Violations of human rights in southern Africa: report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts

UN Commission on Human Rights, Violations of human rights in southern Africa: report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts, E/CN.4/RES/5(XXXIV), 22 February 1978, https://www.refworld.org/legal/resolution/unchr/1978/en/5882 [accessed 11 September 2024]
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5 (XXXIV). Violations of human rights in southern Africa: report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts[1]8

The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling its resolution 6 (XXXIII), Having considered the progress report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts established by its resolution 2 (XXIII) (E/CN.4/1270), Convinced that the proclamation of 1978 as International Anti-Apartheid Year and the celebration in August of the same year of the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination will also contribute to the aims of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid,

1. Expresses its satisfaction to the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts for the progress report which it has submitted;

2. Reaffirms the inalienable right of the peoples of South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe to self-determination and independence and the right to enjoy all the rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the various international instruments on human rights;

3. Denounces with indignation the inhuman treatment of the freedom fighters arrested by the racist regime in South Africa and the illegal and minority régime in Zimbabwe;

4. Denounces the ill-treatment of prisoners in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, in particular the deaths of persons who have been subjected to brutality by the police on the occasion of peaceful demonstrations against apartheid since the Soweto massacre;

5. Vehemently condemns the criminal acts committed by the South African authorities on children protesting against apartheid;

6. Takes note of the list of persons who are suspected of having been guilty in Namibia of the crime of apartheid or of a serious violation of human rights, as contained in the progress report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts (E/CN.4/1270);

7. Requests the Secretary-General to bring this list to the attention of States and the competent United Nations bodies, including the group of three members of the Commission on Human Rights appointed under article IX of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid;

8. Notes with interest the declaration and programme of action of the International Seminar on the Eradication of Apartheid and in Support of the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa, held in Havana in 1976;

9. Endorses the Declaration and the Programme of Action of the World Conference for Action against Apartheid, held in Lagos in 1977;

10. Requests the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts to continue to maintain close co-operation with the Special Committee against Apartheid in the investigation of gross violations of human rights in South Africa, especially with a view to ensuring that any developments requiring urgent action are drawn to the attention of the General Assembly and the Security Council.


[1]8 Adopted at the 1451st meeting, on 22 February 1978, by 26 votes to none, with 4 abstentions. See chap. IV.
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