NO DATE
M767 4 April 19' 73
INTERNATIONAL CON'FERENCE ON
COLOWIA1ISV -ANI) APARTHEID
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Whitlam, announced
today that Au~ stralia would be represented at an International
Conference of Experts for the Support of Victims of Colonialism
and Apartheid in Southern Africa to be held in Oslo from 9 to
14 April. Mr John Petherbridge, Australian Ambassador to Sweden,
Norway and Finland and Mr J. Trotter, Counsellor at the Australian
Embassy in B'onn, will attend the Conference which is being
organised by the United Nations in co-operation with the
Organization of African Unity.
Mr Whitlam. said that the purpose of the Conference
would be to formulate a constructive program of peaceful action
to facilitate and hasten the process of decolonization and the
elimination of apartheid.
Participants at the meeting would seek ways and means
by which to obtain the largest possible support from the
international community towards finding a solution to the present / 2
-2-
situation in southern Africa.
Mr Whitlam said that emphasis was expected to be laid
on an assessment of the future needs and requirements in the
vajrious fields of humanitarian assistance to the people
suffering as a result of colonialism and apartheid.
The Conference would also discuss possible future
diplomatic, political and legal action that might be taken by
the United Nations, governments, non-governmental organizations
and liberation movements. 0