U.N. Declaration Condemns Apartheid

Date May, 1979

The U.N. Declaration on South Africa bolstered international mobilization against apartheid and contributed to the dismantling of the South African regime’s racist policies.

Also known as Kingston Declaration

Locale Kingston, Jamaica

Key Figures

• Pieter W. Botha (1916-2006), prime minister of South Africa, 1978-1984, and first state president of South Africa, 1984-1989
• John Vorster (1915-1983), prime minister of South Africa, 1966-1978
• Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007), secretary-general of the United Nations, 1972-1981

Summary of Event

South Africa became a major concern of the United Nations soon after the National Party came to power in that country in 1948. Prime Minister Daniel François Malan, a strong supporter of Afrikaner nationalism, instituted the policy that came to be known as apartheid. Under apartheid, South Africa passed laws that segregated racial groups and gave the government extensive police powers.

The injustices that were being perpetrated came into international prominence as the result of two bloody confrontations between South African blacks and police. On March 21, 1960, black citizens in South Africa were instructed by leaders of the Pan-African Congress, a group of antiapartheid reformers, to appear at police stations without their required identity papers. The protest was conducted without incident everywhere except at Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, where police killed sixty-nine blacks. In June, 1976, blacks in the township of Soweto rioted to protest a government policy requiring some classes in schools to be taught in the Afrikaner language. By the end of the month, six hundred citizens, mostly blacks, had been killed in clashes with the police.

The Soweto riots drew the attention of the United Nations, which began to voice strong opposition to apartheid. On November 9, 1976, the U.N. General Assembly adopted ten resolutions related to the apartheid policies of the South African government. These resolutions, which expressed the General Assembly’s disapproval of South Africa’s recent crackdown on black leaders and organizations, included the following actions and demands. First, the U.N. Trust Fund for South Africa was established to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of apartheid. Second, the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in South Africa was demanded. Third, an arms embargo against South Africa was put in place. Fourth, the collaboration of Israel with South Africa was condemned. Fifth, an ad hoc committee was set up to draft a proposal for an international convention against apartheid in sports. Sixth, the Special Committee Against Apartheid was authorized to organize a world conference for action against apartheid in 1977. Seventh, any collaboration with the racist regime of South Africa was declared a hostile act against the oppressed black majority. Eighth, the racist regime of South Africa was declared illegitimate. Ninth, a program of action against apartheid was recommended to all governments. Tenth, the U.N. Security Council was urged to consider steps to achieve the cessation of further foreign investments in South Africa.

On November 11, the Special Committee Against Apartheid approved the measures proposed by its working group to implement the resolutions. Like many U.N. resolutions of the past, however, these proved over the next year to be only moderately effective. For example, the arms embargo failed to create a defense crisis for South Africa because the country was virtually self-sufficient in arms production.

The ten resolutions were effective, however, in turning public opinion in South Africa against Prime Minister John Vorster. On November 30, 1977, Pieter W. Botha was elected prime minister. Soon after Botha took office in 1978, his regime bolstered the growing antiapartheid movement by launching a social revolution calculated to tear down at least some racial barriers. Botha’s regime integrated sports and outlawed whites-only restaurants. Botha’s labor reforms included elimination of the official wage disparity between the races and discontinuation of the practice of reserving the best jobs for whites. Botha’s reforms were, at least in part, an attempt to stimulate South Africa’s sagging economy by restoring relations with the nation’s natural trading partners in black Africa.

In response to the progress that was being made in South Africa, the U.N. Special Committee Against Apartheid scheduled throughout 1978 a series of tributes to outstanding people of African descent who had worked to build the pride and dignity of black people. Among those the United Nations honored was Frantz Fanon, author and political activist, for his struggle against racism in South Africa. On February 23, the committee commemorated the 110th anniversary of the birth of W. E. B. Du Bois, noted black author and champion of equality for blacks in the United States. In April, two prominent African Americans were honored: Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, and Paul Robeson, a singer and actor who participated in the world struggle for equal rights, on April 10. These tributes provided further impetus to the programs that Botha was trying to institute.

The 1979 United Nations declaration against apartheid was precipitated by a series of reports on South Africa by the Special Committee Against Apartheid. On February 15, 1979, the committee encouraged Iran and all other oil-producing states to cut all links with South Africa. During several meetings held during the first two weeks in March, the committee condemned South Africa. On March 21, the committee noted the nineteenth anniversary of the shooting of scores of demonstrators at Sharpeville. During that same meeting, the committee launched its campaign for international mobilization against apartheid. The effect of the announcement was diminished somewhat by the refusal of four of the most powerful nations in the world—France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom. and the United States—to participate.

The issues that had been raised early in 1979 resurfaced at a meeting of the Special Committee Against Apartheid held in Jamaica from May 22 to May 25. The meeting was held in Jamaica ostensibly to honor Caribbean leaders who had contributed to the struggle for liberation in Africa. The primary purpose of the meeting was to promote greater support of the black population of South Africa. More than one hundred representatives of Caribbean governments and Southern African liberation movements attended, along with members of the eighteen-nation Special Committee Against Apartheid. Participants made various proposals to isolate the government of South Africa and to provide assistance to the African people. The special committee decided to adopt the Declaration on South Africa, also known as the Kingston Declaration.

The Kingston Declaration called for worldwide condemnation of apartheid. It stressed the need for all freedom-loving governments to mobilize against South Africa’s racist forces and its vested interests that had been using bribery and deceit to consolidate their minority rule. The declaration also asked the U.N. Security Council to impose mandatory sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime. This action was taken in accordance with Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter.

