Decolonization

The Special Committee on Decolonization decided today to hold its Caribbean Regional Seminar in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, from 16 to 18 May.

Opening its work this morning with a highly personal address by Secretary-General António Guterres, the Special Committee on Decolonization also voted to elect Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela) as Chair of its 2017 session.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Special Committee on Decolonization organizational meeting, in New York today:

The following communiqué on the commutation of the sentence of Oscar López Rivera was issued today 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:

The following statement was issued today on behalf 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 on the fifty-sixth anniversary of the Declaration:

Concluding its 2016 resumed session today, the Special Committee on Decolonization approved two draft resolutions, as its Chair reflected on the need to move past the stagnation characterizing the current state of decolonization efforts around the world.

The Special Committee on Decolonization approved 14 draft resolutions today, including one addressing several critical aspects of the upcoming self-determination referendum to decide the future status of New Caledonia.

With speakers decrying the anachronistic situation and the “open wound” festering in the South Atlantic, the Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution reiterating that a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom was the only way to end the “special and particular” colonial situation of the Falkland Island (Malvinas).

The Special Committee on Decolonization approved three draft resolutions today, welcoming the cooperative attitude towards Tokelau in the first text, and calling for greater efforts by both administering Powers and United Nations agencies, in the others, to implement the landmark 1960 Declaration on the granting of independence to Non-Self-Governing Territories and their peoples.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution calling on the Government of the United States to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence.