Indonesia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Marty Natalegawa, was elected Thursday as chairman of the UN's decolonization committee, pledging to seek effective ways to speed up decolonization in remaining non-self-governing territories.
"In view of the limited progress in the area of decolonization in recent years, there's now an urgent need for the international community to establish a compelling and promising basis for its approach to decolonizing the territories that involve all concerned," Marty said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.
He said with the end of the second decade for the eradication of colonialism drawing near, "We face a formidable challenge to resolve their permanent international political status in accordance with the relevant General Assembly resolutions".
The Special Committee on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Committee of 24, has supervised, since its 1945 inception, nearly 750 million people exercising their right to self-determination and more than 80 former-colonized territories as they gained independence.
According to UN Charter, non-self-governing territories are those whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.
Marty said, "The committee needs to fully engage all stakeholders and the most obvious of these are the peoples of the territories and the administering powers."
He believes Indonesia's role in hosting the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung influenced the decision to elect him as chairman. The conference, he said, "laid a foundation for the cause of decolonization across the globe".
"I shall strive to fulfill our responsibilities to the remaining territories and their peoples so as to complete the eradication of colonialism," said Marty.
In his opening statement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the committee's history of facilitating decolonization was "one of the proudest chapters of our organization's history".
"Until the statuses of the 16 remaining non-self-governing territories are satisfactorily resolved, the ideals of the General Assembly Declaration on Decolonization will continue to be unfulfilled," Ban said.
List of remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories
1. Western Sahara (Africa)
2. St. Helena (Africa)
3. Anguilla (America)
4. Bermuda (America)
5. British Virgin Islands (America)
6. Cayman Islands (America)
7. Falkland Islands/Malvinas (America)
8. Montserrat (America)
9. Turks and Caicos Islands (America)
10.United States Virgin Islands (America)
11.Gibraltar (Europe)
12.American Samoa (Oceania)
13.Guam (Oceania)
14.New Caledonia (Oceania)
15.Pitcairn Islands (Oceania)
16.Tokelau (Oceania)
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