On December 12, 1979, the U.N. General Assembly adopted seven resolutions on the question of Namibia, the mineral-rich territory in southwestern Africa that South Africa had illegally occupied since 1915. These resolutions, which were presented as a logical follow-up to the Kingston Declaration, committed the member nations to the following courses of action. First, all states were urged to break off economic relations with South Africa on issues concerning Namibia. Second, nations expressed support for the Namibian people in their struggle for independence. Third, they condemned Western states that had assisted South Africa in nuclear arms development. Fourth, they supported the armed struggle for the Namibian people by the South-West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), a guerrilla movement that had been making periodic forays into South Africa. Fifth, they condemned South Africa’s attempt to give a semblance of power to a puppet regime in Namibia. Sixth, they reaffirmed the Council of Namibia as the legitimate ruling power in the territory. Finally, they directed the U.N. Security Council to impose comprehensive sanctions against South Africa to ensure its compliance with the resolutions.

Significance

The Declaration on South Africa was much more effective than the short-term resolutions of 1976. Many countries that had been reluctant to participate in the divestment of South Africa prior to 1979 began withdrawing their business interests. Foremost among these nations was the United States. In 1986, the U.S. Congress passed antiapartheid legislation that sanctioned South Africa and restricted trade in its products, including coal, steel, and textiles. American companies were prohibited from exporting computers to the South African police or military and from making further loans to the government in Pretoria. Exports from the United States to South Africa fell from $2.27 billion in 1984 to $1.28 billion in 1987. By the end of the decade, two other major traders with South Africa, Japan and the Soviet Union, had followed suit.

The declaration also paved the way for the sweeping reforms that took place after the ailing Botha was replaced with the less cautious F. W. de Klerk in 1989. In only two years, de Klerk stripped away most of the legal structure that had been used to build one of the world’s most unjust societies. De Klerk’s lifting of the long-standing bans on the African National Congress and thirty-three opposition groups on February 2, 1990, went a long way toward giving blacks in South Africa a new political franchise. De Klerk also stopped hangings and released 120 political prisoners. On February 11, 1990, de Klerk stunned the world by releasing black political activist Nelson Mandela from prison. On March 21, 1990, South Africa formally ended seventy-five years of rule over Namibia. Eleven years after the special session in Kingston, Jamaica, most of the reforms that the participants had proposed finally became reality.

The declaration contributed to the readmittance of South Africa to the world community. On July 15, 1991, U.S. president George H. W. Bush expressed his gratitude for the reforms made by the de Klerk regime by lifting most of the economic sanctions against South Africa that had been implemented five years before. Encouraged by the progress being made in South Africa, three other nations—Israel, Japan, and the Soviet Union—also began taking steps to restore economic relations with that country. During that same year, the International Olympic Committee provided a psychological boost to the African people by rescinding its 1970 expulsion of South Africa from the Olympic Games. In 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president, having been elected in that nation’s first fully representative democratic election.

Bibliography

“Assembly Adopts Ten Resolutions Calling for Action Against Apartheid Policies of South Africa.” U.N. Chronicle 13, no. 11 (1976): 38-45. Explains in detail the rationale behind each of the U.N. resolutions and also profiles the people who were instrumental in the formation of the resolutions.

Cell, John W. The Highest Stage of White Supremacy: The Origins of Segregation in South Africa and the American South. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Focuses on the 1890-1925 period in a search for the origins of segregation in South Africa and the United States. Makes a distinction between segregation and white supremacy that is particularly enlightening.

Guelke, Adrian. Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid: South Africa and World Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Discusses the nature and significance of South African apartheid and the reasons the apartheid system ended, with particular attention paid to the international antiapartheid movement.

“Kingston Declaration Calls for New Strategies Against Apartheid.” U.N. Chronicle 16, no. 5 (1979): 27. One of the best sources available for in-depth information on the four-day special session in Jamaica that produced the Declaration on South Africa. Pays special attention to the contributions made by the most influential participants.

Lelyveld, Joseph. Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White. New York: New York Times Books, 1985. South African correspondent for The New York Times employs anecdotes from his travels to portray both blacks and whites as victims of apartheid. Traces the evolution of apartheid by contrasting the conditions in South Africa in the mid-1960’s with those found in the early 1980’s. Provides a wrenching look at the human toll taken by South Africa’s racist policies.

Leonard, Richard. South Africa at War: White Power and the Crisis in South Africa. Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill, 1983. The first carefully documented survey and analysis of the policies and actions of Botha’s regime. Shows that the enduring effect of the attempt to preserve apartheid was to increase the militarization of the country. Chapter 3, “The War in Namibia and Regional Aggression,” explores the role played by the United Nations in that region’s struggle for liberation.

McClellan, Grant S., ed. Southern Africa. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1979. Collection of articles previously published in popular magazines and journals examines the effects of apartheid on Namibia, on South Africa’s economy, and on South Africa’s relations with the world. The essays in the last section discuss the effects on South Africa of the U.N. resolutions and declarations.

“Security Council to Be Asked to Impose Mandatory Sanctions on South Africa.” U.N. Chronicle 17, no. 1 (1980): 20-26. Explains each of the seven resolutions adopted by the General Assembly on December 12, 1979, and also describes the conditions in Namibia that led to the resolutions.

Thørn, Håkan. Anti-apartheid and the Emergence of a Global Civil Society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Sociological study examines the power of collective action and places the antiapartheid movement within the context of global politics.