OENERALASSEMBLYTV/ENTY-THIRD SESSION

Oÿcial Records

R HmK# L;UMMI I lMEETING

Monday, 2 December 1968,at 3.SS p.m.

NEW YORK

CONTENTS

Agenda item 62:International Year for Human Rights (con-

tinued):Measures and activities undertaken inconnexion with the International Year forHuman Rights: report of the Seoretaz7-General;

) International Conference on HumanRights.General debate and consideration of draft

resolution A/C.3/L.1623/Rev.1 (continued)

Chairman: Mr. Erik NETTEL (Austria).

Page

#to the 4 April 1964 issue of Pfavda, the CentralCommittee of the Communist Party had criticizedKichko's book for erroneous statements which mightbe interpreted in an anti-Semitic spirit. In addition,the summary record of the 550th meeting of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination andProtection of Minorities, l_/ which had taken placeon 18 October 1968, showed that the representativeof the Soviet Union had admitted that the Kichkobook had been unfavourably received in the SovietUnion. The main source of concern was less Kichkohimself and his book than the fact that publications ofthat type were constantly being distributedby the Sovietms-s communication .media.

AGENDA ITEM 62International Year for Human Rights (continued)

(A/7194, A/7!95, A/7195/Add.1 and Add.3-6, A/CONF.32/41, A/C.3/L.1623/Rev.1, A/C.3/L.1626and Add.l, A/C.3/L.1633, A/C.3/L.1635, A/C.3/L.1636, A/C.3/L.1637 and Add.l, A/C.3/L.1638-1642):

a(ÿ) Measures and activities undertaken in connexionwith the International Year for Human Rights:report of the Secretary-General;

b(b_) International Conference on Human Rights

GENERAL DEBATE AND CONSIDERATION OFDRAFT RESOLUTION A/c.3iL.1623iRev.I (con-tinued)

1. Mrs. ESHEL (Israel), speaking in exercise of herright of reply, said that her delegation was exercisingthe utmost self-restraint in the face of the unfoundedaccusations levelled against Israel, but felt compelledto reply immediately to two of them.

4. Miss TAYLOR (Sierra Leone) said that her dele-gation had noted with great interest the report of theSecretary-General (A/7195, Ai7195/Add.l andAdd.3-6). The Teheran Conference had been the highlightof the International Year for Human Rights, and sheregretted that owing to unforeseen circumstances hercountry had been unable to participate in it.

5. Sierra Leone attached great importance to thedissemination of the human rights principles recog-nized by the United Nations and as the Minister forExternal Affairs had said in his statement to theGeneral Assembly at its twenty-third session (1686thplenary meeting), adherence to the rule of law,effective respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms and tolerance for all men regardless ofrace, creed and ideology enshrined in the FirstCharter of the Government of Sierra Leone of 1787,was now accepted as an almost instinctive part of theway of life of the people.

3. The representative of the Ukrainian Soviet SocialistRepublic had defended Kichko. However, on i0 Febru-ary 1953, when memories of war had still been fresh,Lit_iÿeraturnaya Gazeta had cast discredit on Kichkoby stating that he had belonged to a group of rascalsWhose a!leged participation in anti-nazi activitieshad entirely imaginary. Furthermore, according

2. The representative of Pakistan had called theIsraeli nazis - an absurd identification which was theheight of moral depravity. It was the Arab countrieswhich had given refuge to hundreds of nazi war crimi-nals, and had incorporated them in their governmentalwork. Mein Kampf had been translated into Arabicand new editions were constantly being printed andofficially distributed not only in the Arab countries butin other countries too. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalemand other well-known Arabs had collaborated activelywith the nazis during the Second World War.

6. The International Year for Human Rights shouldbe a period to9 reassessing past achievements anddetermining why some rights had not been respectedand how that situation could be remedied. It wassaddening to note the ineffectiveness of the Inter-national Covenants and other human rights instrumentsadopted by the United Nations; there were gross denialsof human rights in the modern world, where theright to freedom and self-determination was deniedby violence. Policies of racial discrimination andapartheid, such as those practised in South Africa,Southern Rhodesia, Angola, so-called PortugueseGuinea and Mozambique, and the discriminatoryattitude towards Jewish minorities in some EasternEuropean countries, were all situations which de-manded attention from the United Nations andthe ThirdCommittee. More effective actionwas required, parti-cularly through long-term programmes aimed atintensifying international co-operation and encourag-ing countries to take concrete measures to accelerate

1_./ See E/CN.4/Sub.2/SR.546-556 (mimeographed).. ......

the solution of their development problems withmaximum participation by all.

