TO CONTINUE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 45, 3 December 1949, Page 5

TO CONTINUE

SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF UNO STRONG OPPOSITION OFFERED (N.Z.P.A.—Copyright) (Rec. 10.25) NEW YORK, Dec. 2. In spite of strong opposition from Britain, New Zealand, Australia and other Powers administering colonies, thei United Nations General Assembly decided that the special committee which examined information from non-self-governing territories should continue for another three years.

The Assembly also (1) decided that the committee has' the right to express opinion on action by administering Powers who decide that territories are no longer non-self-governing; (2) decided that administering Powers must submit information yearly on the status of human rights, geography and history (this previously was optional); (3) expressed the hope that information on political progress would be included in annual reports; (4) invited administering Powers to give equal educational opportunities, without discrimination between Europeans and natives; (5) asked that indigenous languages should be used whenever possible in schools; (6) called on administering Powers to co-operate with United Nations specialised agencies. „ ...

Voting on the resolution was 30 to 12, with 12 abstentions, including' the United States. M. Roger Garreau (France) before the vote was taken, alleged that attempts were being made to establish international control and supervision of colonies which were the sole responsibility of administering Powers. The United Nations had no right to do more than record information submitted under the Charter. The resolution was a flagrant 1 violation of the Charter. France would not follow the recommendations • and opposed giving an unconstitutional committee powers which were blatantly political.

Mi* Shiva Rao (India) announcing his country’s support for a series of resolutions giving the committee wider powers, said the proposals did not represent a backdoor attempt to amend the United Nations Charter. Members must infuse greater vitality into the Charter so that millions ot people outeide the United Nations direct supervision might achieve full selfgovernment in the shortest possible period. India believed the special committee should be a permanent body. . . The 12 nation’s which voted against giving the committee wider power were Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg and Turkey.