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Ün1ted Ц Ш Р Nations ÜN1TED ЦШр NATIONS FINAL REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS i COMMISSIONER IN ERITREA GENERAL ASSEMBLY OFFICIAL RECORDS : SEVENTH SESSION SUPPLEMENT No. 15 (A/2188) NEW YORK, 1952 UNITED NATIONS FINAL REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSIONER IN ERITREA GENERAL ASSEMBLY OFFICIAL RECORDS : SEVENTH SESSION SUPPLEMENT No. 15 (A/2188) New York, 1952 NOTE Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters com- bined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL New York, 17 October 1952 Sir, Some amendments were made to the draft constitu- tion and the final text as a whole was adopted unani- I have the honour to transmit herewith the final re- mously by the Eritrean Assembly on 10 July 1952. port on my mission for consideration by the General The Constitution was approved by the Commissioner Assembly at its seventh regular session. on 6 August 1952 and ratified by the Emperor on 11 The report is submitted in accordance with para- August 1952. It could not enter into force, however, graph 15 of resolution 390 A (V) of 2 December 1950,1 until ratification of the Federal Act, which took place which lays down that the United Nations Commissioner on 11 September 1952 at Addis Ababa. shall make appropriate reports to the General Assem- bly of the United Nations concerning the discharge of Thus all the action provided for in the General his functions and that when the transfer of authority Assembly resolution with respect to the Constitution has been completed, he shall so report to the General has been carried out and the attached report gives a Assembly and submit to it the text of the Eritrean detailed account of all the relevant events ; it also con- Constitution. tains, in annex, the final text of the Constitution. This report, which contains a general account of the mission's work, supplements the report submitted to The other terms of reference under which the Com- the General Assembly at its sixth regular session in missioner was acting, not in these instances personally documents A/1959 and A/1959/Add.l. Since the latter and in consultation with other authorities, but as an report was submitted, the following general develop- authority consulted by the Administering Authority, ments have taken place. are also dealt with in the report. The main item of the Commissioner's terms of ref- I should like to say how much I appreciated the con- erence under the resolution was the preparation of a sistently co-operative spirit of the Administering draft Constitution to be submitted to a representative Power and Administering Authority and to emphasize assembly of Eritreans chosen by the people. the cordial relations which prevailed throughout the After discussing the interpretation of the terms of consultations with the Ethiopian Government and the resolution 390 A (V) with a panel of legal consultants, parties concerned. I should also like to mention the a first draft Constitution was drawn up at Geneva. In high quality of the work accomplished by the Assem- a revised form, it was then transmitted to the Admin- bly and the conciliatory spirit shown by the representa- istering Authority and to the Government of Ethiopia, tives and by the people. I also wish to thank you most as provided in the resolution. warmly for your co-operation and unstinted assistance and for the competence and hard work of the members The consultations took the form of veritable negotia- of the United Nations Secretariat whom you assigned tions and resulted in the drafting of a text which was to help me in the performance of my mission, and to acceptable to the parties concerned. That text was pay a tribute to the learning of the legal experts who submitted to the Eritrean Assembly elected by the assisted me in drafting the Constitution. people and convened and arranged through the good offices of the Administering Authority in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 11 of the resolution. I have the honour to be, Sir... The Secretary-General of the United Nations E. ANZE MATIENZO New York United Nations Commissioner in Eritrea 1 The text of United Nations General Assembly resolution 390 A (V) is annexed to the report. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Paragraph Page INTRODUCTION Section 1. Historical and political ...-.•• 1-16 1 Section 2. Resolutions 390 A (V) and 390 В (V) of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Terras of reference and election of the United Nations Commissioner in Eritrea.. 17-34 2 CHAPTER I. PREPARATORY WORK AND CONSULTATIONS FOR THE PREP- ARATION OF A DRAFT CONSTITUTION Section 1. Preparatory work by the Commissioner (January-June 1951) •• 35-45 4 A. Preliminary contacts with the Governments of the United Kingdom, Italy and Ethiopia 35-38 4 B. Statement by the Commissioner on arrival in Eritrea 39-41 4 C. Initial visits of the Commissioner to various parts of Eritrea 42-45 4 Section 2. Formal consultations (May-December 1951) 46-179 5 A. Introduction 46-48 5 B. Consultations with the Administering Authority 49-60 5 С Consultations with the Government of Ethiopia.... 