Legal Action to Ensure the Fulfilment of the Obligations Assumed by the Union of South Africa in Respect of the Territory of South West Africa

A/RES/1565(XV)View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1961.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Dispute Settlement Ethiopia Judgements Liberia Namibia Question Negotiation South Africa

What’s in this document?

11 operative paragraphs

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18 December 1960.

1564 (XV). Political freedom in South West Africa

Expresses its deep concern regarding this disturbing development;

Urges the Government of the Union of South Africa to instruct the competent authorities in the Mandated Territory of South West Africa to cease the arbitrary imprisoning and deporting of Africans, including the leaders and members of the South West Africa Peoples Organisation, and to ensure the free exercise of political rights and freedom of expression for all sectors of the population.

18 Dere111ber 1960.

13 Interirational status of South-West Africa, Advisory O f'i11- ion: I.CJ. Reports, 1950, p. 128.

14 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifteenth Se.<- sion, Supplement No.12 (A/4464), part I, section IV.

rn Ibid., part II.

16Ibid., Supplement No.12 (A/4464). Resolutfons adopted on the reports of the Fourth Commillce l 565 (XV). Legal action to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations m,sumerl by the Union of South Africa in respect of the T(~rritory of South West Africa Fite General Assembly,

Ncralliny its resolution 1361 (XIV) of 17 November I ()59, in which it drew the attention of Member States lo ,lie conclusions of the special report of the Committee 011 South \Vest Africa 17 concerning the legal action open to :\!ember States to submit to the International Court ,if Justice any dispute with the Union of South Africa relating to the interpretation or application of the pnll·isions oi the l\landate for the Territory of South \Vt'st Africa, if such dispute cannot be settled by 11cg-ot iation,

,Votiny with·yrmJC conrcrn that the administration oi thl' Territory, in recent vears has been conducted in a ma111H'r cc;ntrary to the· l\1a1;clate, the Charter of the United Natinns, the Universal Declaration of Human h'.ights and the resolutions of the General Assemblv, including resolution 449 A ( \') of 13 Decembt'r 195(), 1,y which :he Assembly accepted the advisory opinion of 11 July )(J~O oithe lnternational Court of Justict' on the quc:ition of South \Vest Africa,13 Notinr; that all negotiations and efforts on the part <1i the ( ;eneral Assemblv, of its several committees and organs constitutt'd and ;11thorized for this purpose, and of .'\krnlwr States acting through such committees and organs, have failed lo bring about compliance on the part nf the ( ;overnment of the Union of South Africa with its obligations under the Mandate, as is evirfenced, inter a1ia, by the following reports of the said committees and ()rgans to the Assembly :

(a) Reports of the Ad l Joe Committee on South \Nest Africa to the General Assembly at its sixth, ,eventh and eighth. sessions,18

( b) Reports of the Committee on South \Vest Africa to the General Assemblv at its ninth to fifteenth sessions, 19

( c) Reports of the Good Offices Committee on South Vv est Africa to the General Assembly at its thirternth and fourteenth sessions,20

Noting the aforesaid reports, and in particular the reports of the Committee on South \Vest Africa concerning the failure of negotiations with the Government ()f the Union of Scuth Africa and the Committee's conclusions that the L: nion has at all times declined to co-operate in any way with the Committee in the discharge of its functions,

I. N oil's with appro1.1al the observations of the Committee on South \Vest Africa concerning the administration of the Territory as set out in the Committee's 11 Jbid., Twelfth Session, Supplement No. 12A (A./3625).

18 Ibid., Sixth Session, Aimcxes, agenda item 38, documents :\/1901 and Add.1-3; ibid., Eighth Session, Annexes, agenda item 36, doc-uments .\/2261 and Add.I and A/2475 and Add.I and 2.

19 Jbid., .\"intlz Session, Supplement No. 14 (.'\/266() and Corr.I); ibid., 1Vinth Session, ,-/nnexcs, agenda item 34, document A/2666/Add.1; ibid., Tenth Session, Supplemmt ,11/0. 1:: ( A/2913); ibid., Tenth Session, Annexes, agenda item 30, documents A/2913/ Add.I and 2; ibid., Eleventh Sl'ssion, Supplement No. 12 (A/3151; ibid., Twelfth Session, Supplemc1it No. 12 ( A/3626) ; ibid.,

Thirteenth Session, Supple-men/ No. 12 ( A/3906 and Add.I); ibid., Fourteenth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/4191); ibid., Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/4464).

zo Ibid., Thirteenth Session, Annexes, agenda item 39, docurnent A/3900; ibid., Fourteenth Sessin11, Annexes, agenda item JS, document A/4224.

