U.N. General Assembly adopts 2016 resolutions on decolonisation of Caribbean, Pacific non self-governing territories

PRESS RELEASE

(eXCERPTS)

GA/11868

6 DECEMBER 2016

• GENERAL ASSEMBLY
 
• PLENARY

SEVENTY-FIRST SESSION, 53RD MEETING (PM)

General Assembly, Taking Action on Reports of Its Fourth Committee, Adopts 37 Draft Resolutions, Decisions

Upon the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the General Assembly adopted 35 resolutions and 2 decisions (on 5th December).

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Turning to decolonization questions, the Assembly adopted 21 draft resolutions and one draft decision.  Taking up a draft titled “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations”, the Assembly adopted it by a recorded vote of 125 in favour to none against, with 55 abstentions.  According to that text, the Assembly urged those and other United Nations entities to provide moral and material assistance, as needed, to the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

By recorded vote, the Assembly also adopted drafts on assistance to Palestine refugees; persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities; Palestine refugees’ properties and their revenues; Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan; Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem; as well as a resolution on the occupied Syrian Golan.  It also adopted a text on the applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war, of 12 August 1949, to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and other occupied Arab territories.

The Assembly went on to adopt, also by recorded vote, draft resolution on information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted under Article 73(e) of the United Nations Charter; economic and other activities affecting the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories; and dissemination of information on decolonization.  It further adopted, by recorded vote, texts relating to implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations, as well as to implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

Closely following the Fourth Committee’s recommendations, the Assembly also adopted, without a vote, a series of annual texts relating to the decolonization of specific Non-Self-Governing Territories.  They included drafts affirming the right to self-determination for the peoples of Western Sahara, Tokelau, American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands, New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Also without a vote, the Assembly adopted drafts relating to special political missions, atomic radiation, outer space affairs and offers by Member States of study and training facilities for inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

It took note of a report on the comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects, and another on the programme planning for the Fourth Committee.

Acting without a vote, the Assembly adopted two decisions, one relating to the question of Gibraltar and the other to the revitalization of its own work.

Presenting Fourth Committee reports for the Assembly’s consideration was that body’s Rapporteur.

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(A)waiting action were reports on:  questions relating to information (document A/71/497); information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations (document A/71/498); economic and other activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories (document A/71/499); implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations (document A/71/500); offers by Member States of study and training facilities for inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories (document A/71/501); implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (document A/71/502); revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (document A/71/503); and programme planning (document A/71/504).

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By a recorded vote of 176 in favour to none against, with 5 abstentions (Central African Republic, France, Israel, United Kingdom, United States), the Assembly adopted draft resolution I, “Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations” (document A/71/23, chapter XIII).  By that text, it requested the administering Powers concerned to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General statistical and other technical information relating to economic, social and educational conditions in the Territories for which they were respectively responsible.

It also adopted draft resolution IV on “Economic and other activities which affect the interests of the people of the Non-Self-Governing Territories” (document A/71/23, chapter XIII), by a recorded vote of 177 in favour to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 2 abstentions (France, United Kingdom).  By that text, the Assembly urged the administering Powers concerned to safeguard and guarantee the inalienable right of the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories to their natural resources, and to establish control over the future development of those resources.

The Assembly then took up draft resolution III, “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations” (document A/71/23, chapter XIII), adopting it by a recorded vote of 125 in favour to none against, with 55 abstentions.  In line with that text, the Assembly urged those and other entities of the United Nations system to provide moral and material assistance, as needed, to the peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Taking up a draft resolution titled “Offers by Member States of study and training facilities for inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories” (document A/71/501/L.3), the Assembly adopted it without a vote.

Acting without a vote, it went on to adopt draft resolutions on the Question of Western Sahara (document A/71/502/L.4), Question of Tokelau (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.60); Question of American Samoa (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.63); Question of Anguilla (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.68); Question of Bermuda (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.73); Question of the British Virgin Islands (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.77); Question of the Cayman Islands (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.81); Question of Guam (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.91); Question of Montserrat (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.91); Question of Pitcairn (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.95); Question of Saint Helena (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.99); Question of the Turks and Caicos Islands (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.104); Question of the United States Virgin Islands (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.109); Question of New Caledonia (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.114); and the Question of French Polynesia (document A/71/23, chapter XIII, p.120).

The Assembly then adopted, by a recorded vote of 174 in favour to 3 against (Israel, United Kingdom, United States), with 2 abstentions (France, Togo), draft resolution II, “Dissemination of information on decolonization” (document A/71/23, XVI, chapter XIII), by which the Assembly requested that the United Nations take measures to publicize its work in the field of decolonization.

By a recorded vote of 171 in favour to 5 against (Côte d’Ivoire, Israel, Morocco, United Kingdom, United States), with 4 abstentions (Colombia, France, Palau, Togo), the Assembly adopted draft resolution V, “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples” (document A/71/23, chapter XIII).   By that text, the Assembly called upon administering Powers of the Non-Self-Governing Territories to continue to cooperate with the Special Committee on Decolonization in the discharge of its mandate.  It further called upon administering Powers to facilitate the Special Committee’s visiting missions to the Territories on a case-by-case basis, and to ensure that their economic and other activities in the Territories would not adversely affect their peoples’ interests but instead promote development.

Acting without a vote, the Assembly then adopted two draft decisions, one titled “Question of Gibraltar” (document A/71/503/L.17), and the other concerning the proposed programme of work and timetable for its seventy-second session (documents A/71/503/L.16).

Finally, the Assembly took note of the Fourth Committee’s report on programme planning (document A/71/504).

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Following the General Assembly proceedings, one Pacific decolonization scholar commented:

"It remains a sad commentary that the countries which administer most of the remaining colonies of the world (France, the United Kingdom and the United States) continue their opposition to resolving the contemporary colonialism question as mandated under the United Nations Charter. At the General Assembly session, the two French diplomats scrambled out of their seat in the General Assembly Hall - in rather sad comedic fashion - and ran to the side of the room as the resolution on French Polynesia was being adopted (see U.N. webcast). They returned to their seat when the next agenda item was announced. This rather bizarre diplomatic behavior has been repeated since 2013 and should be unbefitting of a permanent member of the Security Council. Unfortunately, France continues to reject the 'rule of law' by refusing to formally acknowledge the 2013 consensus General Assembly resolution that re-inscribed French Polynesia on the U.N. formal list of colonies, and by rejecting the legal requirement as an administering power to transmit information to the U.N. on developments in the territory which it administers. Apparently, adherence to the U.N. Charter as international law only applies to some countries when it suits them. Meanwhile, the British continue to promote that their brand of colonialism is palatable, while the U.S. rarely speaks on the matter. It is an interesting world we live in at the end of 2016. Despite this intransigence, these countries must be held to account "