Fourth Committee

Concluding its consideration of decolonization questions today, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved 20 draft resolutions for adoption by the General Assembly, four of them by recorded vote.

Considering that the peoples of the world’s 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories were still voiceless in terms of deciding their own future, the task of decolonization remained urgent but incomplete, many speakers noted today, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its general debate on that issue.

While the people of Western Sahara no longer went to bed with the sound of bombs and gunfire in their ears every night, they still did not live in peace, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it continued its annual hearing of petitioners and general debate on the issue.

The question of Western Sahara generated sharp debate today as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its annual hearing of petitioners, with many speakers decrying conditions in refugee camps and the potentially dire consequences for youth and children in particular.

A debate over the best interests of Non-Self-Governing Territories stimulated confrontational exchanges and elicited strong opinions from a broad range of representatives and petitioners today, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) entered its second day of debate on decolonization issues.

The decolonization process was “in stagnation” despite the progress made since the adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it opened its annual debate on that issue.

Vladimir Drobnjak, Permanent Representative of Croatia to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) on 13 June 2016 (see Press Release GA/11791).

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved its work programme for the seventy-first session, which covers topics ranging from the decolonization of the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, to peaceful uses of outer space, to the plight of Palestinian refugees and Israel’s practices in Occupied Arab Territories.

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved without a vote a draft resolution on peacekeeping, and heard the introduction of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations’ report on its 2016 session.

Concluding its work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventieth session today, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved nine draft resolutions — all by recorded vote — relating to Palestine refugees and Israeli practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.