28 October 1981

42nd plenary meeting

Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 35/40 of 25 November 1980 on the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and 36/11 of 28 October 1981 on the status of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, as well as its other relevant resolutions on the implementation of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination,

Having considered the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on its twenty-third and twenty-fourth sessions, submitted under article 9, paragraph 2, of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,

Emphasizing that it is important for the successful struggle against all practices of racial discrimination, including the vestiges and manifestations of racist ideologies wherever they exist, that all Member States should be guided in their internal and foreign policies by the basic provisions of the Convention,

Mindful of the obligation of all States parties to comply fully with the provisions of the Convention, Welcoming the continued co-operation of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with the competent specialized agencies and other United Nations bodies, especially with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Labour Organisation,

1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on its twenty-third and twenty-fourth sessions;

2. Strongly condemns the policy of apartheid in South Africa and Namibia as the most abhorrent form of racial discrimination and urges all Member States to adopt effective political, economic and other measures in order to secure elimination of that policy and to achieve full implementation of the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and other United Nations bodies;

3. Commends the Committee for paying greater attention to the question of the elimination of the policy of apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, as well as to the elimination of acts and practices of racial discrimination in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories and in all other Territories to which General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 applies;

4. Calls upon the United Nations bodies concerned to ensure that the Committee is supplied with all relevant information on all the Territories to which General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) applies and urges the administering Powers to co-operate with these bodies by providing all necessary information in order to enable the Committee to discharge fully its responsibilities under article 15 of the Convention;

5. Once again invites States parties to the Convention to furnish the Committee, in accordance with its general guidelines, with the information on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, including information on the demographic composition of their population and on their relations with the racist regime of South Africa;

6. Calls upon all Member States to adopt effective legislative, socio-economic and other necessary measures for elimination or prevention of discrimination based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin;

7. Commends the Committee for paying due attention to the steps taken by the States parties to the Convention to assure within their jursidiction the availability of appropriate recourse procedures for the victims of racial discrimination;

8. Further commends the Committee for taking up the problems of discrimination of migrant workers and requests States parties to the Convention to protect fully the rights of those workers;

9. Calls upon States parties to the Convention to protect fully, through the introduction of relevant legislative and other measures, the rights of national or ethnic minorities, as well as rights of indigenous populations;

10. Reiterates its grave concern that some States parties to the Convention, owing to reasons beyond their control, are being prevented from fulfilling their obligations under the Convention in parts of their respective territories;

11. Takes note with appreciation of the Committee's plans to participate in the preparations and the work of the second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination;

12. Requests the Committee to explore the possibility of preparing also for the Conference, in addition to studies on the implementation of articles 4 and 7 of the Convention, a study on the implementation of subparagraph (e) of article 5 in conjunction with paragraph 2 of article 2;

13. Takes note of the decision of the Committee to hold its spring 1982 session at the United Nations offices at Nairobi and requests the Secretary-General to explore the possibilities of holding this session at Nairobi within the context of the implementation of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination.