FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ Of The Conference Of The People of Goa
Delegates representing the various groups of the people of Goa, Damao and Dio met on the 3rd day of December, 1963, at the Hotel de Palais d'Orsay in Paris, to consider practical steps to meet the situation which has arisen as a result of the armed invasion and occupation of those territories by the Indian Union. The Conference convened by the Goan Association of Kenya, Nairobi, was attended by delegates representing the communities of people of Goa, Damao and Dio in Macao & Timor, the Far East, Ceylon, Pakistan, Indian Union, Middle East, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanganyika, Mocambique, Angola, Iraq, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Germany, Portugal, Brazil and Kenya.
The Conference issued a Declaration of Rights of the peoples of Goa, Damao and Dio vehemently condemning the Indian aggression and occupation and notifying the Government of the Indian Union to quit the occupied territories before the 18th day of December, 1963, by withdrawing all its civil and military personnel as well as Indian civilians who entered the territories after the respective dates of invasion. The Declaration calls upon the United Nations to uphold the inalienable right enshrined in the Charter and Resolutions of the United Nations Organisation by virtue of which the peoples of Goa, Damao and Dio are entitled to the right of self-determination. The Declaration further appeals to all Governments to support the just cause of the people of Goa, Damao and Dio. Finally, this Declaration serves notice upon the Government of India that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of the Declaration, the people of Goa, Damao and Dio will use all means to secure this right.
The preamble of the Declaration stresses that the people of Goa, Damao and Dio are a distinct community in the Indian sub-continent and inhabit territories with well-defined and universally respected frontiers. Over the centuries of European influence these peoples have evolved a distinct and unique culture. It also emphasises that the people of these territories have always repudiated and resisted interference of the Government of India in their way of life.
The Conference adopted a Constitution and set up an organisation called the GOA FREEDOM MOVEMENT to carry on the struggle for the liberation of the territories under Indian occupation. Membership of the organisation is open to all peson born in Goa, Damao and Dio or to their descendants in the male line, provided they repudiate the Indian occupation and stand for free and unfettered Self-Determination.
The organisation will have a Secretariat and as many other branches as may be deemed necessary in the different parts of the world. The organisation wil be run by a Supreme Council of seven members elected by the Conference. The Council has been vested with the powers to co-opt tow other members. The names of these persons may be kept in strict confidence for reasons of their personal safety.
The Supreme Council has unabimously elected Dom Antonio da Fonseca to hold the appointment of the Secretary-General of the organisation. The venue of the headquarters of the organisation will be made known shortly.
The Conference also adopted several other Resolutions among them one on the unity and solidarity of the people of Goa, Damao and Dio and another protesting against the high-handed methods of social, cultural and economic strangulation adopted by the Indian authorities with the calculated design of rapidly exterminating the people of Goa, Damao and Dio.
The Conference passed a Resolution condemning the failure of the Indian Union to obtain a mandate from the people of Goa, Damao and Dio to rule these territories on the assumption that those peoples acquiesced in the integration of those territories with the Indian Union. This Resolution further condemns the proposed elections to be held in these territories as a calculated attempt to vest aggression with respectability and reiterates an unswerving resolve to demand the right to Self-Determination.
The Conference decided to light a torch in the Castle of Xavier, in Navarre, the home of ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, Patron of Goa, Damao and Dio and invoked his blessings on the just cause of the Movement.