7. She believed that much more could be achievedin the field of human rights if a more constructiveand logical attitude was adopted. Her delegation fullysupported draft resolution A/C.3/L.1637 and Add.1and would like to become a sponsor.

General Assembly -- Twenty-third Session ÿ Second Committee--_..:

11. Mention had been made of the invasion of Czecho.slovakia by troops of the USSR and other countrieswhich were members of the Warsaw Pact. Hiscountry disapproved of that invasion, but he wouÿdrespect the wishes of the representative of Czecho-slovakia, who had requested that the situation in hiscountry should not be used to restart the cold war.

8. Mr. KALPAGE (Ceylon) said the fact that hiscountry had not informed the Secretary-Generalof the measures and activities u'ndertaken in Ceylonin connexion with the International Year for HumanRights did not mean that it underestimated theimportance of human rights--the International Yearhad, in fact, been marked by various events, includingmeetings and seminars of which the public had beeninformed by the mass information media--but simplythat it had been more concerned with economicdevelopment, which would soon enable the peopleof Ceylon, who traditionally enjoyed the civil andpoli-tical rights enunciated in the Universal Declaration,to enjoy economic and social rights as well. Thecurrent economic situation was extremely encourag-

ing, and rice production would cover 75 per centof needs by 1969, one year earlier than had beenexpected. That would make it possible to reduceimports and, together with foreign aid and morefavourable terms of trade, would contribute to econo-rnic progress, without which civil and political rightswould be meaningless.

9. The purposes of the International Conferenceon Human Rights had been stated inGeneral Assemblyresolution 2081 (XX), operative paragraph 13. Eightof the resolutions adopted by the Conference had relatedto problems arising from racial intolerance and dis-crimination. In his view, those problems could notbe ignored and should be given the highest priorityin any international programme for the future. Atthe present crucial juncture in the history of thehuman race, mankind could not move forward muchfurther to the realization of the other goals enunciatedin the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, unlessthat was done. The real message of the TeheranConference was that the world must be freed fromthe scourage of racial discrimination and apartheid,and the Third Committee must see that thatwas done.

12. With regard to the situation of the Middle Eastrefugees, of which the Syrian delegation had givena moving account a few days previously on theSpecial Politica! Committee, he deplored the currentantagonisms, which resulted from historical rivalriesand bitter experiences from the past, and he observedthat such antagonisms could not be removed by re-crimination, anger, hatred and unbridled vituperation.No peace or even reconciliation was possible if theprotagonists to a dispute refused to recognize eachother socially and to acknowledge their opponents,existence even as members of the human family.He regretted that United Nations resolutions had notbeen respected, for whatever reason, andhe noted thatusing the General Assembly for purposes of vitupe-ration and propaganda could only damage its prestige.The United Nations should not be the place where thesituation in the Middle East was aggravated; on thecontrary, it should be used to settle the problem,which had remained unresolved for too long. Herecalled the words of the President of the GeneralAssembly, who, at the 1674th plenary meeting, on24 September 1968, paraphrasing President Kennedy,had urged every Member State to ask not what theUnited Nations could do for it, but what together allMember States could do to make the United Nationsmore effective throughtout the world.

10. The United Nations had established new normssince the adoption of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, but their implementationhad still tobe ensured; the first prerequisite for that imple-mentation was acceptance of and respect for thedecisions made by the United Nations. An attemptmust ,be made toÿ secure universal acceptance forre solutions adopted and for that an understanding of thepoints of view of others and a willingness'to compro-mise on details Were necessary. There could, however,be no compromise on fundamentals and the elimi-nation of racial intolerance and racial discriminationwas a pressing need. It was difficult to combatingrained habits, which were rooted in' the past,but one of the resolutions adopted at Teheran, reso-lution XX concerning the education of youth in respect

13. Mr. ABDULGANI (Indonesia) noted with satis-faction the successes achieved in celebrating theInternational Year for Human Rights. The UniversalDeclaration of HumanRights had exercised a consider.-able influence throughout the world, both internation-ally and nationally, as evidencedby numerous decisionsof the General Assembly and other United Nationsorgans, by various international conventions, and byconstitutions, laws and court decisions in manycountries. The striking achievements included theInternational Covenants on Human Rights, the Decla-ration on the Granting of Independence to ColonialCountries and Peoples, representing a milestone inthe struggle for the recognition of self-determinationas a basic human right the violation of which wascontrary to the Charter of the United Nations and wasan impediment to the promotion of world peace andco-operation, and the International Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,which provided that State Parties undertook not onlynot to engage in any act or practice of racial discrimi-nation, but also to bring to an end by all appropriatemeans racial discrimination in all its forms; theposition taken by the United Nations with regard toSouth Africa's policy of apartheid was also of impor-tance, as was the proclamation of the United NationsDevelopment Decade, which demonstrated agreementamong Member States that economic and social deve-lopment was essential if respect for the dignity ofthe human person was to be assured, and if human

