Decolonization

The Special Committee on Decolonization met today to approve the guidelines and rules of procedure for its 2025 Pacific Regional Seminar, which will be held in Dili, Timor-Leste, from 21 to 23 May.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks, delivered by Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet, at the 2025 Session of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, in New York today:

Decolonization is not the end of a journey, but the first step on a new path, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said today as the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples began its 2025 Session.

Acting today on the recommendations of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) and Sixth Committee (Legal), the General Assembly today adopted a total of 65 texts, including 49 resolutions and 16 decisions addressing a wide range of international concerns tackling, among others, the effects of atomic radiation and support for the Palestinian refugee agency, as well as the codification of two international binding treaties on crimes against humanity and the protection of persons in disasters.

Concluding its work for the current session, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved five texts today, four of which were draft resolutions concerning Israel and Palestine, which took recorded votes.

The report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices is a distortion of reality and promotes a particular political agenda aimed at “destroying Israel’s image as a democratic State,” that country’s delegate told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today, while other speakers called for a permanent end to the Israeli settler activities, in keeping with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

Israel’s methods of war align with the characteristics of genocide, the Chair of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) concluded its general debate on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space today with the approval of two resolutions and two decisions, appointing Latvia and Djibouti to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Voicing strong commitment to international cooperation, delegates in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today stressed the importance of sharing space technology for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, while commending the effectiveness and relevance of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

As the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) began its consideration of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, delegates underscored the fragility and mystery of that realm, calling for cooperation in preserving its peacefulness and harnessing the potential of space technologies.