United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories Totally Explained

Everything about United Nations List Of Non-self-governing Territories totally explained

The United Nations maintains a list of territories that don't govern themselves. The list was initially prepared in 1946 pursuant to Article XI of the United Nations Charter, and has been updated since then by the General Assembly on recommendation of the Special Committee on Decolonization and its predecessors. This list is called the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Only permanently inhabited territories are considered for inclusion in this list.

History

The list is one that draws its origins from the period of colonialism and the Charter's concept of non-self-governing territories. Thus, Western Sahara was initially included in 1963 by Moroccan demand when it was a Spanish colony. The same can be said about the situation of Namibia (removed upon its independence in 1990), which was seen, due to its former status as a mandate territory, as a vestige of German colonial legacy in Africa. A set of criteria for determining whether a territory is to be considered "non-self-governing" was established in General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) of 1960. These criteria have faced criticism from many activists, most notable of which are pro-Tibetan activists.
Also in 1960, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 1514 (XV), promulgating the "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples", which declared that all remaining non-self-governing territories and trust territories were entitled to self-determination and independence. The following year, the General Assembly established the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (sometimes referred to as the Special Committee on Decolonization, or the "Committee of 24" because for much of its history the committee was composed of 24 members), which generally reviews the situation in each non-self-governing territory each year and reports to the General Assembly.

Criticism

The list remains controversial. One reason for this is the fact that it includes many dependencies that, many contend, have democratically elected to maintain their territorial status, and rejected independence (or in some cases the parent state periodically organizes referenda, as in the United States Virgin Islands, but there's insufficient voter interest), while other non-self-determining areas (most of the French overseas territories) are excluded. Another is that a number of the listed territories, such as Bermuda, also consider themselves completely autonomous and self-governing, with the "administering Power" retaining a limited number of responsibilities such as defence and diplomacy. On the other hand, other territories that have achieved a status described by the administering countries as internally self-governing—such as Puerto Rico, the Netherlands Antilles and the Cook Islands—have been removed from the list by vote of the General Assembly. In 1972, Hong Kong (then administered by the United Kingdom) and Macau (then administered by Portugal) were removed from the list at the request of the People's Republic of China, which had just been recognized as holding China's seat at the United Nations. Many critics charge the Committee that drafts this list with using it as a largely political instrument.
   Some territories that have been annexed and incorporated into the legal framework of the controlling state (such as the overseas departments of France) are considered by the UN to have been decolonized, since they then no longer constitute "non-self-governing" entities, but rather their populations are assumed to have agreed to merge with their former parent state. However, in 1961, the General Assembly voted to no longer accord this treatment to the then-"overseas provinces" of Portugal such as Angola and Mozambique, which were an active focus of United Nations attention until they attained independence in the mid-1970s.
   On December 2 1986, New Caledonia, then a territoire d'outre-mer, was reinstated on the list of non-self-governing territories, a step that caused protest from France. New Caledonia is the only French-administered territory presently on the list, although it has been enjoying the status of a collectivité sui generis since 1999 and its Territorial Congress holds the right, since the 1998 Nouméa Accord, to call for a referendum on independence after 2014.
   In response to attempts to decolonise Tokelau, New Zealand journalist Michael Field wrote: "The UN [...] is anxious to rid the world of the last remaining vestiges of colonialism by the end of the decade. It has a list of 16 territories around the world, virtually none of which wants to be independent to any degree." Tokelau is seen by some as a case in point. Patuki Isaako, who was head of Tokelau's government at the time of a UN seminar on decolonisation in 2004, informed the United Nations that his country had no wish to be decolonised, and that Tokelauans had opposed the idea of decolonisation ever since the first visit by UN officials in 1976. In 2006, a UN-supervised referendum on decolonisation was held in Tokelau, whose voters rejected the offer of independence. The first referendum having a failed, a second one was held in 2007, and Tokelauans rejected independence a second time. This led New Zealand politician and former diplomat John Hayes, on behalf of the National Party, to state that "Tokelau did the right thing to resist pressure from [theNew Zealand government and] the United Nations to pursue self-government".
   In May 2008, the United Nations' Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged colonial powers "to complete the decolonization process in every one of the remaining 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories". This led the New Zealand Herald to comment that the United Nations was "apparently frustrated by two failed attempts to get Tokelau to vote for independence".

