Implementation of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination.
- Author: UN General Assembly (34th sess. : 1979-1980)
- Document source:
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Date:
15 November 1979
34. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE
24. Implementation of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination
1. Proclaims that the elimination of all forms of racism and discrimination based on race and the attainment of the objectives of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and of the Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination are matters of high priority for the international community and, accordingly, for the United Nations;
2. Strongly condemns the policies of apartheid, racism and racial discrimination practised in southern Africa and elsewhere, including the denial of the right of peoples to self-determination;
3. Reaffirms once again its strong support for the national liberation struggle against racism, racial discrimination, apartheid, colonialism and alien domination and for self-determination by all means, including armed struggle;
4. Invites all Member States, United Nations organs, the specialized agencies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to strengthen and enlarge the scope of their activities in support of the objectives of the Programme for the Decade;
5. Calls once again upon all the Governments which have not yet done so to take legislative, administrative and other measures in respect of their nationals and the bodies corporate under their jurisdiction that own and operate enterprises in southern Africa, in order to put an end to such enterprises immediately;
6. Appeals to all States to continue to co-operate with the Secretary-General by submitting their reports to him in accordance with paragraph 18 (e) of the Programme for the Decade;
7. Commends the national liberation movements, anti-apartheid and anti-racist movements and other non-governmental organizations for their co-operation in international efforts for the attainment of the purposes of the Decade;
8. Appeals to all mass media and educational and cultural institutions to co-operate fully in the implementation of the Programme for the Decade;
9. Endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the International Seminar on Children under Apartheid, held in Paris from 18 to 20 June 1979;[2]
10. Requests the Economic and Social Council to submit to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session its report on the evaluation of the activities undertaken in connexion with the Decade, in accordance with paragraph 18 of the Programme for the Decade, taking into account the results of the Conference set out in the Declaration and the Programme of Action which it adopted;
11. Adopts the four-year programme of activities designed to accelerate progress in the implementation of the Programme for the Decade, as set forth in the annex to the present resolution;
12. Expresses its satisfaction to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Special Committee against Apartheid, the United Nations Council for Namibia, the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Commission on Human Rights, through its Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Southern Africa and its Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, for their contribution to the implementation of the Programme for the Decade;
13. Invites in particular the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to monitor the implementation of the provisions of articles 4 and 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [3] in order to prevent any incitement to racism and racial discrimination and to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnic groups;
14. Decides to consider at its thirty-fifth session as a matter of high priority, the item entitled "Implementation of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination".
69th plenary meeting15 November 1979
ANNEX Programme of activities to be undertaken during the second half of the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination
1. During the second half of the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, efforts should be intensified by all States, United Nations organs and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to achieve the speediest attainment of the objectives of the Decade, aimed at the complete and final elimination of all forms of racism and racial discrimination.
2. Particular attention should be paid to specific measures designed to ensure the implementation of the main provisions of the Programme for the Decade, of the Declaration and the Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and of the other pertinent United Nations resolutions on racism, racial discrimination, apartheid, decolonization and self-determination, of the Lagos Declaration for Action against Apartheid,[4] adopted by the World Conference for Action against Apartheid, held at Lagos from 22 to 26 August 1977, the Maputo Declaration in Support of the Peoples of Zimbabwe and Namibia,[5] adopted by the International Conference in Support of the Peoples of Zimbabwe and Namibia, held at Maputo from 16 to 21 May 1977, and the Programme of Action against Apartheid recommended by the International Seminar on the Eradication of Apartheid and in Support of the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa, held at Havana from 24 to 28 May 1976, adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 31/6 J of 9 November 1976.
3. Every effort should be made to bring about the complete isolation of the racist régime and the strict application by all States Members of the United Nations of sanctions against those régime, since any co-operation with them in the political, economic, military and other fields constitutes an impediment to the liberation of southern Africa. Governments are duty-bound to create the necessary conditions to ensure that transnational corporations shall cease to grant any assistance or support to the racist régime of Pretoria and Salisbury or to exploit the peoples of southern Africa and the natural resources of their countries.
4. The Security Council is requested to consider urgently the possibility of imposing complete and mandatory sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations against the apartheid régime of South Africa and the racist régime in southern Africa, in particular:
(a) The cessation of all collaboration with South Africa in the nuclear field;
(b) The prohibition of all technological assistance or collaboration in the manufacture of arms and military supplies in South Africa;
(c) The prohibition of all loans to, and all investments in, South Africa and the cessation of all promotion of trade with South Africa;
(d) An embargo on the supply of petroleum, petroleum products and other strategic commodities to South Africa.
5. The efforts undertaken by the organizations of the United Nations system should be intensified in order to keep public opinion constantly on the alert against the evils of racism, racial discrimination and apartheid through publications of the Centre against Apartheid of the Secretariat, the dissemination of various brochures and the issue by the Universal Postal Union, beginning in 1980, of a stamp to mark the Decade, etc.
6. The efforts of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat should be intensified in order to generate publicity and disseminate information with a view to mobilizing public support for the goals and objectives of the Decade. An annual report on the activities of the Department of Public Information should form part of the report prepared by the Secretary-General in accordance with paragraph 18 (f) of the Programme for the Decade.
7. All States, international agencies and non-governmental organizations should intensify the campaigns organized to obtain the release of all political detainees imprisoned by the racist régime for their brave struggle against apartheid, racism and racial discrimination and in defence of the rights of their peoples to self-determination and independence.
