Background
As the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) began its annual debate on decolonization issues this afternoon, it had before it 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 (document A/58/23, Parts I to III), covering that body’s 2003 session.
Established by the General Assembly in 1961, the Special Committee was requested to examine the application of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples contained in Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of December 1960, and to make recommendations on the progress of the Declaration’s implementation.
Part I of the report recalls that, in 1991, the Assembly endorsed a plan of action for the International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, which would include the organizing of seminars in the Caribbean and Pacific regions to review progress achieved and the dispatch of visiting missions to Non-Self-Governing Territories. At its fifty-fifth session, in 2000, the Assembly declared the period 2001 to 2010 the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism and called on Member States to redouble their efforts to implement the plan of action. The Special Committee held a Caribbean regional seminar at The Valley, Anguilla, from 20 to 22 May 2003. A senior-level representative of the United Kingdom participated in the seminar, the purpose of which was to review the implementation of the Plan of Action for the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. [The full text of the report of the Caribbean Regional Seminar is attached as an annex to Part I.]
Regarding future work, the report says the Special Committee intends to continue during 2004 to pursue its efforts to bring a speedy end to colonialism and will continue to fulfil the responsibilities entrusted to it in the context of the Second International Decade. The Special Committee will continue to keep the situation in the Non-Self-Governing Territories under review, examining the impact of developments on the political advancement of each Territory. It will also review compliance by Member States, particularly the administering Powers, with the relevant United Nations decision and resolutions. The Special Committee intends to intensify its dialogue with the administering Powers for the purpose of furthering decolonization by developing work programmes for the specific Territories. The Committee is particularly encouraged by fruitful meetings with representatives of New Zealand and Tokelau regarding progress in the process towards the Territory’s self-determination and by the effective United Nations mission to Tokelau, in August 2002. Plans for a study of Tokelau’s self-determination options are still to be developed
Greatly encouraged by the growing interest and participation by the people of the Non-Self-Governing Territories in the regional seminars, the report says, the Special Committee will continue to conduct seminars for the purpose of assessing, receiving and disseminating information on the situation in the Territories, to facilitate implementation of its mandate. The next seminar is planned for the Pacific region in 2004, and the Special Committee will continue to seek the cooperation of the administering Powers in dispatching United Nations visiting missions as a means of collecting first-hand information on conditions in the Territories and on the wishes of peoples for their future status.
Given the importance of disseminating information on decolonization, the report states, the Special Committee will continue to disseminate information on its activities and on the Territories in an effort to mobilize world public opinion to assist the people of the Territories to bring about a speedy end to colonialism. It also intends to develop, together with the Department of Public Information (DPI), programmes aimed at Territories that have requested information on self-determination options.
The Special Committee will continue to pay attention to the specific problems of the small island Territories, which constitute the overwhelming majority of the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, the report says. In addition to general problems facing developing countries, small island Territories also suffer handicaps arising from the interplay of factors such as size; remoteness; geographical dispersion; vulnerability to natural disasters; fragility of ecosystems; constraints in transport and communications; great distances from market centres; a highly limited international market; lack of natural resources; and vulnerability to drug trafficking, money-laundering and other illegal activities. The Committee will continue to recommend measures to facilitate a sustained and balanced growth of the Territories’ fragile ecosystems and increased assistance in the development of all economic sectors, with particular emphasis on diversification.
According to the report, the Special Committee recommends, among other things, that the General Assembly renew its appeal to the administering Powers to take all necessary steps to implement the Declaration; request all administering Powers to become involved in the Special Committee’s work; and continue to invite the administering Powers to allow representatives of the Territories concerned to participate in discussions of the Fourth Committee. It also recommends that the Assembly make adequate provisions to cover the Special Committee’s activities in 2004. Should additional provisions be required over and above the 2004-2005 proposed programme budget, proposals for supplementary requirements would be made to the Assembly for its approval.