The list

Africa

St. Helena and dependencies (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)
Western Sahara (most of territory occupied by Morocco, the rest administered by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic awaiting the outcome of the ongoing UN-sponsored political settlement; see also foreign relations of Western Sahara)

Americas

Anguilla (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

Bermuda (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

British Virgin Islands (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

Cayman Islands (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom; claimed by Argentina)

Montserrat (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

Turks and Caicos Islands (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

United States Virgin Islands (an organized unincorporated territory of the United States)

Europe

Gibraltar (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom; claimed by Spain) In a referendum held in 2002, voters in Gibraltar overwhelmingly rejected shared sovereignty over the territory.

Oceania

American Samoa (an unorganized unincorporated territory of the United States)

Guam (an organized unincorporated territory of the United States)

New Caledonia (an overseas territory of France)

Pitcairn Islands (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

Tokelau (a dependency of New Zealand)

Former entries

The following territories have all been on the List of Non-Self-Governing Territories in the past. The date, former administering/colonial power (where not obvious from the name), and reason for removal from the List are given for each.

Change of status

Alaska, 1959, on obtaining statehood within the United States

Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia), 1984, on change of status

Cook Islands (New Zealand), 1965, on change of status

French Establishments in India, 1947, on change of status (now part of India)

French Establishments in Oceania, 1947, on change of status (now known as French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna Islands; New Caledonia subsequently restored to list)

French Guiana, 1947, on change of status

Goa and dependencies (Portugal), 1961, in response to the invasion of India (now part of India)

Greenland (Denmark), 1954, on change of status

Guadeloupe and Dependencies (France), 1947, on change of status

Hawaii, 1959, on obtaining statehood within the United States

Hong Kong (United Kingdom), 1972, on change of status (returned to People's Republic of China peacefully and successfully in 1997)

Ifni (Spain), 1969, on change of status (now part of Morocco)

Macau (Portugal), 1972, on change of status (returned to People's Republic of China peacefully and successfully in 1999)

Martinique (France), 1947, on change of status

Netherlands Antilles, 1953, on change of status

Niue (New Zealand), 1974, on change of status

Northern Mariana Islands (United States), 1990, change of status in recognition of Commonwealth status

Panama Canal Zone (United States), 1947, on change of status (Panama requested that Canal Zone be removed from the list; now part of Panama)

Puerto Rico (United States), 1953, on change of status; however, since 1972, the U.N. Decolonization Committee has called for Puerto Rico's decolonization and for the United States to recognize the island's right to self-determination and independence. Most recently, the Decolonization Committee called for the United Nations General Assembly to review the political status of Puerto Rico, a power reserved by the 1953 Resolution.

Réunion (France), 1947, on change of status

São João Baptista de Ajudá (Portugal), 1961, on change of status (now part of Benin)

Saint Pierre et Miquelon (France), 1947, on change of status

Surinam (Netherlands), 1953, on change of status (now independent as Suriname)

Independence

Aden Colony and Protectorate, 1967, on independence from the United Kingdom as South Yemen (now part of Yemen)

Angola, 1975, on independence from Portugal

Antigua and Barbuda, 1981, on independence from the United Kingdom

Bahamas, 1973, on independence from the United Kingdom

Barbados, 1966, on independence from the United Kingdom

Basutoland, 1966, on independence from the United Kingdom as Lesotho

Bechuanaland, 1966, on independence from the United Kingdom as Botswana

Belgian Congo, 1960, on independence from Belgium (now Democratic Republic of the Congo)

British Guiana, 1966, on independence from the United Kingdom as Guyana

British Honduras, 1981, on independence from the United Kingdom as Belize

British Somaliland, 1960, on independence from the United Kingdom as part of Somalia

British Togoland, 1961, on independence from the United Kingdom as part of Ghana

Brunei, 1984, on independence from the United Kingdom (now known in the United Nations as Brunei Darussalam)

Cambodia, formerly part of French Indo-China, 1953, on independence from France

Cameroons French Trust Territory, 1960, on independence from France as Cameroon

Cameroons British Trust Territory, 1961, on merger with Nigeria and Cameroon

Cape Verde, 1975, on independence from Portugal

Comores, 1975, on independence from France

Congo, 1960, on independence from France

Cyprus, 1960, on independence from the United Kingdom

Dominica, 1978, on independence from the United Kingdom

East Timor, May 20 2002, on independence from Indonesia (now known in the United Nations as Timor-Leste)