8. The appropriate organizations of the United Nations system should continue their investigation of the policies and practices in occupied Arab territories, including Palestine, based on various forms of racial discrimination against the peoples of those territories.
9. The World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, to be held in 1980, should contribute to the struggle against racism, racial discrimination and apartheid by recommending the adoption of other measures aimed at ensuring the active participation of women in the struggle against those evils.
10. The Secretary-General should ensure the widest possible dissemination of the study on the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,[6] prepared pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2057 (LXII) of 12 May 1977, and of the brochures[7] on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, prepared by the Committee as its contribution to the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination.
11. Regional seminars should be organized on an annual basis, at the level of the regional commissions, on specific subjects.
12. The United Nations should adopt other measures aimed at improving the situation and ensuring the human rights and dignity of all migrant workers, including the drawing up of a convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers.
13. Activities should be undertaken to encourage the effective contribution of youth to the struggle against racism, racial discrimination and apartheid.
14. A week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, should be organized annually in all States.
15. All States should adopt, as a matter of high priority, measures to declare punishable by law any dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred and to prohibit organizations based on racial prejudice and hatred, including neo-Nazi and Fascist organizations and private clubs and institutions established on the basis of racial criteria or propagating ideas of racial discrimination and apartheid.
16. All States should eliminate, through legislation and administrative measures, all discriminatory practices against members of immigrant communities. They should ensure that immigrants and their families are given treatment which is no less favourable than that accorded their own nationals in matters such as education, employment, acquisition of property, health and housing facilities and travel within and outside the country.
17. The main activities to be undertaken for the achievement of these objectives are set forth below. This implies that:
(a) The United Nations should provide adequate financial and human resources according to the priorities established by the General Assembly to combat racism, racial discrimination and apartheid;
(b) The specialized agencies and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned must, within their respective fields of competence, make an essential contribution to the attainment of these ends. In addition to the preparation of the report of the Secretary-General requested in paragraph 18 (f) of the Programme for the Decade, a certain number of activities should be undertaken during the second half of the Decade in particular.
18. In the light of paragraph 13 (b) of the Programme for the Decade, a seminar should be organized in 1981 by the Commission on Human Rights, in co-operation with the Special Committee against Apartheid, in order to study the formulation of effective measures to prevent transnational corporations and other established interests from collaborating with the racist régime in southern Africa. The Commission on Transnational Corporations and the Commission on Human Rights should make a study in co-operation with the Special Committee against Apartheid, the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the United Nations Council for Namibia with a view to enumerating specific measures whose application by all States, intergovernmental organizations, private institutions and non-governmental organizations will make it possible to end all collaboration with the racist régime and prevent the supply of capital, loans, credits, foreign currency and any other form of commercial, financial and technological assistance to the economies of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Namibia by private banks, Governments and international agencies, such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the International Monetary Fund and similar institutions.
19. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 3377 (XXX) of 10 November 1975, the Commission on Human Rights, in co-operation with the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, should undertake a study on ways and means of ensuring the implementation of the United Nations resolutions on apartheid, racism and racial discrimination and submit its conclusions to the Assembly at its thirty-seventh session through the Economic and Social Council.
20. A study should be undertaken in 1980 by the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Southern Africa on ways and means of implementing international instruments, such as the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, including the establishment of the international jurisdiction envisaged by the Convention.
21. The United Nations Institute for Training and Research should organize an international colloquium in 1980 on the elimination of apartheid, racism and racial discrimination and the achievement of self-determination in international law, with special attention to the principles of non-discrimination and self-determination as peremptory norms of international law.
22. A study should be prepared by the Secretary-General in 1981 on the links between the struggle against racism and the struggle for self-determination in southern Africa.
23. A study should be prepared in 1981 by the Commission on the Status of Women on the situation of women and children living under the racist minority régime in southern Africa, especially under the apartheid régime, and of women and children living in the occupied Arab territories and other occupied territories.
24. A study should be undertaken in 1981 by the Secretary General, in co-operation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, on the links between racial discrimination and inequalities in the fields of education, nutrition, health, housing and cultural development.
25. Under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a round-table of editors of newspapers concerned in informing public opinion about the evils of racism and racial discrimination, with wide circulation and from the various geographical regions, should be convened in the second half of 1980, on the basis of equitable distribution, to study the role of the mass communication media in combating racism, racial discrimination and apartheid. A report on the work of the round-table should be submitted to the Economic and Social Council at its first regular session of 1981.
26. An important feature of the second half of the Decade should be the holding of a second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, preferably at the end of the Decade, in order to review and appraise the activities undertaken during the Decade and to chart new measures where necessary. In accordance with the mandate given it, defined in paragraph 18 of the Programme for the Decade, the Economic and Social Council would act, as it did in the case of the first Conference, as a preparatory committee for this Conference.
27. The Economic and Social Council should plan to begin considering the preparations for the Conference at its first regular session of 1980.
[1] Report of the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, Geneva, 14-25 August 1978 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.79.XIV.2), chap. II. [2] A/34/512, annex. [3] Resolution 2106 A (XX), annex. [4] United Nations publication, Sales No. E.77.XIV.2 and corrigendum, sect. X. [5] A/32/Rev.1-S/12344/Rev.1, annex. For the printed text, see Official Records of the Security Council, Thirty-second Year, Supplement for July, August and September 1977. [6] A/CONF.92/8. [7] "Towards a World without Racism" (OPI/613).
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