04 June 2008
UN Committee Approves Resolutions on Information and Visiting Missions
The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation adopted three resolutions on 27th May 2008 at the beginning of its substantive session. The texts read virtually identical to the 2007 resolutions adopted by the committee, and vary little from those adopted annually by the committee since before the beginning of the decade.
The resolutions provide some formidable activities that if carried out over the years of their adoption would have moved the decolonisation process significantly ahead. However, the level of UN implementation has not kept pace with the activities prescribed, necesitating the repetition of the projected activities each year.
The texts now go to the U.N. Fourth Committee for consideration in the fall before being considered by the full General Assembly for adoption in early December.
The actual text of the resolutions are reproduced below.
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A/AC.109/2008/L.4
Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted
under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 1970 (XVIII) of 16 December 1963, in which it requested the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples to study the information transmitted to the Secretary-General in accordance with Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations and to take such information fully into account in examining the situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration, contained in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960,
Recalling also its resolution 62/112 of 17 December 2007, in which it requested the Special Committee to continue to discharge the functions entrusted to it under resolution 1970 (XVIII),
Stressing the importance of timely transmission by the administering Powers of adequate information under Article 73 e of the Charter, in particular in relation to the preparation by the Secretariat of the working papers on the Territories concerned,
Having examined the report of the Secretary-General,
1. Reaffirms that, in the absence of a decision by the General Assembly itself that a Non-Self-Governing Territory has attained a full measure of self-government in terms of Chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations, the administering Power concerned should continue to transmit information under Article 73 e of the Charter with respect to that Territory;
2. Requests the administering Powers concerned, in accordance with their Charter obligations, to transmit or continue to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General for information purposes, subject to such limitation as security and constitutional considerations may require, statistical and other information of a technical nature relating to economic, social and educational conditions in the Territories for which they are respectively responsible, as well as the fullest possible information on political and constitutional developments in the Territories concerned, including the constitution, legislative act or executive order providing for the government of the Territory and the constitutional relationship of the Territory to the administering Power, within a maximum period of six months following the expiration of the administrative year in those Territories;
3. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure that adequate information is drawn from all available published sources in connection with the preparation of the working papers relating to the Territories concerned;
4. Requests the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples to continue to discharge the functions entrusted to it under General Assembly resolution 1970 (XVIII), in accordance with established procedures.
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A/AC.109/2008/L.5
Dissemination of information on decolonization
The General Assembly,
Having examined the chapter of the report 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 relating to the dissemination of information on decolonization and publicity for the work of the United Nations in the field of decolonization,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and other resolutions and decisions of the United Nations concerning the dissemination of information on decolonization, in particular Assembly resolution 61/129 of 14 December 2006,
Recognizing the need for flexible, practical and innovative approaches towards reviewing the options of self-determination for the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories with a view to implementing the plan of action for the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism,
Reiterating the importance of dissemination of information as an instrument for furthering the aims of the Declaration, and mindful of the role of world public opinion in effectively assisting the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories to achieve self-determination,
Recognizing the role played by the administering Powers in transmitting information to the Secretary-General in accordance with the terms of Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations,
Recognizing also the role of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, through the United Nations information centres, in the dissemination of information at the regional level on the activities of the United Nations,
Welcoming the issuance by the Department, in consultation with the United Nations Development Programme, the specialized agencies and the Special Committee, of an information leaflet on assistance programmes available to the Non-Self-Governing Territories,
Aware of the role of non-governmental organizations in the dissemination of information on decolonization,
1. Approves the activities in the field of dissemination of information on decolonization undertaken by the Department of Public Information and the Department of Political Affairs of the Secretariat, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations on decolonization, in particular the preparation, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 61/129, of the information leaflet entitled “What the UN Can Do to Assist Non-Self-Governing Territories”, issued in March 2007, and encourages wide dissemination of the information leaflet;
2. Considers it important to continue and expand its efforts to ensure the widest possible dissemination of information on decolonization, with particular emphasis on the options of self-determination available for the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories, and to this end, requests the Department of Public Information to empower the United Nations information centres in the relevant regions to disseminate material to the Non-Self-Governing Territories;
3. Requests the Secretary-General to further enhance the information provided on the United Nations decolonization website by including the full series of reports of the regional seminars on decolonization, the statements and scholarly papers presented at those seminars and links to the full series of reports 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;
4. Requests the Department of Public Information to continue its efforts to update web-based information on the assistance programmes available to the Non Self-Governing Territories;
5. Requests the Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Public Information to implement the recommendations of the Special Committee and to continue their efforts to take measures through all the media available, including publications, radio and television, as well as the Internet, to give publicity to the work of the United Nations in the field of decolonization and, inter alia:
(a) To develop procedures to collect, prepare and disseminate, particularly to the Territories, basic material on the issue of self-determination of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories;
(b) To seek the full cooperation of the administering Powers in the discharge of the tasks referred to above;
(c) To explore the idea of a programme of collaboration with the decolonization focal points of territorial Governments, particularly in the Pacific and Caribbean regions, to help improve the exchange of information;
(d) To encourage the involvement of non-governmental organizations in the dissemination of information on decolonization;
(e) To encourage the involvement of Non-Self-Governing Territories in the dissemination of information on decolonization;
(f) To report to the Special Committee on measures taken in the implementation of the present resolution;
6. Requests all States, including the administering Powers, to accelerate the dissemination of information referred to in paragraph 2 above;
7. Requests the Special Committee to continue to examine this question and to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on the implementation of the present resolution.
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A/AC.109/2008/L.6
Question of sending visiting and special missions to Territories
The Special Committee,
Having considered the question of sending visiting missions to Territories,
Recalling the relevant resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly and the Special Committee requesting the administering Powers to cooperate fully with the United Nations by receiving visiting missions in the Territories under their administration,
Mindful that United Nations visiting missions provide an effective means of assessing the situation in those Territories and of ascertaining the wishes and aspirations of the peoples thereof regarding their future status,
Conscious that United Nations visiting missions enhance the capacity of the United Nations to assist the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories in attaining the objectives set forth in the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, contained in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, in other relevant resolutions of the Assembly and in the plan of action for the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism,
Noting with appreciation the continuing exemplary cooperation of New Zealand, as an administering Power, in the work of the Special Committee, and that, at the invitation of the Government of New Zealand, two missions to observe the referendums in Tokelau were dispatched, in February 2006 and October 2007,
Recalling with satisfaction the cooperation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as the administering Power, in facilitating the United Nations special mission to the Turks and Caicos Islands in April 2006 at the request of the territorial Government,
Recalling the importance of the previously expressed desire of the territorial Governments of American Samoa and of Anguilla for a visiting mission by the Special Committee,
1. Stresses the need to dispatch periodic visiting missions to Non-Self-Governing Territories in order to facilitate the full, speedy and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples with respect to those Territories, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations on decolonization and the plan of action of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism;1
2. Calls upon the administering Powers that have not yet done so to cooperate or continue to cooperate with the United Nations by facilitating United Nations visiting missions to the Territories under their administration, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations on decolonization;
3. Requests the administering Powers to cooperate fully with the Special Committee in exploring the possibility of undertaking visiting or special missions in furtherance of the decolonization mandate of the General Assembly;
4. Requests its Chair to continue consultations with the administering Powers concerned and to report thereon to the Special Committee on the results of those consultations.
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