Ellice Islands formerly part of Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony, 1978, on independence from the United Kingdom as Tuvalu

Fernando Po and Río Muni, formerly known as Spanish Guinea, 1968, on independence from Spain as Equatorial Guinea

Fiji Islands, 1970, on independence from the United Kingdom

French Equatorial Africa, 1960, on independence from France as Chad, Congo (now the Republic of the Congo), Central African Republic and Gabon

French Niger, 1960, on independence from France as Niger, and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)

French Somaliland, also known as French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, 1977, on independence from France as Djibouti

French Sudan, 1960, on independence from France as Mali Federation (now Republic of Mali and Senegal)

French Togoland, 1960, on independence from France as Togo

French West Africa, 1960, on independence from France as Dahomey (now Benin), Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Senegal, Niger, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso).

Gambia, 1965, on independence from the United Kingdom

Gilbert Islands, 1979, on independence from the United Kingdom as Kiribati

Gold Coast, 1957, on independence from the United Kingdom as Ghana

Grenada, 1974, on independence from the United Kingdom

Guinea, 1958, on independence from France

Jamaica, 1962, on independence from the United Kingdom

Kenya, 1963, on independence from the United Kingdom

Laos (formerly part of French Indo-China), 1949, on independence from France

Madagascar, 1960, on independence from France

Malaya, 1957, on independence from the United Kingdom (now part of Malaysia)

Malta, 1964, on independence from the United Kingdom

Marshall Islands 1990, on independence from the United States

Mauritius, 1968, on independence from the United Kingdom

Micronesia 1990, on independence from the United States

Morocco, 1956, on independence from France

Mozambique, 1975, on independence from Portugal

Nauru, 1968, on independence from United Nations trusteeship administered by Australia on behalf of the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand

Netherlands Indies, 1949, on independence from the Netherlands as Indonesia

Netherlands New Guinea, 1963, on incorporation into Indonesia

New Guinea, 1975, on independence from Australia as part of Papua New Guinea

New Hebrides, 1980, on independence from Anglo-French Condominium as Vanuatu

Nigeria, 1960, on independence from the United Kingdom

North Borneo (also known as Sabah), 1963, on joining the Federation of Malaysia

Northern Rhodesia, 1964, on independence from the United Kingdom as Zambia

Nyasaland, 1964, on independence from the United Kingdom as Malawi

Palau, 1994, on independence from the United States

Papua, 1975, on independence from Australia as part of Papua New Guinea

Portuguese Guinea, 1973, on independence from Portugal as Guinea-Bissau

Ruanda-Urundi, 1962, on independence from Belgium as Rwanda and Burundi

São Tomé and Principe, 1975, on independence from Portugal

Saint Kitts-Nevis, 1983, on independence from the United Kingdom

Saint Lucia, 1979, on independence from the United Kingdom

Saint Vincent, 1979, on independence from the United Kingdom as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Sarawak, 1963, on joining the Federation of Malaysia

Seychelles, 1976, on independence from the United Kingdom

Sierra Leone, 1961, on independence from the United Kingdom

Singapore, 1963, on joining the Federation of Malaysia (separate independence as Singapore 1965)

Solomon Islands Protectorate, 1978, on independence from the United Kingdom

Somaliland, 1960, on independence from Italy as part of Somalia

Southern Rhodesia, 1980, on independence as Zimbabwe

South-West Africa, March 21 1990, on independence from South Africa as Namibia

Swaziland, 1968, on independence from the United Kingdom

Tanganyika, 1961, on independence from the United Kingdom (now part of Tanzania)

Trinidad and Tobago, 1962, on independence from the United Kingdom

Tunisia, 1956, on independence from France

Ubangi Shari, 1960, on independence from France as Central African Republic

Uganda, 1962, on independence from the United Kingdom

Vietnam (formerly part of French Indo-China), 1954, on independence from France

Western Samoa, 1962, on independence from New Zealand (now known as Samoa)

Zanzibar, 1963, on independence from the United Kingdom (now part of Tanzania)

Sources

Non-Self-Governing Territories

listed by General Assembly of the United Nations in 2002. Further Information

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