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.
Citing growing cooperation among all stakeholders concerned to eradicate colonialism across the globe, a senior United Nations political official this morning called for innovative, practical ways to address the issue of self-government, as the Special Committee on Decolonization opened its 2015 session.
Although greeted with some initial suspicion, a recent visiting mission to New Caledonia was generally well received, the Special Committee on Decolonization heard today.
NADI, FIJI, 21 May — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged participants in the Pacific Regional Seminar to take into consideration recent developments in the region, such as the March 2014 visiting mission of the Special Committee on Decolonization to New Caledonia and other initiatives that made that body more visible and active.
NADI, FIJI, 22 May — The second day of the Pacific Regional Seminar saw participants discuss developments and challenges in accelerating the decolonization of Non-Self-Governing Territories, and generated significant debate on the need to accelerate action in Non-Self-Governing Territories of other regions.
NADI, FIJI, 23 May — At the conclusion of its three-day discussion on ways in which to accelerate decolonization, participants in the 2014 Pacific Regional Seminar considered the event’s impact on the process and debated the way forward in promoting the goals of the Third International Decade.
Resuming its session today, the Special Committee on Decolonization approved, without a vote, three draft resolutions on information relating to the Non-Self-Governing Territories that remained under its purview.
Acting without a vote, the Special Committee on Decolonization approved four draft resolutions today to accelerate efforts to create a world free of colonialism.
The Special Committee on Decolonization today called on the United States to again expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence, as well as take decisions, in a sovereign manner, to address their economic and social needs.
The Special Committee on Decolonization today concluded its 2014 substantive session with the approval, without a vote, of three draft resolutions, including one calling on France, New Caledonia’s administering Power, to consider developing an education programme to inform the people in the Territory about the nature of self-determination and prepare them for a future decision on the matter.