International Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories
In the UN Charter, a Non-Self-Governing Territory is
defined as a Territory “whose people have not yet attained a full measure of
self-government.”
In 1946, several UN Member States identified a number of
Territories under their administration that were not self-governing and placed
them on a UN list. Countries administering Non-Self-Governing Territories are
called administering Powers. As a result of the decolonization process
over the years, most of the Territories were removed from the list.
Chapter XI of the UN Charter - the
Declaration regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories - provides that Member
States administering Territories, which have not attained self-government
recognize "that the interests of the inhabitants of these Territories are
paramount" and accept as a "sacred trust" the obligation to
promote their well-being.
Chapter IX urged the administering Powers concerned
to take effective measures to safeguard and guarantee the inalienable rights of
the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories to their natural resources,
including land, and to establish and maintain control over the future development
of those resources, and requested the Administering Powers to take all
necessary steps to protect the property rights of the peoples of those
Territories.
Administering Powers, in addition to ensuring the
political, economic, social and educational advancement of the peoples,
undertake to assist them in developing self-government and democratic political
institutions. Administering Powers have an obligation to transmit regularly to
the Secretary-General information on the economic, social and educational
conditions in the Territories under their administration.
Chapter IX also urged all States, directly and
through their action in the specialized agencies and other organizations of the
United Nations system, to provide moral and material assistance to the peoples
of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.
History
In 1946, eight Member States - Australia, Belgium,
Denmark, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the
United States - listed 72 Territories under their administration, which
they considered to be non-self governing. Eight became independent before 1959.
Transmission of information by the administering Power
was discontinued for 21 Non-Self-Governing Territories for various reasons. In
some cases, such as Greenland, Alaska and Hawaii, the General Assembly accepted
the cessation of information; in others, the decision was taken unilaterally by
the administering Power.
In 1963, the Assembly approved a revised list of 64
Territories to which the 1960 Declaration on Decolonization applied.
The list included the two remaining Trust Territories at that time (Nauru and
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands); the Non-Self-Governing Territories
for which information was transmitted under Chapter XI of the Charter (article
73e), including the Territories administered by Spain; Namibia (then referred
to as South West Africa); and those Non-Self-Governing Territories about which
no information had been transmitted, but which the Assembly had deemed to be
Non-Self-Governing - namely the Territories under Portuguese administration and
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The list was further expanded in 1965 to
include French Somaliland (now Djibouti) and Oman. The Comoro Islands were
included in 1972 and New Caledonia in 1986.
From 1960 to 2002, 54 Territories attained
self-government. At present, there are 17 Non-Self-Governing
Territories remaining.
The UN General Assembly, by its resolution 54/91 of
6 December 1999, requested the annual observance of the Week of Solidarity with
the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Decolonization
This educational video focuses on the process of decolonization
and how the United Nations has contributed to development of the principle and
practice of "self-determination” for people living in non-self-governing
territories.