14. Those achievements also reflecteda change intheattitude of the developing countries towards humanrights; since the proclamation of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, more countries hadfreed themselves of the colonial yoke andtheir aspira-tions had radically changed; there had been an incres-ing awareness of the dignity of the human person, andtremendous technological progress hadbeen achieved.However, approximately 30 million people were stillliving under alien domination, deprived of their basicrights, and segregation and ,apartheid were beingenforced with increasing brutality; two thirds of theworld population was living in misery, ignorance anddisease; technological progress had created problemswhich affected the self-respect of the individual; al-though the basic attitude of the world community to-wards those problems seemed to be changing, the con-ditions under which recognition of human rights mustbe ensured remained more or less the same.

15. The principles enumerated in the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights were contained in thebasic laws of Indonesia; the Constitution prescribedrespect for and promotion of human rights, andIndonesia recognized freedom of religion, freedom ofopinion, and the equality of men andwomenin society;a law on the freedom of the Press had recently beenenacted, and a Marriage Bill was before Parliament.In the economic and social field, the Constitutionenvisaged the advancement of general welfare andsocial justice, and the Government was at presentstriving to carry out an economic rehabilitation andstabilization programme that would lay the foundationfor a just and prosperous society in which human rightswould certainly be ensured. The Indonesian Constitu-tion and the Five Principles of Pantasila, which hadbeen proclaimed before the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, still constituted the basis for theimplementation of human rights in Indonesia; in ad-dition, a Charter on Human Rights and Duties ofCitizens was being formulated and would, it Was hoped,be adopted in the near future.

1945-1950, and, secondly, because the people ofIndonesia had had a sense of solidarity with the peopleof Palestine for many years. In 1927, a number ofIndonesian leaders had participated in a conferenceheld in the Middle East to discuss the renewedthreat of political Zionism, which had been stirredup by the Balfour Declaration. Apart from its religiousties with the people of Palestine, and a commonsearch for independence, Indonesia deplored thesituation in the Middle East, asÿÿ it saw that theMiddle East continued to be a meeting place of con-flicting large-Power interests, and that the refugees

• were the victims of that political confrontation. TheUnited Nations should attempt to achieve a politicalsettlement and to find a long-term solution to theproblem of the displaced persons, but in the mean-while, as winter approached, the suffering of therefugees should be alleviated forthwith. The UnitedNations Relief and Works Agency for PalestineRefugees in the Near East was working to that end,and the humanitarian mis sion of the Secretary-Generalin 1967 had been at least a partial success; however,Israel had refused to accept the terms of referenceof a second humanitarian mission, as set forth inSecurity Council resolution 237 (!967) and GeneralAssembly resolution 2252 (ES-V). In his note to theSecurity Council on the question, 2/, the Secretary-General had expressed regret that Israel had raisedobstacles to the new mission by requesting that itshouId also cover the Jewish communities in Iraqand Lebanon.

18. For those reasons, Indonesia was one of thesponsors of draft resolution A/C.3/L.1626 and Add.l,

• which attempted to deal with the matter in a humanemanner and in conformity with the spirit of theInternational Year for Human Rights. He urged theCommittee to adopt that draft resolution, and expressedthe hope that Israel would agree to receive the pro-posed three-member special committee.

16. Draft resolution A/C.3/L.1623/Rev.I, of whichIndonesia was a sponsor, was an attempt to ensure thatthe Proclamation of Teheran, which reaffirmed theprinciples embodied in the Universal Declaration,• would be acted upon. His delegation hoped that the

draft resolution would be adopted unanimously.

17. The Teheran Conference had adopted resolutionIon respect for and implementation of human rights inoeeupied territories. As his delegation had saidearlier in the Special Political Committee, the Indo-nesian people were particularly concerned with thehuman aspect of the problems faced by the Arabsof Palestine, whether Moslem or Christian, and byArabs in other occupied territories in the MiddleEast. The Moslem community in Indonesia had recentlyfOrWarded to the United Nations a resolution ofSympathy for the Palestine refugees in the MiddleEast, and resolutions of sympathy had also beenadopted in the Indonesian Parliament and forwardedto the Secretary-General. Indonesia felt deep concernVer the problem of the refugees, firstly, because

dOnesians were only too familiar with the plight offUgees, since hundreds of thousands of them hadten refugees in their own land during the years

19. His delegation hoped that thepolitieal andhuman-itarian aspects of the refugee problem would beresolved before another generati, on of refugees grewto maturity in the same misery as the present one.It was glad that the International Conference on HumanRights had served to focus more attention on thatand other problems relating to human rights.

