Contents: WHAT IT IS • The Territory • HOW IT WORKS • Decree on Natural Resources • UNITED NATIONS COMMISSIONER FOR NAMIBIA • The brochure says the United Nations Council for South West Africa (now Namibia) was established in 1967 by the UN General Assembly as the only legal authority to administer the Territory of South West Africa until independence and to prepare it for independence. The General Assembly had concluded that South Africa, which had administered the Territory since the end of the First World War, had failed to fulfill its duty to ensure the well-being of the people, and it decided to terminate South Africa's mandate and assume direct responsibility...
Contents: WHAT IT IS • The Territory • HOW IT WORKS • Decree on Natural Resources • UNITED NATIONS COMMISSIONER FOR NAMIBIA • The brochure says the United Nations Council for South West Africa (now Namibia) was established in 1967 by the UN General Assembly as the only legal authority to administer the Territory of South West Africa until independence and to prepare it for independence. The General Assembly had concluded that South Africa, which had administered the Territory since the end of the First World War, had failed to fulfill its duty to ensure the well-being of the people, and it decided to terminate South Africa's mandate and assume direct responsibility for the Territory. South Africa has contended that it was not accountable to the United Nations and has threatened to partition the Territory into "homelands." In June 1968, the General Assembly proclaimed that the Territory would henceforth be known as Namibia, and it renamed UN agencies accordingly. An advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, handed down on June 21, 1971, stated that the continued presence of South Africa in Namibia was illegal and that South Africa was under an obligation to withdraw its administration from the Territory. On June 11, 1971, the regional office of the UN Commissioner for Namibia and the Council for Namibia was officially opened in Lusaka. The Council is now composed of these countries: Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Burundi, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Finland, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Turkey, USSR, Yugoslavia and Zaire. Representatives of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) participate in Council meetings as observers. The Council for Namibia enacted, on September 27, 1974, a Decree on the Natural Resources of Namibia. The present UN Commissioner for Namibia is Sean MacBride, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland and Nobel Peace Prize winner for 1974.
