UN Chronicle | Special Committee on Decolonization to Hold Regional Seminar in Non-Self-Governing Territory

Special Committee on Decolonization to Hold Regional Seminar in Non-Self-Governing Territory
By Darrell Dela Rosa for the Chronicle

Web Article

The Special Committee on Decolonization has approved arrangements for the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Advancing the Decolonization Process in the Caribbean and Bermuda, to be held from 20 to 22 May in Anguilla. The seminar is intended to assess the situation in the seven Non-Self-Governing Territories in the Caribbean, with a special focus on case-by-case processes towards self-determination.

The Special Committee delegation to the seminar will consist of the Chairman and Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia, Earl Stephen Huntley, along with representatives from the major groups of the Committee. The Special Committee also approved the participation of five experts who will speak on relevant topics— Walton Brown (economic implications of self-determination in Bermuda), Carlyle Corbin (political and constitutional implications), Howard Fergus (United Kingdom issues), Vaughn Lewis (self-government and regional integration) and Dwight K.D. Venner (economic and social implications).

The seminar takes place annually and alternates in location between the Caribbean and the Pacific. At the offer of the United Kingdom, this year's seminar in Anguilla will be the first held in a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Taking place within the framework of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2001-2010), as in the past, it will also celebrate the Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of All Colonial Territories Fighting for Freedom, Independence and Human Rights.

Hoping to facilitate the process of decolonization, the General Assembly in 1960 adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, which states that all people have a right to self-determination and that colonialism should be brought to a speedy end. The Special Committee was established in 1962 to monitor the progress of the Declaration, as well as to provide recommendations on its application. In 1990, the Assembly proclaimed the following ten years the International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. The Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism was declared in 2001.

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