Special Committee on

Decolonization

2^nd Meeting (AM)

SPECIAL COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS REMOVAL OF INDEPENDENT EAST TIMOR

FROM LIST OF NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES

At its independence, the General Assembly would remove East Timor from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, according to a draft resolution adopted by consensus this morning by the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

According to the draft text (document A/AC.109/2002/L.3), the Assembly would also recall the important role the Committee played over the years in promoting the decolonization of East Timor.

By other terms, the Assembly would welcome the progress made in the Territory, commending the Secretary-General, his Special Representative and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) for their efforts to assist the Territory during its transition to independence.  It would also welcome the coming official transfer of power from the United Nations to the East Timor Government institutions.

Also this morning, the Special Committee decided to hold its Pacific Regional Seminar in Nadi, Fiji, from 14 to 16 May 2002, and to celebrate the Week of Solidarity with peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories during the course of that meeting. 

Saint Lucia, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Syria, China, Cuba, Chile, Grenada and the Russian Federation would represent the Special Committee at that Seminar, the Committee agreed.  The Special Committee approved, in addition, the list of funded and non-funded experts and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be invited to participate in the Seminar, along with its guidelines, rules of procedure and agenda.

Representatives of Syria, Papua New Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda and Fiji spoke this morning on arrangements for the Regional Seminar.

[The Special Committee on Decolonization was created by General Assembly resolution 1654 of 1961 to examine and make recommendations on the application of the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and to make suggestions and recommendations on the progress and extent of the implementation of the Declaration.  (For further background information, see Press Release GA/COL/3059 of 12 February 2002.)]

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