§ 28. Mr. Brockwayasked the Minister of Education the terms of the resolution on the practice of apartheid in South Africa considered by the recent United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation conference; which delegations voted in favour of and against the resolution; and the reasons for the vote of the British delegate.
§ Sir D. EcclesThe resolution submitted to the Executive Board of U.N.E.S.C.O. was not specifically concerned with apartheid, but with the recrudescence of racial hatred in many regions. An amendment was proposed mentioning South Africa; the United Kingdom's representative voted against it on the ground that a reference to a specific instance would place the resolution beyond the proper scope of the Organisation. Subsequently, when the amended resolution was put to the vote the United Kingdom's representative abstained for the same reason. The voting on the amended resolution was: for, 16; against, none; abstentions, 5. Three members did not participate in the vote. The individual voting is not recorded. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the final form of the resolution.
§ Mr. BrockwayWhile thanking the right hon. Gentleman for that very full reply, may I ask if he would agree that it is disgraceful that the British vote in an international organisation should not be given against racial discrimination in education, which reaches its climax in South Africa? Is it not the case that the Bantu Education Act means that the great majority of African children are educated only to the scale of being wretchedly paid manual labour?
§ Sir D. EcclesI have sympathy with what the hon. Member says, but the resolution would have been carried unanimously and done much more good, in my judgment, if an amendment had not been moved citing a particular country. I think it a pity that that was done.