Decolonization Committee Chair, in Organizational Meeting, Urges Collaboration, as Delegates Contest Time Constraints During Busy Work Programme
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved its programme of work for the General Assembly’s seventy-ninth session today, with topics ranging from the decolonization of the 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories to the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Opening the meeting, Committee Chair Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes (Latvia) called for a spirit of collaboration as the Committee began its consideration of the 16 items. She also drew attention to the reduced time limits for statements due to the ongoing liquidity crisis and related cost-saving austerity measures.
The representative of Argentina, underscoring the unique characteristics of the Fourth Committee, stressed that cutting time is “not appropriate or right”. He urged the Secretariat to offer alternatives and requested data on previous sessions’ time use and potential savings from the proposed reductions. “It is vital that the decisions that affect the functioning of this Committee be taken by consensus,” he stressed.
In the same vein, Venezuela’s delegate warned that speaking-time reductions could “oblige some delegations to excessively simplify their positions”. He criticized the Secretariat for imposing their priorities. However, the Committee Secretary said it only advises the Chair and does not impose decisions. The proposal on time limits was introduced by the Chair in consultation with the Bureau, she emphasized.
“There is simply no financing to cover extra meeting time,” the Chair said. Noting that the Bureau has discussed the matter extensively, she proposed that the group statements remain at 15 minutes and 10 minutes for national statements but called for strict application of those limits. If the Committee does not manage its time well, then it will not hear from all Member States because meetings will be adjourned at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. sharp, she said.
Several delegates commended that decision, including the representatives of South Africa, Algeria and Cabo Verde. El Salvador’s delegate stressed the need to listen to all delegates, while Uruguay’s delegate expressed commitment to not exceed the time limits. The Russian Federation’s representative asked why other Committees did not make new time limits for statements.
The Chair also noted that the Committee has received 215 requests for hearings relating to the questions of the American Samoa, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guam, New Caledonia, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United States Virgin Islands and Western Sahara, under agenda item 58, entitled “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples”. The British Virgin Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guam and New Caledonia also expressed their desire to send representatives to address the Committee under that same agenda item, she added, also noting that, due to security concerns, two petitioners on the list for Western Sahara will not be issued passes to enter the Organization’s premises and will be removed from the list.
Philémon Yang, General Assembly President, will address the Committee on 4 October, when it begins its consideration of a range of decolonization issues, which will go until 17 October. During this consideration, the Committee will hear statements from representatives and petitioners of the Non-Self-Governing Territories as well as a joint general debate on the issue, according to the timetable contained in its organization of work (document A/C.4/79/L.1).
Among other items, the Committee will consider effects of atomic radiation on 21 October and the University for Peace on 23 October. It will then turn its attention to international cooperation on the peaceful uses of outer space from 29 October to 1 November; questions relating to information from 4 to 6 November; peacekeeping operations in all their aspects from 7 to 11 November; and special political missions on 12 November.
The agenda items titled “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)” and “Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories” will be on the Committee’s agenda from 13 to 20 November.
In other business, the Committee decided to establish a Working Group of the Whole to consider proposals submitted under the agenda item “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space”. Acting without a vote, it elected Sherif Sedky (Egypt) as Chair of that working group.
The Fourth Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Friday, 4 October, for introductory statements and its joint general debate on decolonization.