Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation and of apartheid, in all countries, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countries and Territories

XXV. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE
2714. Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation and of apartheid, in all countries, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countries and Territories

The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 2440 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968 in which, inter alia, it condemned any and every practice of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees and prisoners in South African prisons and in South African police custody during interrogation and detention, Recalling its resolution 2505 (XXIV) of 20 November 1969 in which it expressed the firm intention of the United Nations, acting in cooperation with the Organization of African Unity, to intensify its efforts to find a solution to the present grave situation in southern Africa, Also recalling Security Council resolutions 264 (1969) of 20 March 1969 and 269 (1969) of 12 August 1969 on Namibia, Further recalling General Assembly resolution 2547 A (XXIV) of 11 December 1969 relating, inter alia, to the inhuman and degrading treatment and torture of political prisoners, detainees and captured freedom fighters in the Territories ruled by Governments and régimes wedded to the policies of apartheid, racial discrimination and colonialism in southern Africa, Determined to promote immediate and urgent action with a view to restoring the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the oppressed peoples of southern Africa,

1. Commends the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on the treatment of political prisoners in South Africa[1]1for its valuable report;[2]

2. Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggles of the peoples of southern Africa to oppose the policies of apartheid, racial discrimination and colonialism and to assert their right to self-determination;

3. Condemns any and every practice of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners, detainees and captured freedom fighters in Namibia, Southern Rhodesia and the African Territories under Portuguese domination, as well as of persons in police custody in these Territories;

4. Again condemns any and every practice of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees in prisons and in police custody in South Africa;

5. Reaffirms that the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, of 30 August 1955;[3]3apply to all political prisoners or detainees, in prison or in police custody throughout South Africa, Namibia - Territory under direct United Nations responsibility and at present under illegal South African occupation the rebel United Kingdom colony of Southern Rhodesia and the African Territories under Portuguese domination;

6. Condemns the trial of the twenty-two Africans held under the Suppression of Communism Act and further condemns their subsequent re-arrest under the notorious Terrorism Act of 1967;

7. Reaffirms that:

(a) The condition of political prisoners in South Africa continues to cause alarm;

(b) The increasing cooperation between the Government of South Africa and the illegal racist régime in Southern Rhodesia poses a further and continuing threat to the opponents of the two régimes and to captured freedom fighters;

(c) Sections 10 and 29 of the General Law Amendment Act, 1969, concerning the Bureau of State Security, not only constitute one of the most sinister pieces of legislation in recent years, but also contribute decisively towards making South Africa a complete police State, and the working of that law is also contrary to article 11, paragraph 1, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, since it prevents the accused from proving his innocence;

(d) Many political prisoners and detainees have died in South African prisons during 1969, in conditions which warrant a full inquiry;

(e) Mr. James Lenkoe, a political prisoner in South Africa, did not commit suicide as reported, but died as a result of electric shocks administered to various parts of his body;

(f) The practice of compelling prisoners to testify against their erstwhile comrades is reprehensible;

(g) In the Caprivi Strip, Namibian villages have been shelled by the occupying South African security forces and indiscriminate firing has been resorted to in villages that are suspected of harbouring freedom fighters;

(h) The system of "Bantustans" established in South Africa is being gradually extended to the occupied Territory of Namibia;

(i) In the absence of intervention by the United Nations, the occupation of Namibia by South Africa is resulting in ever increasing hardship to the nonwhite population as well as a total suppression of human rights there;

(j) The so-called "Constitution of Rhodesia" of 1969 is an illegal as well as a pernicious document and the "Declaration of Rights" embodied in it confers few, if any, rights on non-Whites;

(k) Section 84 of the 1969 "Constitution of Rhodesia", providing that no court shall inquire into or pronounce upon the validity of any law on the ground that it is inconsistent with the "Declaration of Rights", establishes a clear inconsistency in the illegal "legislation" itself and, further, brings out the authoritarian and racist character of the illegal régime in Southern Rhodesia;

(l) The reserves in Southern Rhodesia consist of poor and infertile lands into which Africans are herded like cattle;

(m) The condition of Africans in the reserves is appalling and nothing is being done to improve their conditions of hygiene, diet, nutrition, sanitation, health and their educational standards;

(n) In the Portuguese Territories, the mass killing of suspected opponents of the régime continues unabated;

(o) The most inhuman form of forced labour prevails in the African Territories under Portuguese domination;

8. Calls upon the Government of South Africa to implement the recommendations contained in the earlier reports of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts and also:

(a) To disband immediately the Bureau of State Security;

(b) To discontinue the practice by which political detainees are compelled to testify against their former colleagues;

(c) To release immediately and unconditionally the twenty-two Africans re-arrested on 16 February 1970 under the Terrorism Act;

(d) To grant full access at all trials of political opponents of the régime to independent outside observers;

(e) To permit a full and impartial investigation into the deaths of political prisoners and detainees in its gaols as well as to indemnify fully the families of the deceased;

9. Condemns the trial of the eight Namibians under the Terrorism Act, which took place at Windhoek between July and November 1969, and further calls upon the Government of South Africa:

(a) To release immediately and unconditionally those tried under the above-mentioned Terrorism Act;

(b) To desist forthwith from the extension of the "Bantustans" system into Namibia;

10. Once again calls upon the Government of South Africa to terminate its illegal occupation of the Territory of Namibia in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions;

11. Calls upon the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to intervene more effectively than heretofore in its rebellious colony of Southern Rhodesia with a view to:

(a) Implementing the action proposed by the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts in paragraphs 82 to 94 of its report;[4]

(b) Liberating the Africans from the reserves in which they are concentrated in conditions of near captivity and bondage;

(c) Repealing the entire so-called "Constitution of Rhodesia" of 1969;

12. Requests the United Kingdom to report to the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth session the results of the effective measures it is called upon to take in paragraph 11 above;

13. Calls upon the Government of Portugal:

(a) To observe immediately the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949;[5]

(b) To eradicate the practice of xibalo, or forced labour, in its African colonies;

(c) To introduce a system in which the products of the African farmers can be freely bought and sold in normal market conditions;

14. Condemns once again the actions of those Governments which continue to maintain diplomatic, economic, cultural and other relations with the Government of South Africa and with the illegal régime in Southern Rhodesia in violation of United Nations resolutions;

15. Calls upon those Governments urgently to consider breaking off such relations and, if they have not already done so, to report to the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth session the reasons therefor;

16. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth session on the implementation of the present resolution and also to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its twenty-seventh session on the measures taken to publicize the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts.

1930th plenary meeting,
15 December 1970.

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[1] Established under Commission on Human Rights resolution 2 (XXIII) of 6 March 1967. [2] E/CN.4/984 and Add.1, Add.2/Rev.1, Add.3/Rev.1, Add.4 and 5, Add.6/Rev.1, Add.7/Rev.1, Add.8 and 9, Add.10/Rev.1, Add.11/Rev.1, Add.12-14, Add.15/Rev.1, Add.16/Rev.1 and Add. 17-19. [3] See First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders: report prepared by the Secretariat (United Nations publication, Sales No.: 1956.IV.A), annex I, A. [4] See E/CN.4/984/Add.8. [5] United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75 (1950), Nos. 970973.