IO Files
Department of State Instruction to the United States Delegation to the Seventh Session of the Commission on Human Rights
SD/E/CN.4/58
Draft International Covenant on Human Rights
Right of Peoples and Nations to Self-Determination
problem
What should be the position of the United States at the 7th (1951) session of the Commission on Human Rights with respect to the request set forth in the Resolution (Section D) adopted by the 1950 session of the General Assembly that the Commission on Human Rights “study ways and means which would ensure the rights of peoples and nations to self-determination and to prepare recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly at its sixth session?”
recommendation
1. If majority sentiment in the Commission favors the consideration of this subject, the United States Delegation should join in its consideration.
2. If majority sentiment in the Commission favors some affirmative action in the Commission, the United States Delegation should propose—if [Page 773] some other delegation does not do so—that a resolution on this subject should be adopted rather than the inclusion of a provision on the right of self-determination in the Covenant on Human Rights. Such a resolution might call on Members of the United Nations as well as the United Nations itself and its organs to give due attention in their work to the principle of self-determination of peoples in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.
3. If the Commission decides to include a provision on the right of self-determination in the Covenant, the United States Delegation should seek to limit this to a reference in the preamble.
4. If the Commission decides to include a provision on the right of self-determination in the text of the Covenant rather than in the Preamble, the United States Delegation should seek to limit this to a provision along the following lines: “Each State party hereto agrees to promote the principle of self-determination of peoples in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.”
discussion
Background.
During the consideration of the draft Covenant on Human Rights at the 1950 session of the General Assembly, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia proposed that a provision be included in the resolution being considered by the General Assembly requesting the Commission on Human Rights “to study ways and means which would ensure the right of peoples and nations to self-determination, and to prepare recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly at its sixth session.” This paragraph is included in the resolution by a vote of 31 to 16 with 5 abstentions and 9 absent in the Third Committee.
The vote on this paragraph was as follows:
For the proposal: Afghanistan, Argentina, Burma, Byelorussia, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Ukraine, USSR, Uruguay, Yemen, Yugoslavia.
Against the proposal: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States.
Abstentions: Brazil, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Siam, Venezuela.
Absent: Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Panama, Paraguay.
In explaining the opposition of the United States to the proposal of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, the United States pointed out that the Commission on Human Rights is not an appropriate forum for the consideration of the question of self-determination of nations and peoples.
[Page 774]A Lebanon proposal calling for the inclusion on the agenda of the 1951 session of the General Assembly of the item, “The study of the ways and means which would ensure the right to nations to self-determination,” was rejected by the Third Committee by a vote of 7 to 16 with 28 abstentions and 9 absent.
The vote on the Lebanon proposal was as follows:
In favor of the Lebanon proposal: Denmark, Ethiopia, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru.
Against the Lebanon proposal: Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Burma, Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, New Zealand, Poland, Ukraine, USSR, United Kingdom, Yemen, Yugoslavia.
Abstentions: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Siam, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, South Africa, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Absent: Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Panama, Paraguay.
Considerations.
In view of the 31 to 16 vote in the General Assembly for the consideration of the subject of self-determination in the Commission, it is deemed advisable for the United States Delegation to join in the consideration of this subject in the Commission, if a majority sentiment in the Commission favors this position.
The United States Delegation should point out, if appropriate, that the right of self-determination is a group right and includes many questions relating to minorities. A definition of minorities is being drafted in the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, and it seems entirely inappropriate to include provisions in a Covenant on Human Rights on this question prior to a further report from the Subcommission. In fact, the Sub-commission itself has on the agenda of its next session the consideration of a convention on minorities.
The two express references in the Charter of the United Nations to the principle of self-determination are in Articles 1 (paragraph 2) and 55 (introductory paragraph).