Decolonization had been one of the “most defining issues” of the latter part of the twentieth century and beyond owing to the United Nations’ “untiring” efforts, but with 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories still on the Organization’s list, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today heard calls for completing the process through a common endeavour in the spirit of cooperation among all parties involved.
In progress at UNHQ
Fourth Committee
GA/SPD/554
BIO/4652*-GA/SPD/553
Durga Prasad Bhattarai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization Committee) on 18 June 2014.
GA/SPD/552
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), in a brief organizational meeting today, approved its work programme for the new session, which contains more than a dozen topics for consideration, including questions relating to peacekeeping, information, outer space, the effects of atomic radiation and the granting of independence to Non-Self-Governing Territories and peoples.
GA/SPD/551
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today recommended for adoption by the General Assembly a draft resolution that would urge Member States and the United Nations to implement measures identified by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.
GA/SPD/550
The Fourth Committee today concluded its work for the session with the approval of 11 draft resolutions and one draft decision, including, for the first time, a text on special political missions, bringing to 28 the total number of drafts it sent to the General Assembly for adoption.
GA/SPD/549
The optimism stemming from the latest Middle East peace initiative had become fraught with dangers that could take it “back to square one”, the Fourth Committee heard today as it concluded its consideration of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.
GA/SPD/548
Despite Israel’s lack of cooperation with the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, that body had confirmed a “number of disturbing trends”, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it began its annual consideration of the item.
GA/SPD/547
Israel supported the humanitarian work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by approving the vast majority of its requests and providing it unrestricted access to Israeli officials, its representative told the Fourth Committee today, adding, however, that the country “deeply opposes UNRWA’s political agenda”.
GA/SPD/546
Palestine refugees were living proof of a conflict unresolved across generations and a contemporary symbol of the difficulties of peacemaking and the high cost of its failures, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
GA/SPD/545
Through the deployment of special political missions across the world, the United Nations had diversified its crisis-response “toolbox”, and Member States now had at their disposal a wider number of mechanisms for a nimbler, more coherent response in wake of conflict, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard during consideration of the new item on its agenda.