23 May 1986

19th plenary meeting

Women and children under apartheid

The Economic and Social Council,

Alarmed by the stepped-up repression and indiscriminate killing, maiming and detention of opponents of the apartheid system,

Noting the concern of women throughout the world about the continuing degradation and abuse to which African women and children are daily subjected by the white minority regime of South Africa,

Recalling that that concern was expressed in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, which also contain proposals for various forms of assistance to be rendered to women and children inside South Africa and to those who have become refugees,

Recognizing that the inhuman exploitation and dispossession of the African people by the white minority regime is directly responsible for the appalling conditions under which African women and children live,

Further recognizing that the equality and emancipation of women cannot be achieved without the success of the struggle for national liberation and self-determination of the indigenous people and the total destruction of the racist regime of South Africa,

1. Condemns unequivocally the South African regime for the imposition of the state of emergency, the forcible separation of black families and the detention and imprisonment of women and children;

2. Demands the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, who increasingly include women and children;

3. Commends the tenacity and bravery of those women inside South Africa and outside who have resisted oppression, who have been detained, tortured and killed, whose husbands, children and relatives have been detained, tortured and killed and despite this, have remained steadfast in their opposition to the racist regime;

4. Acknowledges the efforts of those Governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals that have campaigned for and applied sanctions against the racist regime;

5. Calls upon those countries that support or collaborate with the racist regime to desist from such support or collaboration in the political, military, economic and nuclear spheres;

6. Further calls upon Governments, in view of the deterioration of the situation in South Africa, as a matter of urgency to impose comprehensive sanctions in accordance with Security Council resolutions and the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women;

7. Urges Member States and United Nations organizations to give effect forthwith, in consultation with the liberation movements, to the Forward-looking Strategies that deal with women and children under apartheid;

particular attention should be given to education, health, vocational training and employment opportunities and the strengthening of the women's sections of the liberation movements.