Assembly asked to condemn 'wanton killing' in South Africa, other aspects of racism throughout the world - column

UN Chronicle, Nov-Dec, 1985

Many delegates said that the creation of an illegal interim government in Namibia was an attempt to sidetrack the United Nations from settling the problem, which was only possible by implementing Security Council resolution 435.

On the question of self-determination, a number of specific issues were cited by Committee members, including those related to the Middle East. Delegates drew attention to the right of the Palestinians to self-determination, the need for unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories, and for guarantees to all States in the region of their right to a safe life within their national boundaries. Many States also called for the convening of an international peace conference on the Middle East.

A number of nations, including the United States and other western countries, called for withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and of Vietnamese forces from Democratic Kampuchea, stating that foreign military intervention had deprived those peoples of their right to self-determination. The Soviet Union said the United States had trampled on the rights of the people of Grenada and was conducting an "undeclared war' against Nicaragua. American dollars, it said, were trying to undermine the rights of the Afghan population.

Some countries said the United States was trying to annex Micronesia. The United States noted that a people that expressed their will through periodic and genuine elections had exercised the right to self-determination. Millions in the world were denied that right, and most of those did not live under formal colonial rule. Rather they were States which were nominally independent, although controlled by powerful communist countries.

A few countries, including the United States and Israel, said anti-Semitism was an evil evident throughout the world and even in the United Nations. It was most apparent, they claimed, in the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, which denied thousands of Jews the right to emigrate to Israel and elsewhere. The Soviet Union said that in practice some States encouraged state racism, but resorted to accusations against others. The United States was such a State, it said. That country should grant equal rights to the Indians and other national minorities.

Reports: Reports before the Third Committee in October included a note by the Secretary-General (A/40/694) on a study of the effects of racial discrimination in the field of education, training and employment as it affects the children of minorities, in particular those of migrant workers, requested by General Assembly resolution 39/16 of 23 November 1984.

The report on the status of the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (A/40/606) stated the instrument had received 35 signatures, 29 of which had been followed by ratification. In addition, 52 States had acceded to the Convention, bringing the total number of ratifications and accessions to 81.

The 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had received 76 signatures, 69 of which had been followed by ratification, the Secretary-General reported (A/40/607). In addition, 51 States had acceded to the Convention and four States had succeeded to it, bringing the total number of ratifications, accessions and successions to 124.