with an emotion which F~t{ected not only the esteem and respect in which John Fitzgerald Kennedy was held but also the consternation into which his tragic death plunged aIl those who had placed in him their !lopes for world peace. My delegation associates itself with those which have preceded it in expressing to you, Ml'. President, its condolences and sympathy and asking you to convey them to the Unitedstates Govern- ment, to the late President's family and to the American people. 6. Allow me also, Ml'. President, to offer you my delegation's congratulations on the occasion of your occupancy of the Chair. It is somehow symbolic that our work on this question should be continued under the guidance of the UnitedStates representative. In the present circumstances your presidency has particular value and significance. 6. de il symbole sujet Etats-Unis. présidence particulières. 7. 1 know that it is very unusual for the Security Council to return after such a short time to a problem which it has examined thoroughly and on which it has taken a very clear decision. If, however, we are back here today for a further debate on the apartheid policies of the Republic of South Mrica, it is not to l'aise n~w aspects of the question or to fill a gap in the earlier debates but, unfortunately, to take note once again of the fact that the Pretoria Government i5 scornfully and insolently defying both the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of United Nations organs. 7. rité qu'il duquel revenons la sud-africaine. nouveaux de fisance malheureusement. le de résolutions mépris 8. In letters sent to the Secretary-General on 19 September and 11 October 1963 [see S/5438] in reply to his communication of 19 August 1963, the Govern- ment of the Republic of South Africa denies the com- petence of the United Nations in the matter, accuses the $ecurity Council of violating the Charter and does not scruple to plead the right of self-defence in justi- ficâtion of its policies of repression and its arms build-up. 8. octobre général 1963. s'élevant Nations seil thèse tique ment. 9. cette cain reElte,cette commentaire, du 10. République· dans il dénier et exprimer de 11. t-il.par l'Organisation tenir 9. In the letter of 11 Clctober 1 note the following se~tence in particular:"The South African Govern- ment'sattitude has orten been stated ,and is weIl ~QWIl." This sentenc~" '1 would. point out, although jfis.'followed by a long commentary,constitute~ the ~()leof the South Mrican Government's reply. l.Q"J3Y adoptiIig suchan attitude, the Government'of thfilRepublic of South Africa makes clear its intention topersist in itspolicy of racial discrimination, to cC)ntinue to deny our' Organization's obligation to ~l1tervene, and to express its disregardforthe resolu- tions of the Security Couricil and the GeneralAssernbly. U. The Pretoria Government is doubtless hoping, by its .consistently,negative stand,. to reduce the United '.Nations to cOrnplete impotence and to keep world ,'censureat the stage of a mere symbolic demonstration. 12. 'While considering the actual situation in South Africa and·the living conditions of the Mrican popula- tion, we should also bear in mind the signifîcance of the South African ,Government's intransigent attitude towards the United Nations itself. The developmentof the South African ideology and the conduct of the Pretoria Governmetlt at the international level have been too often compared with tb?- evolution of the Nazi régime, both in Germany and i ..... its relations ,vith the international organtiations of the period, for us notto he aware of the similarities in the two cases and the possible identity of the dangers, which are this time more foreseeable and less justifiable. 13. When the National Party of South Africa came into power in 1948 and Dr. Malan began to define the doctrine of racial segregation and to codify it in positive law, even the most wary interpreted Mûs merely as the formulation of a programme for taking power and keeping it, or the expression of the ideas of 'anextremist, ideas which woald soon spend their force. 14. Today, Dr. Verwoerqis proelaiminghimself the disciple of Dr. Malan and is goingbackto his sources. In the intervening years, a wholegeneration, among the white minority, has made their doctrine a creed and an article of faith. Between then and now, 13 millioh ,Mricans ha'Je been permanently subjected, in the ilame of the law, itself based on thecountry's Constitution, to the most immoral legislation that lDankind can conceive in an age When it, perhaps rightly, believes'itself able to achieve the greatest degree, of liberty for individuals and peoples. 