Apartheid and the United Nations

Abstract

Its official policy of apartheid makes South Af rica the only country in the world in which racial discrimina tion is a matter of governmental doctrine. The situation has been under attention in the United Nations on the grounds not only that the policy violates basic human rights but also that it constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The explosiveness of the South African situation has been increased by the forcible extension of apartheid policies to the mandated territory of South West Africa. Repeated appeals by the Gen eral Assembly and the Security Council, expressions of regret and concern, and demands that it desist from the discrimina tory racial policies and initiate measures aimed at bringing about racial harmony based on equality have elicited no posi tive response from the government of South Africa, which rec ognizes and admits its isolation from world opinion but defends the "morality of its outlook" and boasts that it is not isolated economically. A General Assembly resolution was adopted in November 1962 requesting member states to exercise economic sanctions against South Africa. Not all members are persuaded of the efficacy or feasibility of such measures. Other punitive measures, such as expulsion of South Africa from the United Nations, have been advocated. The view is unavoidable that South Africa is on a course which can lead only to conflict within the country as well as throughout the rest of the conti nent and perhaps the rest of the world.—Ed.