Part II of the report outlines the Special Committee’s consideration of specific issues and actions taken on related draft resolutions during its 2003 session, which began on 12 February, including on the dissemination of information on decolonization; visiting missions to Territories; economic and other activities that affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories; implementation of the decolonization Declaration by United Nations specialized agencies and associated international institutions; information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted under Article 73 e of the United Nations Charter; and specific Territories. At its tenth meeting, on 23 June, the Special Committee adopted a consolidated resolution on 11 small Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Part III of the report contains draft resolutions and a decision recommended by the Special Committee to the General Assembly.
The Fourth Committee also had before it the Secretary-General’s report on information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted under Article 73 e of the United Nations Charter (document A/58/69).
[Under Article 73 e, Member States with responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained self-government accept to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General information on the socio-economic and educational conditions in those territories other than Trusteeship territories falling under Chapters XII and XIII.]
Article 73 e transmissions include information on geography, history, population and socio-economic and educational conditions. In the case of Territories under the administration of New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, annual reports include information on constitutional matters. An annex to the report contains the dates of information transmitted to the Secretary-General for the years 2001 to 2004. The Secretary-General recommends that the information received from the administering Powers be used for the Secretariat’s preparation of working papers for discussion by the Special Committee on decolonization at its annual session.
Also before the Fourth Committee was the Secretary-General’s report on offers by Member States of study and training facilities for inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories (document A/58/71), covering the period June 2002 to April 2003. The report lists 56 countries that have offered to make scholarships available to inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories, and in current period offers from Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Mexico, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
According to the report, applications for scholarships received by the United Nations Secretariat are simultaneously transmitted to the offering States for consideration and to the administering Powers for information. In the period covered by the report, the Secretariat received no requests from students for information on the availability of scholarships.
The Fourth Committee also had before it the Secretary-General’s report on 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/58/66). It contains a list of the agencies and institutions that were invited to submit information on their efforts to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions. Summaries of the replies received from those bodies are contained in document E/2003/47.
On the question of Western Sahara, the Committee had before it the
report of the Secretary General (document A/58/171), which summarizes the reports that have been submitted by him to the Security Council on the situation concerning Western Sahara from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003. On 30 January 2003, the Security Council adopted resolution 1463 (2003), by which it extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 March 2003 in order to give the parties time to consider the proposal presented to them by the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy. Subsequently, the Secretary-General pointed out, in a letter to the President of the Security Council (document S/2003/341) dated 19 March 2003, that his Personal Envoy had presented and explained to the parties a proposal for a political solution to the conflict in Western Sahara entitled “Peace plan for self-determination for the people of Western Sahara”. On 25 March 2003, the Council adopted resolution 1469 (2003) extending MINURSO’s mandate until 31 May 2003.
In his subsequent report (document S/2003/565), the report says, the Secretary-General informed the Council that owing to the parties’ incompatible positions with respect to the possibility of negotiating changes in the draft framework agreement favoured by Morocco, or the proposal to divide the Territory, favoured by Algeria and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO Front), he had presented to the Council four options in his report of February 2002 (document S/2002/178) which would not have required the concurrence of the parties.
As a first option, the report continues, the United Nations could have resumed its efforts to implement the Settlement Plan without requiring the concurrence of both parties before action could be taken. As a second option, the Personal Envoy could have revised the draft framework agreement, taking into account the concerns expressed by the parties and others with experience in such documents. As a third option, the Security Council could have asked the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy to explore with the parties one final time whether or not they were willing to discuss -- under his auspices, directly or through proximity talks -- a possible division of the Territory, with the understanding that nothing would be decided until everything had been decided. As a fourth option, the Council could have decided to terminate MINURSO, thereby acknowledging that after more than 11 years and the expenditure of nearly half a billion dollars, the United Nations was not going to solve the Western Sahara question without requiring that one party or both do something they did not voluntarily agree to do.
The Security Council had not been able to agree on any of the options, the report states. Instead, by its resolution 1429 (2002), it had expressed its continued strong support for the Secretary-General’s efforts and those of his Personal Envoy to find a political solution that would provide for self-determination, taking into account the concerns expressed by the parties. Consequently, the Personal Envoy had presented to the parties and neighbouring countries a peace plan for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara (document S/2003/565, annex II), which he had also shared with Council members in March.
According to the report, the peace plan represented a compromise. It envisaged a period of transition during which there would be a division of responsibilities between the parties before the holding of a self-determination referendum that would provide the bona fide residents of Western Sahara with an opportunity to decide their future. Unlike the Settlement Plan, the peace plan did not require the consent of both parties at each and every stage of its implementation.
Assessing the parties’ responses, the Secretary-General had stated that Morocco’s main objection to the peace plan seemed to be that, in the referendum to determine the final status of Western Sahara, independence was one of the ballot choices, the report says. While the Secretary-General felt the peace plan could be amended to assuage the concerns of Morocco, he informed the Council that the POLISARIO Front’s chief objection to the peace plan seemed to be that it was not the Settlement Plan. The responses of the parties, he added, suggested that they still lacked the genuine will required to achieve a political solution to the conflict. Pursuant to Security Council resolution 1429 (2002), the Personal Envoy had developed a fifth option, namely, “the peace plan for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara”.
The report says that the Secretary-General recommended that the Council endorse the peace plan, saying he had reluctantly come to the conclusion that unless and until the parties demonstrated readiness to assume their own responsibilities and make the compromises necessary to reach a successful outcome to the conflict, a fresh initiative to find a solution to the question of Western Sahara was likely to suffer the same fate as the earlier ones. Accordingly, he urged the Council to address the long-standing issue of Western Sahara by requesting the parties to agree to the peace plan as amended, and to work with the United Nations in its implementation.
Further, according to the report, the Secretary-General concluded that if the parties could not agree on an approach for a political solution and if the Security Council was not in a position to ask them to take steps that they did not perceive to be in their own interest, the Council might wish to consider whether it was inclined to remain actively seized of that political process. On 30 May 2003, the Council adopted resolution 1485 (2003), by which it extended MINURSO’s mandate until 31 July 2003 in order to consider further the Secretary-General’s report of 23 May 2003 (document S/2003/565).
Election
Before commencing its general debate on decolonization issues, the Committee elected, by acclamation, Isaac Lamba, from the Group of African States, as vice-chairperson. Today’s action followed the Committee’s decision last week to defer the election of a third vice-chairperson until a later date.
Statements
Committee Chairman ENRIQUE LOEDEL (Uruguay) opened the deliberations on the decolonization items, extending a welcome to the members of the Special Committee on decolonization, which had been responsible for many changes on the face of the map. Decolonization had been one of the most defining issues of the latter part of the twentieth century. Today, due to the untiring efforts of the United Nations, most of the world’s population was no longer under colonial rule. The sterling work accomplished by the Special Committee had been one of the hallmarks of the United Nations success since its inception at the end of the Second World War. The Special Committee had carried out its mandate in many ways, including by sending missions to Non-Self-Governing Territories; careful analysis of information submitted under article 73 of the Charter; and the hearing of petitioners.
FAYSSAL MEKDAD (Syria), Rapporteur of the Special Committee, introducing that body’s report on its work during the 2003 session, said the year 2003 had been remarkable. For the first time in its history, it had held its annual seminar in a Non-Self-Governing Territory, namely, Anguilla. During the period under review, the Special Committee had been guided by the goals of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism and the Plan of Action, which contained concrete recommendations for the action to be taken by the Special Committee, the administering Powers, the specialized agencies and other United Nations bodies to expedite the end of colonialism.
The report underlined the importance of intensified dialogue with the administering Powers, he said. The 2002 visiting mission to Tokelau had recommended that a study be conducted on the self-determination options and their implications for Tokelau. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was ready to finance the task, and the Special Committee awaited the finalization of the terms of reference for the study. The Caribbean Regional Seminar, held at The Valley, Anguilla in May 2003, had been a real breakthrough in the Committee’s work. For the first time, the agenda of the Seminar had focused on special issues concerning the Caribbean Territories. An unprecedented number of chief ministers from the Territories had also participated, as well as senior representative from the United Kingdom.