20. Mr. JOHNSON (Jamaica) thanked the'Director ofthe Division of Human Rights for the encouragementand assistance he had given to the Jamaican Govern-ment and delegation at all stages in the planningfor the International Year for HumanRights. The itemunder discussion was 6ne of the most important on theCommittee's agenda, not only because the InternationalYear was drawing to a close, but because the issueof human rights underlay everything the United Nationswas trying to do, whether in seeking to maintain peace,to achieve more equitable terms of trade and broaderprogrammes of international assistance, to bringdependent Territories to independence or to elaborateinternational law.

21. The International Year for Human Rights served,in the first place, to focus public attention on certain

2/ Official Records of the Security Council, "Twenty-third Year.

Supplement for July, August and September 1958, document S/8699,

General Assembly -- Twenty-third Session -- Second Committee

issues and to enlighten the public as to the methodsbeing used and the measures beifig taken to achievecertain goals; it should also give the bodies involvedan opportunity to assess activities undertaken in thefield of human rights, at both the national and theinternational level, and to draw up new programmesif necessary. The International Year seemed to havesucceeded better in the first area than in the second,as many delegations had noted with some disappoint-ment. There was no question that the United Nationshad succeeded in publicizing the concept of humanrights and fundamental freedoms contained in theUniversal Declaration, as was clear from the reportssubmitted by Member States, the specialized agencies,and national and international organizations, bothgovernmental and non-governmental. Nor was thereany doubt that the success achieved had laid an in-creased responsibility on States by focusing publicopinion on the promise of a better life contained in theUniversal Declaration. However, it was on thequestionwhat had been done to keep that promise that opinionsdiffered. His delegation took a more optimistic viewthan most on that point; for, in its view, whereexamination of domestic law and institutions had beensincerely undertaken, where economic and socialrights had been strengthened, and where schools andcommunity centres had been established, it could notbe said that the International Year had been of novalue, even if less had been done than the Secretary-General's report (A/7195, A/7195/Add.1 andAdd.3-6)indicated. His delegation also believed that long-termresults were to be expected in areas where tangibleeffects had not yet been reported.

field of human rights since the adoption of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights; to evaluatethe effectiveness of the methods used by the UnitedNations in the field of human rights; and to formulatea programme of further measures to be taken inthat field. Owing to the fact that the methods used hadbeen insufficiently, examined and evaluated the Confer.ence had failed to answer the question whether thehuman rights machinery should be expanded at thepresent stage or whether a more rational use shouldbe made of the machinery now available. The Confer-ence had also failed to agree to detailed futureprogrammes, except perhaps in the case of thestatus of women.

22. The Jamaican Government's programme for thecelebration of the International Year had been mainlyeducative and had been largely dependent on voluntaryassistance. Its goal had been to relate the principlesof the Universal Declaration to the living experienceof the people and to encourage in them an awarenessnot only of the importance of human rights, but ofthe delicate' balance which must be preserved betweenthe rights and the responsibilities of the individual.At the national level the Government had worked tostrengthen the protection of human rights by,alia, extending legal aid services. At the internationallevel, it had continued its study of United Nationshuman rights conventions, and had already takendecisions on a number of them; for example, on23 September 1968, Jamaica had become a party tothe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment ofthe Crime of Genocide. Finally, the Jamaican Govern-ment had decided to award a prize on the occasionof the International Year--the Marcus Garvey Prize--which had iÿeen awarded posthumously to the ReverendMartin Luther King.

23. with regard to activities at the internationallevel, the International Year had proved a disappoint-ment, in the sense that respect for human rights haddeteriorated in many parts of the world. In thosetragic circumstances, it was inevitable that theTeheran Conference should concentrate more on theviolation of human rights than on methods of alleviat-ing or preventing them. Under the terms of General

24. Nevertheless, the Conference had to its credita number of substantial achievements, first amongwhich was the Proclamation of Teheran, adopted byeighty-four States. The Proclamation did not merelyrestate the principles of the Universal Declarationbut noted the problems confronting theworld todayand introduced a number of new principles: it askedall nations to help in closing, the gap between richand poor; stressed the importance of youth in theshaping of mankind's future; recognized as legitimatethe struggle against apartheid; took a positive standon the question of population growth; called attentionto the human rights problems inherent in the develop-ment of technology; requested that the resources re-leased by disarmament should henceforth be used not0nly for economic development but for the promotionof human rights; and affirmed that the eradication ofracial discrimination was one of the most urgent tasksof mankind. The United Nations should ensure thatthose principles were implemented, as it was requestedto do in several resolutions adopted at the Conference.The purpose of draft resolution A/C.3/L.1623/Rev.I,of which his country was a sponsor, was to ensurethat the important work begun in Teheran would becarried forward. The draft resolution dealt with theConference as a whole, but his delegation shared theconviction of other delegations that the Committeeshould deal separately with certain individual questionsarising from the Conference's work, and it reservedits right to speak on them at the appropriate time.

