Full Legislative History
Resolution Number: 1991-A154
Title: Call on Congress to Reinstate Sanctions Against South Africa
Legislative Action Taken: Concurred As Substituted and Amended
Final Text:

Resolved, That the 70th General Convention of the Episcopal Church call upon the President and the Congress of the United States to reinstate comprehensive sanctions against South Africa until the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and the South African Council of Churches advise that the process for ending apartheid is irreversible, with at least the following conditions having been met:

  1. All political prisoners have been released;
  2. A Constituent Assembly is established;
  3. Sovereign power is removed from the existing apartheid legislative structure and invested either in the Constituent Assembly or another interim structure acceptable to the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and the South African Council of Churches;
  4. The white minority cannot legally reverse or veto the process of change through the present unrepresentative legislative structures;

and be it further

Resolved, That this 70th General Convention recognize the important responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to insure protection and to monitor the voluntary return of South African exiles; and be it further

Resolved, That the United States Government strongly urge the South African Government to collaborate fully with the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in order to ensure that full amnesty and other rights and privileges of repatriation are accorded all returning South African exiles; and be it further

Resolved, That the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and Episcopal Migration Ministries be urged to support within existing resources and facilitate the work of the National Coordinating Commission for the Repatriations of South African Exiles established by the South African Council of Churches; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent immediately and urgently to the President and to Members of Congress of the United States, the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, the South African Council of Churches, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Citation: General Convention, Journal of the General Convention of...The Episcopal Church, Phoenix, 1991 (New York: General Convention, 1992), p. 368.