Decolonization

The Special Committee on Decolonization this morning, resuming its session, approved by consensus requests for hearings from several Non-Self-Governing Territories in the coming days, as well as three draft resolutions on the transmission and dissemination of information on decolonization.

QUITO, ECUADOR, 1 June — As the three-day Pacific Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism drew to a close today, the Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, Diego Morejón-Pazmiño of Ecuador, said participants had had the opportunity to bring to light the challenges still confronting the Non-Self-Governing Territories in the process of decolonization.

QUITO, ECUADOR, 31 May — On its second day, the Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third International Decade for Eradication of Colonialism discussed the challenges and opportunities in the decolonization process of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

QUITO, ECUADOR, 30 May — In a message to the Pacific Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged participants to promote genuine communication at all levels, formal and informal, in which interlocutors are genuinely listened to and heard, on a case-by-case-basis.

The Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Special Committee of 24, will hold its regional Pacific seminar on decolonization in Quito, Ecuador, from 30 May to 1 June.

The Special Committee on Decolonization — also known as the Special Conference of 24 — today decided to hold its Pacific Regional Seminar in the Ecuadorian capital Quito, from 30 May to 1 June this year, to review progress in the United Nations decolonization process.

In a message to the first meeting of the 2012 substantive session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for “constructive involvement” between the Committee, the administering Powers and the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The Special Committee on Decolonization concluded its 2011 substantive session today with the passage of a draft resolution on the Question of Tokelau, which would have the General Assembly acknowledge the Territory’s decision that consideration of any future act of self-determination would be deferred and that Tokelau and New Zealand would renew efforts to ensuring that essential services and infrastructure in the Pacific Territory’s three atolls was enhanced.

Noting the importance of positive measures being pursued in New Caledonia by the French authorities to promote political, economic and social development, the Special Committee on Decolonization today invited all parties to continue advocating a framework for an act of self-determination in which all options were open and which would safeguard the rights of all sectors of the Territory’s population, in line with the 1998 Nouméa Accord.

In a busy day that kept issues of territorial disputes at the forefront, the Special Committee on Decolonization today adopted a consensus resolution reiterating that the way to end the “special and particular” colonial situation in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) was through the peaceful, negotiated settlement of the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom.