General Assembly Session 56 meeting 82

The Acting President

I call on Mr. Bernard Tanoh-Boutchoué of Côte d'Ivoire, Acting Chairman 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, to introduce the Committee's report and draft resolution A/56/L.40.

Mr. Tanoh-Boutchoué (Cote d'Ivoire)

It is a great honour for me, as representative of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, to speak in the General Assembly in my capacity as Acting Chairman of the Special Committee, to provide a brief review of the Committee's work as the Assembly considers the question of the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

In the absence of the Rapporteur of the Special Committee, Mr. Fayssal Mekdad, I also have the honour to introduce the report of the Special Committee on its work during 2001, as contained in document A/56/23.

The report is divided into three parts, with the recommendations for action being presented in part III. Part I describes the establishment, organization and activities of the Committee, its relations with United Nations bodies and intergovernmental, non-governmental and regional organizations, and its activities relating to international conventions.

I wish, in particular, to draw the Assembly's attention to section J of chapter I of part I, which outlines the future programme of work the Committee intends to undertake during 2002, subject to the approval of the General Assembly. Part I of the report also deals with the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. In addition, it contains the report of the Caribbean Regional Seminar held in Havana, Cuba, in May 2001.

Part II of the report presents a brief account of the Committee's deliberations regarding the substantive issues on its agenda. Those include the dissemination of information on decolonization, the question of sending visiting missions to Territories, economic and other activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, military activities carried out by administering Powers in Territories under their administration, and the implementation of the Declaration by the specialized agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations. Part II also includes chapters related to the information transmitted under Article 73 e of the Charter and chapters dealing with Territories.

As I mentioned earlier, all the recommendations of the Special Committee can be found in part III of the report.

The report before the Assembly describes the work carried out by the Special Committee in the implementation of the mandate entrusted to it by the General Assembly. I would now like to highlight some of the activities of the last year.

Unfortunately, despite the progress made since the adoption of the 1960 Declaration, the process of decolonization is still incomplete. Therefore, our deliberations during this first year of the Second Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism have again been focused essentially on the political, economic and social situation prevailing in the remaining 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories. We have reviewed the information provided by the administering Powers in accordance with Article 73 e of the Charter, as well as the working papers on each Territory prepared by the Secretariat. We also heard statements made by representatives of the Territories, petitioners, other senior officials and non-governmental organizations.

The Committee held 10 formal meetings, five informal meetings and numerous consultations in order to reach consensus on the issues before it. At the end of our session, we adopted 10 draft resolutions by consensus, including one on the Falklands Islands (Malvinas) and one on Puerto Rico and one decision on military activities and arrangements. We also continued to point out the need for close collaboration between the Economic and Social Council and the Special Committee regarding international assistance to the Territories. At Geneva last July, the Economic and Social Council adopted a draft resolution on the implementation of the Declaration by the specialized agencies.

We were very encouraged by the record number of participants from the Territories that attended the Caribbean Regional Seminar held in Cuba in May. The Committee took the opportunity to hear the concerns of the participants and to inform them about its work, particularly its desire to engage the administering Powers in developing decolonization plans through work programmes for the individual Territories concerned. We emphasized that the views of the peoples of the territories must be fully taken into account in any future decolonization work programmes. The Committee has repeatedly stressed that the cooperation of the administering Powers is essential for the Committee to make progress in its work.

During 2001, we continued to enjoy the constructive cooperation of New Zealand. We are pleased that representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States also attended some of our meetings, albeit informally, and that, for the first time, the United Kingdom officially attended our Regional Seminar in Havana. France attended meetings devoted to New Caledonia, and Portugal, the former administering Power in East Timor, also attended meetings of the Committee. We hope that our working relationship with all the administering Powers will be further strengthened to allow for real progress in the consideration of the Territories' needs and aspirations.

In that regard, the meetings held in June by the members of the Committee with the representatives of New Zealand and Tokelau were very instructive. We discussed the best way to work in partnership to ensure that any eventual plan for self-determination would reflect faithfully the wishes of the people regarding their future political status and living conditions. We look forward to our future meetings on this issue. Experience has also shown how the case-by-case work programmes for decolonization can be a useful tool when we have the cooperation and good will of all parties involved.

Encouraged by our meetings on Tokelau, we look forward to greater involvement in the work of the Committee by all the administering Powers informally or, preferably, formally. In that regard, we are still awaiting the responses of the United Kingdom and the United States on how to proceed together with the informal dialogue begun over a year ago on Pitcairn and American Samoa. Again, we must stress that any decolonization process must include representatives of the Territories at every stage. We hope that the administering Powers will seize the opportunity before them to make progress in the Committee's work, to the benefit of all partners. A process as complex as decolonization undoubtedly requires consistent efforts by all concerned if we expect to obtain the desired results.

The elections for a Constituent Assembly held this year in the Non-Self-Governing Territory of East Timor provide cause for encouragement. The Committee commends the people of East Timor for the civic-mindedness they have resolutely displayed throughout the process that is taking East Timor towards independence. We also applaud the valuable contribution of the United Nations and the international community at large for the progress made in the Territory.

I now wish to introduce, for the Assembly's consideration and approval, a draft resolution on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, contained in document A/56/L.40.

The draft resolution before us closely follows the text of the resolution adopted by the General Assembly at its last session. Bearing in mind the declaration of a Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, the text reaffirms once again that the existence of colonialism is incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; it also reaffirms the General Assembly's determination to continue to take all steps necessary to bring about the complete and speedy eradication of colonialism.

In the draft resolution, the General Assembly affirms once again its support for the aspirations of the peoples under colonial rule to exercise their right to self-determination, including independence, in accordance with relevant resolutions of the United Nations on decolonization. It calls upon the administering Powers to finalize before the end of 2002 a constructive programme of work on a case-by-case basis for the Non-Self-Governing Territories to facilitate the implementation of the mandate of the Special Committee and the relevant resolutions on decolonization, including resolutions on specific Territories.

In that context, the draft resolution contains a new element, appearing in operative paragraph 7, in which the General Assembly welcomes the ongoing consultations between the Special Committee and New Zealand, as administering Power for Tokelau, with the participation of representatives of the people of Tokelau, with a view to formulating a programme of work on the question of Tokelau.

Operative paragraph 8 contains several provisions concerning the Special Committee's programme of work. In it, the Assembly requests the Special Committee to formulate specific proposals to bring about an end to colonialism; to examine the implementation by Member States of relevant resolutions; to continue to pay special attention to the small Territories, including through the dispatch of visiting missions; to finalize before the end of 2002 a constructive programme of work on a case-by-case basis for each Territory; to enlist worldwide support for decolonization; to conduct seminars; and to observe annually the Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The draft resolution also contains paragraphs specifically concerning economic activities, the exploitation of natural resources and military activities and arrangements in the Territories.

The draft resolution urges all States and specialized agencies to provide moral and material assistance to the Territories and requests that the administering Powers make use of all possible assistance, on both a bilateral and a multilateral basis, in the strengthening of the economies of those Territories.

The draft resolution reaffirms that visiting missions are an effective means of ascertaining the situation in the Territories. It therefore calls upon the administering Powers to continue to facilitate visiting missions and upon those that have not participated formally in the work of the Special Committee to do so at its session in 2002.

Finally, the draft resolution requests the Secretary-General, the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to provide economic, social and other assistance to the Non-Self-Governing Territories and to continue to do so, as appropriate, after they exercise their right to self-determination, including independence.

The text of the draft resolution before the Assembly is the fruit of transparent consultations carried out in a spirit of cooperation with interested delegations with a view to achieving consensus. I urge all delegations to the General Assembly to welcome the recommendations submitted by the Special Committee so that we may proceed with our work of promoting the rights and interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Before concluding, on behalf of all the members of the Special Committee, I wish to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the effective technical and substantive support of the Secretariat throughout the session. I also wish to thank my colleagues on the Bureau of the Committee -- Vice-Chairman Ambassador Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla of Cuba and Rapporteur Mr. Fayssal Mekdad of the Syrian Arab Republic -- for their cooperation and support while I was working as Acting Chairman of the Special Committee. Naturally, I also wish to thank all the members of the Special Committee for their dynamic cooperation.

The Acting President

I should like to inform members that the General Assembly will take action on the two draft resolutions under agenda item 18 after all reports of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) have been considered.