312. Editorial Note
On January 23, 1957, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 1047(XI) by a vote of 60 (including the United States) to 0, with 9 abstentions. The resolution authorized the Committee on South West Africa to grant hearings to petitioners. Resolution 1054(XI) was also adopted on February 26 by a vote of 47 (including the United States) to 0, with 16 abstentions. It approved and endorsed all the conclusions and recommendations of the “Report and observations of the Committee on South West Africa regarding conditions in the Territory of South West Africa.” The United States, however, abstained on Resolution 1059(XI), adopted the same day by a vote of 40 to 11, with 19 abstentions. Operative paragraph 2 of this resolution requested the Secretary-General “to take whatever steps he shall deem necessary with a view to finding such a solution in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.”
In regard to the issue of the treatment of Indians in South Africa, the United States Delegation was instructed to abstain on any resolution stronger than that passed the previous year. The [Page 806] delegation worked to win support for a formula satisfactory to the Indians and the Pakistanis and the South Africans. (Delga 446 from USUN, January 8, 1957; Department of State, Central Files, 845A.411/1–857) General Assembly Resolution 1015(XI) of January 30 passed by a vote of 42 to 0, with 12 abstentions.
The Special Political Committee on the Question of Race Conflict in South Africa deliberated apartheid January 11–21. The United States position was stated on January 16 by Philip W. Bonsai, Chief of Political Liaison on the Delegation and Ambassador to Colombia. He noted that there had been no improvement in the situation and that conditions might be worse. While denouncing all forms of discrimination, he expressed the United States view that “there is little more which the United Nations can constructively do than it has already done without the cooperation and good will of the government of the member country concerned.” He indicated that the United States hoped that this matter would not automatically be placed on the agenda of the next Assembly. The constant attack on South Africa, he observed, had not contributed to an amelioration of the situation and had caused that nation to absent itself from full participation in the Assembly. He hoped that South Africa would return and maintained that real progress would have to be initiated from within South Africa. (USUN Press Release 2589, January 16, 1957; copy Ibid., IO/ODA Files: Lot 62 D 228, Africa-Apartheid pre–1959) The United States therefore abstained from voting on the resolution adopted by the Committee (U.N. doc A/3508), which was subsequently adopted by the General Assembly as Resolution 1016(XI) on January 30 by a vote of 56 to 5, with 12 abstentions. The resolution deplored South African discriminatory practices and invited the government to cooperate in a constructive approach to the question and return to the United Nations. See Yearbook of the United Nations 1956, pages 139–145 and 304–313.