15••, It is rather disquieting to nqte that·, faced with the installation of, such ,a régime and the. insolence withwhichitspolicies are openly proclaimed and put into practice, the rest of the int~rnationalcommunity can barely bring itself to expressmoral condemnation and rernains powerless to bring about the slighte~t cnange in tbe. situation. South' Africa is violating the D10St sacred,prïnciple13 of every religion ahd of every "humanist philosophy, scorning the higher principles of "jttstice andînternationaT 'law, amiexing a territory ·.placed undérlts mandatebyaninternational organiza- "tion, disdaining il Charter to wliich ithas acceded, and despite all this, it still finds defenderstopleadfor it to, be keptin our Organization,' rec~ives international aid and obtains direcland indire.ct assistance as a reward for Us behaviour' towards the rest of the worId. 16. It' is true that the United Nations has alwaYs given the situation in South Af#ca the attention which oit warrants,and the Security Council itself,sillce the Sharpeville events cf ',1960" has r~alized the true ,dimensions of the. situa.tion and its conséquence~.,The 'resolutionssuccessively adopted' h~re and in the 18. World OpInIOn as a whole and all Governments without exceptbn agree in denouncing racial dis- crimination, and all proclaim their disapproval of the South African régime. There are, however, certain practical measures which must be takenin respect of the South Mrican régime and sorne of these un- fortunately do not depend on the will of that majority which can very easily be found to support such decisions. The effectiveness of such measures some- times depends in the last resort on the attitude of sorne great Power whose r.elationships with_ South Mrica determine their significance. 18. gouvernements la probation mesures la elles rité décisions. analyse dont détermine 19. sur économique, essentiellement susceptibles des que sur 19. 1 mean that, when we àgree upon an arms em- bargo or uponcoercive economic measures, the implementation of such decisions is in fact mainly in the hands of those who are in a position to sell arms or who have sufficiently important economic relations for their interruptj.on tohave a serious consequence on South Mrica's represf,ive capacities. 20. Time and again, for as long as it was possible, we accepted the exhortations to limit oUI'selves to prudent diplomatie action and to conventional avenues of approach in our attempt prpgressively to modify the Pretoria régime and to bring it to renounce the policies of apartheid and oppression. Thbse who have constantly urged us to take such an attitude are bound to agree with us toda.v that no heed has ever been takén at Pretoria of thisspirit of co-opeI''ltion, which unfortunately has been shown by the Urüted NatioHs .only•. It must therefore be acknowleciged that this approach to the problem has not proved to be the righf one. There is no Governm~nt which could not find strong enough support in itsparliamentor con- gress to beable todopt unreservedly the policies recommended by our Organization, policies Whose firmness is still not equal to South Mrica's intransi- gence. 20. longtemps tation démarche pour de d'apartheid tamment de compte tation s~ns Il façon CPrnme vernement pu s'associer. de encore 21. Be that as it may, my delegation has been en- couraged and reassured byvarious declarations made throughout the worldduring recent months, some- times in the most unexpected quarters. 1 should like first to mention. the stand taken by the dockers and trade union organizations of the Scandinavian coun,.. tries. The Governmentsof these countries are aware of this development in their national opinion, and.the efforts undertaken recently by their Ministers for Foreign Mfairs have found an echo in Mrica ~n<1 Asia, with the result that this cause, which was first taken up in isolation by Mâhatma Gandhi. is no longer 21. faction exprimées monde d'abprd' organisations· gouvernements lution récemment des un commencé 23. In the United States, the AFL-Clü labourfedera- tion, representing many tens of millions of trade unionists, has openly expressed its condemnation of that Government's policies and conduct. 24. This Councn is not merely the guardian of the moral principles which should govern relâtions be- tween the members of the international community. It should pass on from the stage of condemnation and resolutely consider practical and effective measures, unanimous agreement on which would in itself be an impOrtantfactor. 25. My deleg;ation would give unconditional support to any text which would reflect the concern of the AfriCatl countries with regard to this problem. Basic- ally, we shallsupport any text inviting the Council to take specific decisions and measures which would, this time,have to be carried out in as short a time as possible. 26. We must avoid, however, particularly in this Council, allowing anyone to suppose that a line of demarcation exists between the permanent members of the Security Council and the other member,s. Also, since our ideologies are unanimous in condemm.ngthe policies concerned, we must not allow omselves to be divided in the face of POlicies inspired by shameless adherence to a depraved ideology. 27. My delegation intends ta speak again when a draft resolution is submitted. 28. ThePRESIDÈNT: 1 calI upon the Minister for F()reign Affairs of Madagascar.

