Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, to the opening of the 2016 session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, in New York today:
Closing its resumed 2015 session today, the Special Committee on decolonization examined two Non-Self-Governing Territories, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, and approved resolutions reaffirming the right of the peoples of those Territories to determine their own future.
The Special Committee on decolonization today approved a resolution calling for the peaceful settlement of the “Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), as delegates urged an end to the “festering” dispute that had long plagued the South Atlantic islands and surrounding territories.
Swift action must be taken to end the “dangerous status quo” in Western Sahara and to finally grant independence to the “last African colony”, the Special Committee of 24 heard today, as it approved five draft resolutions on a range of items on its agenda.
Puerto Rico remained locked in a cycle of poverty, brain drain and sluggish economic development caused by the “imperialist” policies of the United States, the Special Committee of 24 was told today as it heard from more than 30 petitioners on the matter and approved a resolution urging the United States to allow Puerto Ricans to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
The Special Committee of 24, resuming its annual session today, approved several texts, including on the dissemination of information on decolonization to the Non-Self-Governing Territories, with particular emphasis on the options for self-determination, and the transmission of information from them, while also considering the question of Gibraltar.
MANAGUA, 21 May — The Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization had made strides in holding “frank, open dialogue” towards the decolonization of the world’s 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, said speakers as the Seminar concluded its third and final day.
MANAGUA, 20 May — Entering its second day, the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization heard a large number of calls for the right of Puerto Rico to determine its own political status, with delegates noting that the island’s plight represented the “front line” of today’s decolonization efforts.
Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, as delivered by Josiane Ambiehl, Chief of the Decolonization Unit, Department of Political Affairs, for the opening session of the Caribbean Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism: the United Nations at 70 — taking stock of the decolonization agenda, in Managua today:
MANAGUA, 19 May — Opening the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled that, since the birth of the United Nations 70 years ago, more than 80 nations once under colonial rule, with some 750 million inhabitants, were now sovereign Member States.