25. In conclusion, he wished to state that the commit-ments assumed by those who had taken part in theConference, as representatives of Governments and asMembers of the United Nations, would not be dischargedat the end of the year. Countries wouldhave to pursuetheir efforts in the interests of all mankind.

26. Lady GAITSKELL (United Kingdom) consideredthe item before the Committee the most importantone on its agenda. She wished to pay tribute to theGovernment of Jamaica, which had proposed that theyear 1968 should be designated as International HumanRights Year. The year had been marked by the adoptionof many measures and by many activities on the partof Governments and the United Nations itself. TheSecretary-General's report contained much usefulinformation on the steps taken by Member StateS,specialized agencies and regional intergovernrnentalorganizations to make the public aware of the imp°r,

IJ

year 1968, including the Assembly for Human Rightsheld in Montreal in March 1968 and the Internationalconference of Non-Governmental Organizations onHuman Rights held in Paris in September 1968.

27. The United Kingdom Government had been activein many ways in celebrating the International Year.It had signed the International Covenants on HumanRights on 16 September and had acceded to theProtocol Relating to the Status of Refugees on 4 Sep-tember. It had introduced a Bill to enable the UnitedKingdom to accede to the 1948 Convention on thePrevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocideand it was reviewing other United Nations instrumentsto which the United Kingdom was not a party. InJune, it had also been host to the Seminar on Freedomof Association held in London. It had made a contri-bution of£10,000 pounds to the United Kingdom Com-mittee for Human Rights Year, which had carried outa large programme of measures designed to give asmany people as possible a greater knowledge ofhuman rights.

29. While it was true that the situation in South Africadeserved special attention, she thought the UnitedNations should wage the struggle against the violationsof human rights wherever such violations occurred andnot merely in South Africa. The notion of human rightsshould not be restricted so as to fit a particularsituation. It was regrettable that at its last session theHuman Rights Commission had failed to take anyaction on the two cases of suspected violatidns ofhuman rights that had been referred to it. If theUnited Nations were to apply a double standard indealing with human rights matters, its reputation wouldinevitably be impaired and the whole purpose of UnitedNations human rights activities would be put inquestion.

I

28. While progress had been made in various coun-tries in the field of human rights, the internationalConference of Non-Governmental Organizations onH°ÿman Rights in Paris had stated that there wererepeated and flagrant violations of human rightsin all countries and in all fields duringthe anniversaryyear, and that gave much cause for concern. Thatsituation was due partly to policies and practices thathad existed before 1968 and partly to events that hadoccurred during the year. Among the worst examplesof violation of human rights were the policy ofapartheid of the Government of South Africa and thesituation in the Middle East. Mention Should also bemade of the occupation of a State Member of theUnited Nations by other Member States who, onlythree months earlier, had endorsed the Proclamationof Teheran, in which they had reaffirmed the rightslaid down in the Universal Declaration of HumanRights. That act of occupation was a violation ofthe rights and fundamental freedoms of the countryconcerned, and more particularly of the rights toself-determination, freedom of information, freedomof assembly, freedom of speech and freedom ofmovement. In that connexion, she recalled that certaindelegations had expressed scepticism about freedomof speech to which other delegations attached funda-mental importance, Those delegations that criticizedthe United Kingdom should remember that it wasthe freedom of speech which existed in the UnitedKingdom that provided them with ammunition to do so.Among other violations of human rights was religiousPersecution which was still practised in the SovietUnion at the instigation of its Government. SuchPersecution affected not only the Jews. Christiansand the large Moslem minority were also subjectedto a continuous campaign designed to undermine theircustoms and beliefs. She wished to condemn alsothe resurgence of anti-Semitism in Poland, which,in accordance with a formula already used by theNazis, was hidden behind attacks on internationalZionism. In the field of racial relations, the UnitedI(ingdom, for its part, had adopted a Race RelationsAct, making discrimination on grounds of race,colouror ethnic or national origins unlawful in the field ofhousing, employment and public services.

