Impact of apartheid on the environment (decision 13/7)
At the 13th meeting of the session, on 23 May, the Council had before it a draft decision on this subject submitted by the Group of 77 (UNEP/GC.13/L.13).
The draft decision was adopted by consensus.
The representative of Italy, speaking also on behalf of the other EEC countries members of the Council, and of Australia, Austria, Canada and the United States of America, said that, if the draft decision had been put to the vote, those representatives would have been unable to support the second perambulator paragraph, which touched on political issues that came within the purview of other United Nations bodies rather than UNEP. However, in view of the fact that they all shared an abhorrence for apartheid, which were committed to end by peaceful means in keeping with the United Nations Charter, those representative had been prepared to join in the consensus on the decision.
The representative of Norway, speaking also on behalf of the representative of Finland, said that, while he was utterly opposed to apartheid, he felt that it was not in the best interests of UNEP that the Programme should be burdened with political matters that were properly the concern of other United Nations bodies.