Question of South West Africa
- Author: UN General Assembly
- Document source:
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Date:
27 October 1966
XXI. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED WITHOUT REFERENCE TO A MAIN COMMITTEE
2145. Question of South West Africa
1. Reaffirms that the provisions of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) are fully applicable to the people of the Mandated Territory of South West Africa and that, therefore, the people of South West Africa have the inalienable right to self-determination, freedom and independence in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;
2. Reaffirms further that South West Africa is a territory having international status and that it shall maintain this status until it achieves independence;
3. Declares that South Africa has failed to fulfil its obligations in respect of the administration of the Mandated Territory and to ensure the moral and material well-being and security of the indigenous inhabitants of South West Africa and has, in fact, disavowed the Mandate;
4. Decides that the Mandate conferred upon His Britannic Majesty to be exercised on his behalf by the Government of the Union of South Africa is therefore terminated, that South Africa has no other right to administer the Territory and that henceforth South West Africa comes under the direct responsibility of the United Nations;
5. Resolves that in these circumstances the United Nations must discharge those responsibilities with respect to South West Africa;
6. Establishes an Ad Hoc Committee for South West Africa-composed of fourteen Member States to be designated by the President of the General Assembly to recommend practical means by which South West Africa should be administered, so as to enable the people of the Territory to exercise the right of self-determination and to achieve independence, and to report to the General Assembly at a special session as soon as possible and in any event not later than April 1967;
7. Calls upon the Government of South Africa forthwith to refrain and desist from any action, constitutional, administrative, political or otherwise, which will in any manner whatsoever alter or tend to alter the present international status of South West Africa;
8. Calls the attention of the Security Council to the present resolution;
9. Requests all States to extend their whole-hearted co-operation and to render assistance in the implementation of the present resolution;
10. Requests the Secretary-General to provide all the assistance necessary to implement the present resolution and to enable the Ad Hoc Committee for South West Africa to perform its duties.
1454th plenary meeting,27 October 1966. The President of the General Assembly, in pursuance of paragraph 6 of the above resolution, designated the members of the Ad Hoc Committee for South West Africa.[6] The Ad Hoc Committee tall be composed of the following Member States: CANADA, CHILE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ETHIOPIA, FINLAND, ITALY, JAPAN, MEXICO, NIGERIA, PAKISTAN, SENEGAL, UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
[1] International status of South West Africa, Advisory Opinion: I.C.J. Reports 1950, p. 128. [2] South West Africa-Voting procedure Advisory Opinion of June 7th, 1955: I.C.J. Reports 1955, p. 67. [3] Admissibility of hearings of petitioners by the Committee on South West Africa, Advisory Opinion of June 1st, 1956: I.C.J. Reports 1956, p. 23. [4] South West Africa Cases (Ethiopia v. South Africa; Liberia v. South Africa), Preliminary Objections, Judgment of 21 December 1962: LC.J. Reports 1962, p. 319. [5] South West Africa, Second Phase, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1966, p. 6. [6] See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-first Session, Plenary Meetings, 1471st meeting.
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