Assistance to student refugees from Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa

A/RES/34/174

34. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE

174. Assistance to student refugees from Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 31/126 of 16 December 1976, 32/119 of 16 December 1977 and 33/164 of 20 December 1978, in which it, inter alia, reaffirmed that humanitarian assistance by the international community to all those persecuted under repressive and discriminatory legislation in South Africa, Namibia and Southern Rhodesia is appropriate and essential,

Deeply concerned by the discriminatory education policies and repressive measures being applied by the Government of South Africa against black students in that country,

Noting Security Council resolution 417 (1977) of 31 October 1977 in which the Council, inter alia, demanded the abolishment of the "Bantu education" system and all other measures of apartheid and racial discrimination,

Noting with concern the continued influx into Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia of student refugees from South Africa as well as from Namibia and Zimbabwe and the urgent need to provide facilities for their care, health and education,

Conscious of the burden placed on the limited financial, material and administrative resources of the host countries by the influx of those student refugees,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General¹ containing the findings of the review missions sent by him to Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia in May 1979 to examine the status of the programmes of assistance to South African student refugees,

Recognizing the urgent need to establish an assistance programme for student refugees from Namibia and Zimbabwe,

Disturbed by the adverse effects which the application of apartheid, particularly the bantustan policy, is having on settled communities living in South Africa in areas bordering Lesotho and Swaziland, and by the consequent flight of large numbers of families, including children of school age, into Lesotho and Swaziland,

1. Endorses the assessment and recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General and commends him and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on their efforts to mobilize resources and organize the programme of assistance to South African student refugees in the host countries;

2. Decides to enlarge the assistance programme for South African student refugees living in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia to include the care, health, education and other needs of student refugees from Namibia and Zimbabwe;

3. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other relevant agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, to make every effort to mobilize assistance to facilitate the resettlement of refugee families from the border areas of South Africa and to provide adequately for the well-being of the children concerned;

4. Expresses its appreciation that the Governments of Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia continue to grant asylum and make educational and other facilities available to the student refugees in spite of the pressure which the continuing influx of those refugees exerts on facilities in their countries;

5. Notes with appreciation the efforts made by Member States, the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to assist the host countries;

6. Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to organize and implement an effective programme of educational and other appropriate assistance for student refugees from southern Africa who have found asylum in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia;

7. Urges all States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute generously to the assistance programmes for those students, both through financial support and by offering further opportunities for their education and vocational training, as well as by financial and material contributions for their care and maintenance;

8. Calls upon all agencies and programmes of the United Nations system, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Trust Fund for South Africa and the World Food Programme, to co-operate with the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the implementation of humanitarian programmes of assistance for the student refugees from Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa who have found asylum in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia;

9. Further requests the Secretary-General to continue to keep the matter under review and to apprise the Economic and Social Council, at its second regular session of 1980, of the current status of the programmes, and to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session on the implementation of the present resolution.

106th plenary meeting
17 December 1979

1 A/34/345.