General Assembly -

and finds that the Government of the Union of South Africa has failed and refused to carry out its obligations under the Mandate for the Territory of South West Africa;

Concludes that the dispute which has arisen between Ethiopia, Liberia and other Member States on the one hand, and the Union of South Africa on the other, relating to the interpretation and application of the Mandate has not been and cannot be settled by negotiation ;

11/otes that Ethiopia and Liberia, on 4 November 1960, filed concurrent -applications in the lnternational Court of Justice instituting contentious proceedings against the Union of South Africa;

Commends the Governments of Ethiopia and Liberia upon their initiative in submitting such dispute to the International Court of Justice for adjudication and declaration in a contentious proceeding in accordance with article 7 of the Mandate.

18 December 1960.

1566 (XV). Assistance of the specialized agencies and of the United Nations Children's Fund in the economic, social and educational development of South West Africa

Considers that the economic, social, educational and health conditions prevailing in the Mandated Territory of South West Africa, especially as they concern the indigenous inhabitants, are unsatisfactory, and that the need for urgent co-operative action for the improvement of present conditions in these fields is imperative ;

Endorses the considered view of the Committee on South West Africa that assistance should be sought, and that it should be provided by the United Nations, the specialized agencies and the United Nations Children's Fund ;

Invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund to undertake urgent programmes to assist the indigenous population of the Territory of South West Africa in their respective fields;

Requests the Government of the Union of South Africa to seek such assistance and to extend its cooperation to the above-mentioned specialized agencies and the United Nations Children's Fund in implementing such urgent programmes to improve the economic, social, educational and health conditions of the indigenous. population in South West Africa, and to facilitate their work in the Territory in every possible way;

21 Jbid., Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/4464). Fifteenth Session

Requests the above-mentioned specialized agencies and the United Nations Children's Fund to report to the Committee on South vV est Africa and to the General Assembly at their respective sessions during 1961 on the action taken in implementing the presr11t resolution.

954th plenary mfftinr1,

18 December 1960.

1567 (XV). The Windhoek Location Thf General Assembly,

H m1ing r!'aivcd a report from the Committee on South \Vest Africa with respect to disturbances in the \Vinclhoek ~ative Location relating to the removal of the Location residents to a new site called Katutura, 22

Noting with regret that the construction of the new I .ocatinn at Katutura is part of the plan laid down by the present Prime Minister in his former capacity as Minister of Native A ff airs to the effect that Native I .ocations in urban areas, based on the policy of apartheid, must be situated in such a manr,er that a permanent "buffer strip of at least 500 yards" on which ''no development at all is allowed" is maintaine(\ "between the Native residential area and that of anv other racial group", 23 Obsnving with deep concern that on the night of JO to 11 December 1959, after repeated expressions of opposition by Location residents to their removal had failed to obtain the sympathetic consideration of officials of the Mandatory Power, police and soldiers opene(I fire on a crowd of Location residents, killing eleven Africans and injuring at least forty-four others,

l'v' oting the report transmitted to the. United Nations bv the Government of the Union of South Africa24 conc;rning an inquiry into the events in Windhoek Location on 10 to 11 December 1959, and the direct causes which gave rise thereto,

Tal,iny into account the additional information contained in the report of the Committee on South West Africa and in oral and written petitions from inhabitants of the Territory,

1\loting also the many protests received by the Committee during 1959 in petitions and communications against the impending removal to the new Location site on the grounds, inter alia, that the removal was part of the intensified application of the apartheid policy,

Considering that the apartheid policy applied in South vV est Africa is contrary to the terms of the Mandate, the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

C onsidcring further that the application of the apartheid policy, of which the occurrences in Windhoek have been an unfortunate consequence, is prejudicial to the maintenance of ·a peaceful and orderly administration in the Mandated Territory,

Expresses deep regret at the action taken by the police and soldiers in the Windhoek Native Location on the night of 10 to 11 December 1959 against residents of the Location, resulting in the death of eleven Africans and many other casualties;

22 Ibid., Fifteenth Session, Supplement Na. 12 (A/4464), paras. 138-229.

23 Union of South Africa, Seoote Debates, 1956, No. 15, cols. 3884 and 3885.

24 For the text of the report, see Official Records of t/ir Genera[ Assembly, Fifteenth Session, Supplement Na. 12 (A/ 4464), annex V.

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Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

1564 (XV). Political freedom in South West Africa

General Assembly -

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