DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE DECIDES 2001 CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SEMINAR, HOSTED BY CUBA, WILL BE HELD 23-25 MAY

Special Committee on

Decolonization

2^nd Meeting (PM)

DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE DECIDES 2001 CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SEMINAR,

HOSTED BY CUBA, WILL BE HELD 23-25 MAY

The Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples decided this afternoon that the 2001 Caribbean Regional Seminar, to be hosted by Cuba, will be held from 23 to 25 May.

Also during the meeting, Bernard Tanoh-Boutchoue (Côte d’Ivoire), Special Committee Vice-Chairman, informed members that consultations on the official delegation of the Special Committee to the Seminar had already been concluded by the African and Asian Groups of States of the Committee.  The Latin American and Caribbean Group was continuing its consultations to select one more member for the delegation.

In that light, the Committee decided that the Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Fiji, Indonesia, Syria, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and one member from Latin America would attend the Seminar.

The Special Committee’s bureau, the Chairman said, had agreed with his proposal that, given the importance of the Seminar as the first of the new decade, the full bureau should be present.  That would not be an undue financial burden on the resources available to the Committee for the Seminar.

In other business related to the Seminar, the Committee approved a list of funded and non-funded experts and non-governmental organizations, which was circulated during the meeting.  During discussion on the matter, the representatives of Antigua and Barbuda and Iraq asked for clarification with regard to the composition of the list and the criteria for its composition.  Responses were made by the Vice-Chairman and Maria Maldonado of the Department of Political Affairs, who noted that while six experts had been selected to attend, there were others on the list who could be called on if the selected experts were unavailable.  The representative of Chile noted that his Government would send its own expert to the Seminar.

It also approved a draft agenda for the event, which included items on: strategies for the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism; the role of the Special Committee in facilitating the decolonization of the Non-Self-Governing Territories; and development strategies for strengthening assistance to the Non-Self-Governing Territories by the United Nations system.

Under other matters, the representative of Antigua and Barbuda said that in the past, representatives from administering Powers had ignored the substantive

 parts of the Seminar and had just showed up at social events.  The Vice-Chairman said that in his experience representatives from administering Powers had participated in debates, depending on the issues, while others had come just to observe.  He hoped that the administering Powers would be active participants in the coming Seminar.

Papua New Guinea’s representative suggested that the Committee consider holding next year’s Seminar in New York, to encourage participation by the administering Powers.  The Vice-Chairman said the suggestion would be considered.

Also speaking under other matters, the representative of Cuba stressed that all -– whether they were delegations of the Committee, administering Powers or other countries -- were welcome to attend the Seminar.

The Special Committee will meet again at a time and date to be announced.

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