Resolutions on the Policies of Apartheid of the Government of South Africa Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations at Its Forty-Third Session
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Resolutions on the Policies of Apartheid of the Government of South Africa Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations at its Forty-Third Session http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1989_01 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org Resolutions on the Policies of Apartheid of the Government of South Africa Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations at its Forty-Third Session Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 1/89 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Apartheid Publisher United Nations, New York Date 1989-01-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1985 - 1989 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description INTRODUCTION. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON 5 DECEMBER 1988 UNDER AGENDA ITEM 36: "POLICIES OF APARTHEID OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA. International solidarity with the liberation struggle in South Africa. Military collaboration with South Africa. Comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa. Imposition, co-ordination and strict monitoring of measures against racist South Africa. Relations between South Africa and Israel. Programme of work of the Special Committee against Apartheid. Special session of the General Assembly on apartheid and its destructive consequences in southern Africa. Dissemination of information against the policies of apartheid of the regime of racist South Africa. United Nation Trust Fund for South Africa. Oil embargo against South Africa. Concerted international action for the elimination of apartheid. Annexes. Elements of resolutions and voting. Explanation of votes. Partial voting table for resolutions on apartheid, 1985-1988. Format extent 40 page(s) http://www.aluka.org (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1989_01 http://www.aluka.org UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS CENTRE AGAINST APARTHEID NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* January 1989 APR I 9 IMSOLUTIONS ON THE POLICIES OF APARTHEID OF THE GWErff9W OF SXH AFRICA ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS AT ITS FORTY-THIRD SESSION *All material in these Notes and Documents may be freely reprinted. Acknowledgement, together with a copy of the publication containing the reprint, would be appreciated. United Nations, New York 10017 -... 1/89 89-02146 / 1(7 CONTENTrS I rRO............................................ ...o o ........ .. o.. 3 RSOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON 5 DCEMBR 1988 UNER AGENDA ITE 36: "POLICIES OF APARTHEID OF THE GOVERWDEUM OF SOUTH AFRICA" ..5.....** ..... oo .......**...**** 5 43/50 A. International solidarity with the liberation struggle in South Africa ..o.......................... 6 43/50 B. Military collaboration with South Africa ................ 9 43/50 C. Comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa ........... .... 11 43/50 D. Imposition, co-ordination and strict monitoring of measures against racist South Africa .............. 13 43/50 E. Relations between South Africa and Israel ............... 15 43/50 F. Programme of work of the Special Committee against Apartheid ..-o...............................o. 17 43/50 G. Special session of the General Assembly on apartheid and its destructive consequences in southern Africa ..... 18 43/50 H. Dissemination of information against the policies of apartheid of the regime of racist South Africa ....... 19 43/50 I. United Nation Trust Fund for South Africa .. .... 22 43/50 J. Oil embargo against South Africa .................. 23 43/50 K. Concerted international action for the elimination of apartheid ....... ... ......... ....... 26 Annexes I. Elements of resolutions and voting ............................... 31 II. Explanation of votes ... ....... ... ... ..... ....... .... ... 35 III. Partial voting table for resolutions on apartheid, 1985-1988 ....... 38 -3- INMTDUCTION On 5 December 1988, the General Assembly adopted 11 resolutions on the item "Policies of aatheid of the Government of South Africa". The resolutions obtained roughly the same support as those of the previous year. In some cases the support was even stronger; the resolution on the imposition and monitoring of selective sanctions gained the support of the Nordic countries and of Australia, Canada and New Zealand. While eight of the resolutions repeated basically the content and form of the streamlined resolutions of 1987, three new ones were added, one of which, adopted by consensus, called for a special session of the General Assembly in September 1989 on apartheid and its destructive consequences in southern Africa. The General Assembly again expressed support for the liberation movements of South Africa and spelled out the measures that Pretoria should introduce in order to create the appropriate conditions "for free consultations among all the people of South Africa with a view to negotiating a just and lasting solution to the conflict in that country"; it strongly urged those States which directly or indirectly infringe the arms embargo to terminate such acts and urged the Security Council to strengthen the monitoring of the arms embargo and introduce comprehensive mandatory sanctions against South Africa. The General Assembly expressed concern at States that exploited the trade gaps created by the imposition of sanctions by other States; called upon States that had increased their trade with South Africa, and in particular Japan, which was in 1987 the most important trading partner of South Africa, to sever trade relations with South Africa. States were urged, pending comprehensive mandatory sanctions, to adopt legislative and/or comparable measures imposing effective sanctions in a ntnber of areas, such as trade of particular comodities, finance and transport, to strictly implement those measures and to punish violators; the Assembly also called for the strengthening of the oil embargo and decided to hold hearings in April 1989 on the subject; called upon Israel to abide by the recent resolution of the General Assembly, in particular its long-term contracts for military supplies to South Africa; condemned overt and covert destablization of neighbouring States; and appealed to all Governments to take appropriate action to ensure the effectiveness of the sports and cultural boycotts of South Africa. Finally, the Assembly endorsed the programne of work of the Special Comittee. The new resolution calling for a "Special session of the General Assembly on apartheid" in September 1989 was adopted by consensus. Another on "1MMiitry collaboration with South Africa" (proposed by the African Group) urging States, particularly Western States and Israel, to terminate direct or indirect infringement of the arms embargo, was approved by 123 votes to 2 (United States of America and Israel), with 29 abstentions. A third resolution (proposed by the African Group) on "Dissemination of information against the policies of apartheid of the regime of racist South Africa", requesting the Secretary-General to expand the Department of Public Information unit dealing with radio programmes for South Africa, .was adopted by 132 votes to 1, with 21 abstentions. The primary objection of the Western countries, which did not support the resolution, was a perceived infringement on the authority of the Secretary-General as Chief Administrator of the organization and the financial implications involved. -4- Among the traditional resolutions, the one that obtained the strongest support over the previous year's was a resolution tabled for the first time in 1987, calling for the "Imposition, co-ordination and strict monitoring of measures against racist South Africa". It was adopted by 136 votes to 4 (United States, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federal Republic of Germany and Portugal, which shifted its vote from abstention to negative), with 14 abstentions (128-3-24 in 1987). The Nordic countries, along with Australia, Canada and New Zealand, shifted their position from abstention to a positive vote. The resolution on "International solidarity with the liberation struggle in South Africa" was approved by 131 votes to 3 (United States, United Kingdom and Portugal), with 21 abstentions (129-3-22 in 1987). The main objection was to the term "armed struggle" as a legitimate means of the struggle of the South African people. It should be noted that at the previous session when for the first time the term used