NADI (Pacnews) — The Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization regional seminar is an indication that the United Nations is engaged in dialogue with administering states in search for some lasting solutions.
Speaking at the opening of the forum, Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola said Fiji acknowledges the commitment made by some administering states and the progress of the action programs in their respective territories.
“As a result of these commitments, forward movements are obviously taking place. However, we appreciate that not ‘one size fits all’ is relevant in this task,” Tavola said.
“Mindful of the delicate sensitivities that are inevitable in any decolonization negotiation, Fiji continues to urge the parties to push ahead and achieve the end of colonization early rather than late in the second decade,” he said.
He said as a long advocate for decolonization and independence, particularly for peoples in the Pacific region, Fiji reiterates its continuing interest in the progress thus far achieved for the Kanak people in New Caledonia under the Matignon and Noumea Accords. “We commend especially the fact that a climate of peace and amicable cooperation has reigned during this political process,” he said.
Since close cooperation with the United Nations is now established, and in view of the positive interconnectedness that subregional process on decolonization will generate regionally and globally, Tavola said Fiji hopes that this Pacific regional seminar on decolonization will bear fruit.
Non-self governing territories under Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter are territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government, which in the Pacific include French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Guam, American Samoa and Tokelau.