In pursuance of the mandate given to the' Mînisters for Foreign Affaire of Tun.isia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Madagascar by the Heads ofMrican States who met at Addis Ababa last May, 1 come before the COUD.cil to ask it, as the hîghest organ of the United Nations, to take the nocessary measures to compel the Government of Sou);h Africa to bow to the judgementof the world conscience. 30. Among. the many ctecisions which have been adopted on this subject, IshaU confine myself for the time being ta General Assemblyresolution 1761 (XVII) .of 6 November 1962 and the resolution which this Council adopted on 7 August 19631/ at the end of its 1056th meeting. Like previous resolutions, both these have remaineda dead letter. 32. After the eloquent speeches of my eminent colleagues, 1 shall not enlarge on the definition of apartheid, the danger this doctrine represents' for peace in Mrica and in the world, or the excesses and the repression which are its inevitable consequence. It is vitally important for the United Nations to put a prompt end to it, because the Organization's prestige and its very existence are at stake. Indeed, if it is powerless in such a flagrant c'ase to put its decisions into effect, who is going to believe that on other occasions, when peace or war may depend On its acting as thesupreme arbitrator, it will be a.ble to compel the délinquent party toaccept its authority? Let us remember the League of Nations, whose death Imen tolled as l'loon as it proved powerless to apply sanctions against fascist Italy. 33. The Malagasy representatives who spoke.during the Council's last series of meetings painted a picture of aIl the misery and hatred whicnthis policy inevitably brings in its train. exc~s inéluctable; y organisation, prestige, cas ter d'autres dépendront mesure Souvenons-nous 'a sonné à appliquer 33. role évoqué que 34. Quatrième répression geants la révolte vies. tout viennent 35. mieWl:, devant même pendaisons l'appel générale impliqués anxieusement où. de toutes de la 36. vernement explications et même critiques chargé nement età hommage, de J'apartheid son ceci: qu'à problème de 34. The petitioners heard in the Fourth Committee have spoken at length of the ruthless repression which, the leaders of the Republic of South Mrica imagine. is to stamp out the legitimate revoIt of the enslaved African peoples. The victims' cries of distress, despite the fact that every effort is made within the country to smother them. are heard throughout the world. 35. Theil' anguished appeals have had no effect; on the contrary, the debates in the SecurityCouncil and the Fourth Committee.have been the signal, or even thepretext, for even sterner repression. The hanging of patriots has continued despite the General Assembly's appeal on 11 October of this year [resolution 1881 (XVIII)]. The patri')ts charged underthe so-called sabotage act wait anxiously to appear in a court where we are justified in wondering whether the sacred guarantees for the defence are observed as they are in aIl civilized nations. 36. On a numbar of occasions the Government of South Mrica has tried in vain to give shamefaced explanations of its racial poUcy and even to a.ttribute the criticisms' aimed at it to the coldwar. The Special Cominittee on the policies of apartheid of the Government of the RepubUc of South Mrica, to whose efforts and objectivity 1should like to payatribute, unmasked these manoeuvres and gave a ciear and precise definition of apartheid. In its first interim reportYwe read the following: "In this connexion, the Special Committee wishes to affirra Us view that the problem is notone of colour or race, or an aspect of the cold war, but the consequence of a· racialist ideology, enshrined JJ de sécurité Documents Annexes, 37. Need 1 remind you that the result of apartheid is to keep all rights in the hands of a minority of less than 3 million whites, and to deny them to 11 million Africans. 1,500,000 persons of mixed origin and 500,000 inhabitants of Asian origin who, even in the most trivial acts of everyday life, are subjectto more and more rigid restrictions and who liveinfear? Need 1 recall that apartheid is systematically applied against any coloured person, from no matter what continent, who cornes to stay, even temporarily, in South Africa? As the representative of the Malagasy Republic showed last August [1051st meeting], the laws aimed at strengthening and maintaining white supremacy grow stricter every year, with the mounting anger of the non-white population, which is denied the most elementary rights and can look forward only to bondage and humiliation. 38. The Government of South Africa has placeditself in a position where it can uphold its doctrine only by increasingly stern police measures until the point is reached where the enslavedpeoples,driventodespair, have no other recourse but violence to break their chains. What would happen then? What tragedies might the world not witness! Surely it is our duty, the duty of all states represented here, to avert such a contingency while there is still time. 39. Can anyone' really believe that the armed forces and police of the Government of South Africa will always be able to subdue 13 million oppressed people driven to breaking-point and determined no longer to tolerate daily and bourly'insults to their dignity? 