30. The purpose of the Teheran Conference had beento review the progress made in the field of humanrights, to evaluate the effectiveness of methods usedby the United Nations in that field, and to formulateand prepare a programme for future measures.Though the results obtained in the case of the secondof those aims had been disappointing, the Conferencehad unanimously adopted the ProclamationofTeheran,which had been signed by eighty-four countries.It had reaffirmed the principles of the UniversalDeclaration and had declared that the primary aimof the United Nations in the sphere of human rightswas the achievement by each individual of the maximumfreedom and dignity. In addition, the Economic andSocial Council had also adopted a number of usefulresolutions, two of them initiated by the United King-dom. There had also been a number of interestingideas in the draft resolutions whichthe Conference hadnot had time to examine, among them the Netherlandsproposal for a committee of experts on unratifiedconventions and the Nigerian proposal for reformingthe international machinery for dealing with humanrights questions (see A/CONF.32/41, annex V).

31. She supported draft resolution A/C.3/L.1623/Rev.l, and wished, in conclusion, to express herconfidence that man would continue to advance to-wards larger freedom.

32. Mr. SOMASUNDRAM (Malaysia) said that theInternational Year for Human Rights had made a greatimpact on the world. Malaysia, like many othercountries, had observed the Year with a radio andtelevision publicity campaign, and the issue of com-memorative postage stamps and of publications re-lating to human rights.

33. He noted that since the adoption of the UniversalDeclaration twenty years earlier, the world had madegreat advances in human rights despite the continuedexistence of inequalities and injustice such as racismand apartheid. At the same time, progress in humanrights was related to economic progress, literacyand peace within each country and between differentcountries. The pre-independence years in some of thedeveloping countries had created economic imbalanceswhich must be rectified before those countries couldenjoy their freedom in the field of human rights.Malaysia, which had had a smooth transition toindependence and now had a stable Government,was beginning to achieve the goals of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights.

6 General Assembly m Twenty_third Session m Second Committee

34. The role of the United Nations in thehuman rightsfield had been highlighted by the Teheran Conferencein its Final Act, one of the most important documentsof the present time. While problems relatingto humanrights could not be considered in isolation from thepolitical, economic and racial problems with whichthey were inseparably bound up, the Third Committeeshould nevertheless discuss them from a purelyhumanitarian point of view and concern itself more withuniversal than with national aspirations. It was inthat spirit that his delegation had co-sponsored draftresolution A/C.3/L.1623/Rev.I, which reaffirmed theresults achieved by the Teheraÿ Conference, and hehoped that the draft resolution would be adoptedunanimously.

sovereignty and independence of countries. In thelight of those facts, Romania favoured general andcomplete disarmament and recommended the mostrigorous respect for the principles of internationallaw.

35. Miss GROZA (Romania) saidthat allthe importantproblems of today were related to respect for humanrights and fundamental freedoms, such respect havingbeen regarded by the framers of the Charter asa requisite for international peace and security.The twentieth anniversary of the UniversaI Declarationof Human Rights was a fitting occasion to reviewwhat had been accomplished by the United Nationsin the field of human rights and what steps had beentaken in that field by Governments.

38. Complying with United Nations recommendations,Romania had taken steps, as a part of the Inter-national Year for Human Rights, to draw publicattention to international instruments such as theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and had heldvarious observances throughout the country. In 1968Romania had signed the International Covenants onHuman Rights, and their ratification was now beingconsidered.

36. Romania had created conditions favourable tothe achievement of independence, freedom and socialjustice; under its socialist rÿgime, every citizenwas able to 'enjoy democratic rights and freedoms.The Romanian Constitution recognized and guaranteedequal rights for all citizens irrespective of nationality,race, sex, language or religion, and the State tookcare that the guaranteed rights and freedoms wererespected and made a reality. Thus the RomanianGovernment was pursuing a policy based on recognitionof and respect for human worth and dignity in orderto create a society in which men could enjoy the fruitsof their labour without interference. Its main domesticgoal was to establish a multilateral economy byutilizing the advances made in science and technology.Economic progress, far from being an endin itselfÿwas intended to ,Taise the level of civilization andculture of society and facilitate the full flowering

• of the human personality. It required conscious andactive participation by the people in the conduct ofpublic affairs and in the preparation and imple-mentation of the country's development programmes.In that connexion her Government had taken stepsto strengthen the social r01e of each citizen in anational community desirous of enjoying the benefitsof freedom and independence.

39. One of the most importantactivities undertakenat the international level had been the IhternationalConference on Human Rights held at Teheran. Herdelegation wished to thank the Iranian Government andpeople for their generous hospitality and the Directorof the Division of Human Rights for his efforts toensure smooth functioning of the Conference. TheProclamation of Teheran and the resolutions adoptedat the Conference reflected the essential problemswhich arose in the field of human rights. She notedthat Romania had been a sponsor of the draft reso-lution on the education of youth in respect for humanrights, which had been adopted unanimously as reso-lution XX. It was regrettable that, notwithstandingthe principle of universality, the People's Republicof China, the German Democratic Republic, theDemocratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the DemocraticPeople's Republic of Korea, representing one fourthof the world's population, had not been invited to theConference.

40. The balance-sheet of United Nations activitiesin the field of human rights during the past twentyyears had been highly favourable. The United Nationshad defined the rights and freedoms enunciated in theUniversal Declaration more adequately in order ÿoadapt them better to the needs of a developing world,and a growing number of States had recognized thoserights in their legislation. Moreover, the two Inter-national Covenants on Human Rights developed theideas in the Universal Declaration by giving them thestatus of juridical norms of international law-. Inher delegation's view, it was important to considerthe problems of human rights in a concrete fashion,paying due regard to the realities of the present-dayworldÿ including, in particular, the need for allpeoples to determine their own destiny. It was, there-fore, deplorable that some peoples were still beingsubjected to colonial oppression and that the policiesof apartheid persisted despite the many condemnationsof the United Nations. Romania was giving materialand moral assistance to peoples striving to free them-selves from colonial rule and believed that everythingpossible 'must be done to eliminate racial discrimi-nation and apartheid.

41. Fully two thirds of the world's population mustbe brought out of their present state of economlcand social under-development, which made the conceptof civil and political rights meaningless.

42. The activitv of the ITn]i:ad Na[iÿnÿ must not stop

37. Socialist Romania, now carrying out a broadsocial and economic development programme ofgreat human valu$, was naturally among the countriesworking for the maintenance of international peaceand security. It was obvious that war, the oppressionand exploitation of peoples, and the denial of theirinalienable right to decide their own destiny werealways accompanied by the most flagrant violationsof the rights and freedoms of the individual and con-stituted an obstacle to progress. If countries were tobe free to devote themselves to their own development,there must be an atmosphere of trust and co-operationbetween all States, regardless of their social and

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±ÿ.um mÿeumg -- z December 1968l

continue to lay stress on the complete elimination ofcolonialism and ned-colonialism, the abolition of allforms of racial discrimination and the policies ofapartheid, and the right of peoples to self-deter-n/nation.

43. Neither the observance of the International Yearfor Human Rights nor the Teheran Conference could,of course, mark the end of all violations of human'rights. They had nevertheless made it possible todraw international public opinion to an essentiallyhumanitarian field of activity and to encourage theaspirations of all countries for freedom and socialjustice. In her delegation's view, the success of theaction taken during the International Year would dependonhow each State intended to contribute to theachievement of international peace and respect forhuman dignity as the highest ideals of mankind.

44. Mr. AMPAW (Ghana) said that it was important,in commemorating the anniversary of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, to review not only theprogress achieved in the past twenty years, but thegaps and shortcomings as well, in the hope of findingways to better the lot of mankind. In that connexion,it was appropriate to recall the statement of theSecretary-General (see A/CONF.32/41, annex II),at the Teheran Conference, in which he had pointedout that the Universal Declaration of Human Rightshad often served as a criterion for evaluating thedegree of respect for human rights as well as a basisfor action both by United Nations bodies themselvesand by Governments and international conferences.Moreover, as the Secretary-General had also notedin his statement, it was recalled in the Declarationon the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countriesand Peoples adopted in 1960 that all States muststrictly observe the provisions of the Charter and ofthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As theGhanaian representative had stressed on the occasionof the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, that Declara-tion had had a real influence on constitutional,legislative and judicial decisions in many countriesand on relations between countries. There was anincreasing awareness of human rights and fundamentalfreedoms, and there was now a concern not only forcivil and political rights, but for economic, socialand cultural rights as well.

in early 1968, had organized activities to celebratethe International Year for Human Rights with publicdiscussions, films, and radio and television broadcastson violations of human rights, particularly legal,political, social and cultural rights. Many govern-mental, non-governmental and charitable organiza-tions had participated in those activities; the GhanaUnited Nations Association had organized a seriesof public lectures on the Universÿd Declaration ofHuman Rights, and the Ghana United Nations Students'Association had organized regional discussions onhuman rights. Ghana had also participated in theTeheran Conference and in the Seminar on Freedomof Association held in London° It had been host tothe Seminar on the Civic and Political Education ofWomen, which" had just been held at Aecra. Ghanawas preparing a sol'emn celebration of InternationalHuman Rights Day on i0 December 1968.