61-95 6 D. Consultations with the inhabitants of Eritrea 96-179 9 (1) Postponement of formal consultations outside Asmara 96-125 9 (2) The consultations 126-179 12 (a) Documents used in the consultations 127-132 12 (b) Announcement and commencement of consultations 133 12 (c) Methods used in consulting the inhabitants 134-146 12 (i) Political parties 139-140 13 (ii) Religious leaders 141-142 13 (iii) Foreign communities 143 13 (iv) Economic, cultural and professional organizations 144—146 13 (d) Questions asked at the consultations 147-169 14 (1) The Assembly (a) Should there be one or two As- semblies? 147-150. 14 (b) For what period should the As- sembly or Assemblies be elected ? 151—154 14 (2) The Executive 155-159 14 (3) The Representative of the Emperor.. 160-163 15 (4) The Electorate 164 15 IV- v Paragraph (5) General points (a) What should be the official lan- guages of Eritrea? 165-168 16 (b) Should Eritrea have a special flag? 169 16 (e) Consultations with the people in the vari- ous regions of the territory 170-179 16 Section 3. Main points dealt with by the Commissioner in public statements made in Eritrea (January-October 1951).... 180-193 17 CHAPTER II. DRAFTING OF THE CONSTITUTION Section 1. Preliminary discussions at Geneva with the First Panel of Legal Consultants. Statement of general principles by the Panel (23 November - 20 December 1951) 194-211 19 Section 2. Communication to the Government of Ethiopia of the general principles stated by the First Panel of Legal Con- sultants 212-222 20 Section 3. Preparation of a provisional draft Constitution in con- sultation with the Second Panel of Legal Consultants (January-February 1952) 223-296 21 Section 4. Submission of the third draft to the Administering Au- thority and the Ethiopian Government for their com- ments : consultations (March-April 1952) 297-405 27 A. Consultations with the Administering Authority.... 297-319 27 B. Consultations with the Government of Ethiopia.... 320-405 29 CHAPTER III. CONVENING BY THE ADMINISTERING AUTHORITY OF A REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ERITREANS CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE Section 1. Arrangements for the elections 406-410 36 Section 2. Election and composition of the Eritrean Assembly 411-416 36 Section 3. Preliminary proceedings of the Assembly 417-426 37 CHAPTER IV. SUBMISSION OF THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION TO THE ERI- TREAN ASSEMBLY—DISCUSSIONS—ADOPTION OF THE AMENDED TEXT Section 1. Submission of the draft to the Eritrean Assembly 427-433 38 Section 2. General survey of the discussions in the Assembly 434-436 38 Section 3. Detailed analysis of the discussions in the Assembly on the draft Constitution. Amendments to the draft 437-470 38 A. Problems the solution of which, in spite of apparent differences of opinion, did not give rise to serious difficulties in the Assembly 438-439 38 B. Questions not dealt with, or merely touched on dur- ing the consultations, but which gave rise to impor- tant discussions in the Assembly 440-455 39 (1) Status of Eritrea 440 39 (a) Matters coming within the jurisdiction of Eritrea 440 39 (b) Contribution by Eritrea to the expenses of the Federal Government. Assessment and levying of federal taxes 440 39 (c) Representation of Eritrea in the Imperial Federal Council 440 39 vi Paragraph Page (2) Nationality (and rights of federal nationals), citizenship and the electorate 441-445 39 (а) Eritrean citizenship 441-442 39 (б) Rights of federal nationals who are not Eritrean citizens 443 39 (c) The electorate 444-445 39 (3) Special rights of the various population groups of Eritrea 446-453 40 (4) Communities with local authority 454-455 40 С Controversial questions common to both the con- sultations and the proceedings of the Assembly.... 456-461 40 (1) The Executive 456-457 40 (2) Representation of the Emperor in Eritrea 458-460 41 (a) Comments on draft legislation and requests for reconsideration 459 41 (b) Relations with the Eritrean Government.. 460 41 (3) Symbols of the Federation and of Eritrea 461 41 D. General character of the discussions. Establishment of the Executive Committee. The Eritrean Assembly becomes the Assembly of Eritrea for a term of four years 462-470 41 Section 4. Adoption of the Constitution by the Assembly 471-477 42 CHAPTER V. APPROVAL OF THE CONSTITUTION BY THE COMMISSIONER —RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION AND OF THE FEDERAL ACT » BY THE EMPEROR OF ETHIOPIA 478-505 43 Section 1. Approval and ratification of the Constitution 479-492 43 Section 2.
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