in 1965,60 and facilitated the attribution of observer status to national liberation movements, as evidenced by UNGA Resolution 2878 (XXVI).61 Accordingly, the Special Committee and the Decolonization Committee – although not the sole actors that facilitated the independence of previous Portuguese colonies – did present an arena where national liberation movements “were able to gain legitimacy as representatives.”62 In the case of South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe (or ‘Southern Rhodesia’ at the time), the Special Committee on Decolonization has arguably played a more significant role. It submitted demands to the UNGA and UNSC that were substantially more progressive than former UN bodies, demanding that “mandatory sanctions imposed by the Security Council on Southern Rhodesia should be backed by force and should be extended to cover South Africa and Portugal as well.”63 It also recognized the right of colonial peoples in southern Africa to resist, and saw it as an exercise of their right to self-determination and independence. It was due to this resistance and advocacy that the UNGA began, in 1965, to describe the combination of colonization and apartheid as a crime against humanity, as reflected in the Apartheid Convention. The African nationalist struggles were also legitimized in Resolution 2508 (XXIV) of 21 November 1969 and Resolution 2517 (XXIV) of 1 December 1969, adopted for Southern Rhodesia and Namibia respectively. Additionally, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on Namibia in 1971 found that, “the continued presence of South Africa in Namibia being illegal, South Africa is under obligation to withdraw its 60 Yassin El-Ayouty, The United Nations and Decolonization: The Role of Afro-Asia (Martinus Nijhoff 1971), 236. 61 Aurora Almada E Santos, ‘The Role of the Decolonization Committee of the United Nations Organization in the Struggle Against Portuguese Colonialism in Africa: 1961-1974’ (2012) 4(1) The Journal of Pan African Studies 248, 255 <https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/ vol4no10/4.10TheRole.pdf> accessed 5 April 2023. 62 Ibid, 257. 63 El-Ayouty (n 60), 236. 17