Nine States Sign Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The Permanent Representatives to the UN of nine Member States -- Brazil, Byelorussia, Central African Republic, Greece, Israel, Philippines, Poland, Ukraine and Soviet Union -- this afternoon signed, on behalf of their Governments, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Convention was prepared by the Commission of Human Rights in response to a General Assembly request, first made in resolution 1780 (XVII) of 7 December 1962 and reiterated, with an appeal for urgent action, in resolution 1906 (XVIII) of 20 November 1963. The nine Member States who signed the instrument today became the first to respond to resolution 2016 (XX) of 21 December 1965 in which the General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) adopted the Convention and opened it for signature and ratification. Following the signature, the Permanent representatives of Byelorussia, Poland, Ukraine and the Soviet Union made reservations each in a short separate statement with respect to Article 17 of the Convention dealing with eligibility to become a State Party.
Mr. Sergei Timofeevich Shevchenko (Ukrainian S.S.R.) signing the Convention. At left is Secretary-General U Thant. Standing, left to right, are: Mr. C.A. Stavropoulos, Under-Secretary, the Legal Counsel; Mr. Petr E. Nedbailo and Mr. Yury N. Kochubei of the Ukrainian S.S.R.