24 May 1990

13th Plenary Meeting

1990/13. Women and children under apartheid

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling its resolution 1989/33 of 24 May 1989,

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

Recalling that this 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 in which African women and children live,

Also recognizing that the equality of women cannot be achieved without the success of the struggle towards a united, non-racial and democratic South Africa,

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

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

3. Welcomes recent developments in South Africa, in particular the unbanning of political organizations and the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners;

4. Demands the immediate and unconditional release of all other political prisoners and detainees, among whom are many women and children;

5. 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;

6. Urges the international community not to relax sanctions against South Africa until all the provisions of the Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution S-16/1 of 14 December 1989, are met;

7. Appeals to all countries to support educational, health and social welfare programmes for women and children under apartheid;

8. Appeals to the international community for increased assistance for women and children refugees in southern Africa;

9. Calls upon the international community to encourage the atmosphere for dialogue prevailing in South Africa;

10. Urges Member States and United Nations bodies to give effect forthwith, in consultation with liberation movements, to the Forward-looking Strategies that deal with women and children under apartheid, giving particular attention to education, health, vocational training and employment opportunities and to the strengthening of the women's sections of liberation movements;

11. Requests the Commission on the Status of Women to work closely with women in the liberation movements in order to disseminate information and to ensure a proper assessment of the needs and aspirations of the women and children living under apartheid;

12. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-fifth session a report on the progress made in achieving those goals.