40•. Oh yes, we know that these forces are substantiaI! The. combined budgets for the army and police, which amounted to 77 million rands for the financial year1960-1961, have been raised to 208 million rands for 1963-1964, an increas.e of 270 pel' cent•..11 . 41. But apart from the fact that resista.nce is taking shape and becoming organized and that the patriotism of the non-white inhabitants is awakening, they now know. that they are no longer a10ne in the silent struggle, with its obscure sacrifices, and that 200 million African brothers support them in the United Nations and are working unstintingly to arouse the world conscience. 42. The Government of South Africa wou1d be very wrong if it thought that by flouting the decisions of the United Nations it'cou1d everlastingly resist the whole world, which is unanimous in its censure and condemnati()n of apartheid. Atthis pointitmaybe recalled that the. resolutions of the General. Assembly. and the Security Council, while not adopted unanimously because. of th~ legal.scruples of sorne States have. met with no oppositiOn and that all Members have accepted and approved the principles they contain. ~/IbicL. annex UI.IJilra. 22. il Ibid., se.cond Part.chapter VIII, para. 389. 44. The report of the Special Committee approaches this subject with great circumspection. For my part, l would say to the South African Government that if it i5 sincere in its desire to set the peoples of the Transkei on the road to self-determination, why does it not make up its mind to turn to the United Nations and request the co-operation which no one would refuse, so that in ,this experiment 'the rights of the South African peoples could be safeguarded and the basic tenets of the Charter respected. That method would be a test of its desire not to persist in its systematic oppositionto the twenty-nine United Nations resolutions condemning apartheid. 45. My delegation would' like to stress again for the benefit of the South African Government that to maintain the present system is to fortify the wall of suspicion and hatred which now divides the peoples of South Africa and to make a peaceful coexistence more àiHicult every day. 46. Now; and in the immediate future-and l mean the. immediate future-my delegation believes that it is still possible to consider objectively measures which, while faithful to the spiritof the Charter, would enable a multiracial society to he established inSouth Africa in·which all sectors of the population would be equal before the law, where fundamental freedoms would be guaranteed to all, but where the rights of minorities would also be fully safeguarded. l believe that under the Charter the United Nations mightstudy such a plan and submit it to the parties concerned. By this last phrase l mean the 111 nations which make up our Organization, the Government of South . Africa, and also the patriots fighting for freedom or locked up in prison. In so doing, it would be making a valuable contribution to the solution of the problem byremoving it to some extent from its emotional context and endeavouring to place it on a realistic basis. But before allythingelse repression must cease, the prisons must be emptied of patriots, and discriminatory laws must be abrogated. 46. l'immédiat délégation, permettraient, d'établir à population fondamentales également sauvegardés. Charte. plan cette posent frique pour apporterait tion texte terrain sion que 47. In a statement on 5 May 1963, 'the Ambassador of South Afr.ica in Washington said: 47. sadeur "If you were to introduce the proposaIs of the United Nations, you would, in effect, be committing another sin-eommitting genocide. You would he asking this Western Christian nation to ne allowed to destroy itself."» 48. No, the very opposite is true; you would be preparing for that genocide by failing ta apply the resolutions of the General Assembly and Security Council, because then you would be making it utterly impossible to scale the wall of hatred which l referred to a moment aga. As time went on, any conciliatory 48. les de rendrez de deviendrait, El Ibid., part II, chapter l, para. 73. 51. It is with confidence that the Malagasy Republic addresses you in person, Ml'. President and members of the Council, to calI upon you to adopt specüic measures to compel the Government of South Africa to comply with your decisions and those of the General Assembly. That is the only way to show that the United Nations is deterrnined to safeguard human rights and is resolved to do its full duty to ensure that peace reigns in Africa as in the l'est of the world.

There are no further speakers inscribed on the list for this morning. If no other members of the Council wish tobe heardat tbis time, we shall adjourn.until 10.30 a.m. tomorrow. 53. Before we adjourn this meeting, 1 ~hould like, speaking on behalf of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, to thank the Foreign Minister of Mada~ gascar and the representative of Moroœo for their sensitive and thoughtful expressions of sympathy to my Government and to our people at the misfortune which has recently befallen us and also for their respectful regard for the labours and convictions of our late President. You may be sure that the feelings you have expressed will be made known and will be most comforting to his fanlily. The meeting rose at 11.45 a.m.