47. His delegationwishedto associate itselfwiththoserepresentatives who had thanked the Government andpeople of Iran for the welcome which they had accordedto the Teheran Conference. It was 'to be hoped thatthe work of the Conference would advance the highideals of the United Nations and reaffirm the con-fidence of peace-loving peoples in the Universal Dec-laration of Human Rights. It was in that spiritthat his delegation would vote for draft resolutionA/C.3/L. 1623/Rev.l.

45. Thus it could not be denied that the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights had made it possibleto better the human condition and had promoted greaterUnderstanding among men. Unfortunately, grave viol-lations of human rights, sometimes involving recourseto violence and terror, were also being committedand must be deplored. The enjoyment of economicand social rights was hampered by discriminatorypractices 'and economic imbalances. The policies ofapartheid and racial discrimination still flourished inAfrica, where millions of people were denied basichuman rights, and in particular the right to self-determination. The gap between the developed and thedeveloping countries also continued to widen, thus

• hindering the full realization of human rights.

46. In order to promote universal respect for humanrights and fundamental freedoms without distinctionof race, sex, language or religion, his Government,

48. Mr. EL-FATTAL (Syria), speaking in exerciseof the right of reply, vehemently protested against theattempt by the representative of Israel to draw ananalogy between certain Syrian citizens and the Nazisin order to divert attention from the daily violationsof human rights for which Israel was responsible.In order to refute those false allegations, he quoteda paragraph from a letter which the PermanentRepresentative of Syria had addressed to the Secreÿtary-General on 6 November 19683/and which provedthat it was the Zionist leaders both in Palestine andoutside who had collaborated with the Nazis.

49. The representative of Israel had protested againstthe fact that Mein Kampf had been translated intoArabic; it seemed he had-forgotten that there werealso Arabic translations of Jewish books, such asThe Jewish State. Moreover, Hitler's book had nowbeen outdone by documents authored by GeneralDayan and Mr. Eshkol.

50. Mr. ABOUL-NASR (UnitedArabRepublie), speak-ing in exercise of the right of reply, said thatZionism was similar to nazism in that it advocatedterritorial expansion, 'resorted to violence and en-couraged racism - all of which were facts reporteddaily in the Press. He asked the representative ofIsrael whether the annexation of Jerusalem had beencarried out by self-determination, whether Israel'sso-called reprisal measures were not acts of vio-

lence and whether the fact of refusing a Christianor a Moslem Arab the right to return to his homewas not proof of racism. In his own view, the onlydifference between nazism and Zionism, intellec-tually speaking, was that the crimes of the formerhad been committed before the United Nations Charterand the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had

3/ ibid.i Supplement for October, November and December 1968,

document S/8892.

8 General Assembly -- Twenty-third Session -- Second Committee

entered into force, while the crimes of the latterhad been committed afterwards. The PalestinianArabs would never yield; they sought to win backtheir rights and freedoms.

51. Mrs. ESHEL (Israel) reminded the represen-tative of the United Arab Republic that all StatesMembers of the United Nations were obliged torespect the Charter, to live in peace and to recognizethe existence of other States, as her country ardentlydesired. There would have been no refugee problemif the Arab States had not attacked Israel in 1948and if they had agreed to negotiate with Israel inorder to arrive at a peaceful settlement. Owingto the lateness of the hour, she would reply in detailon a later occasion to the other points raised by therepresentative of the United Arab Republic.

list of condemnations of Israel by the Security Councilwas eloquent enough not to require further emphasis.

53. Mr. SAYEGH (Kuwait), in order to refute theIsrael representative's assertion that if the warhad not taken place, there would be a no refugees,quoted a passage from the diary of Theodore Herzl,who, as early as 1895, had foretold the occupation ofPalestine, which, he wrote, would one day become asJewish as England was English.

52. Mr. ABOUL-NASR (United Arab Republic) saidhe wished to refute the false allegations made by therepresentative of Israel; he emphasized that, in thehistory of relations between Israel andthe Arab States,Israe! had always been the one guilty of aggression, ashad again been the case in June 1967 when Israelhad launched a carefully planned attack against itsArab neighbours, and that all armed encounters hadalways taken place on Arab soil. Moreover, the long

54. Mrs. ESHEL (Israel) asked that note should betaken of the fact that the Arab delegations hadcontinually accused her delegation of lying and dis-torting the facts, while they had given only a partialpicture of the situation by citing passages from booksout of context. In addition, she emphasized that shehad protested not against the fact that Mein Kam_pfhad been translated into Arabic, but that it had beendistributed officially to young people.

55 Mr. ABOUL-NASR (United Arab Republic) saidhe wished it to be noted that, during the debate, theArab delegations had limited themselves to exercisingtheir right of reply in order to defend themselvesagainst accusations made against them.

The meetlng rose at 6.20 p.m.