US calls for ending UN decolonization committee’s mandate — Buenos Aires Times
The United States has called for ending the mandate of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization, known as C-24. The US delegation presented the proposal to the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee on October 15, Buenos Aires Times reports.
US arguments
A US representative said that the committee had exhausted its original purpose. According to her, more than 80 former colonies have since become UN member states, while C-24 returns to the same texts every year.
The US side also criticized the committee’s annual trips to resort locations in the Caribbean and the South Pacific, calling them an inefficient use of UN time and resources. The US representative mentioned Puerto Rico, which the General Assembly removed from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories in 1953, but on which the committee continues to hold annual hearings.
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The US position was officially recorded during the session at which the Fourth Committee approved more than 20 draft resolutions related to decolonization.
Significance for Argentina
The initiative could directly affect Argentina, as C-24 annually considers the issue of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, which are called the Falkland Islands in the United Kingdom. Since 1989, the committee has been the main UN platform where Argentina presents its position. Within its work, resolutions have been adopted recognizing the existence of a sovereignty dispute and calling on Argentina and the United Kingdom to begin negotiations.
Argentina and the United Kingdom fought over the islands for 10 weeks in 1982. The United Kingdom does not recognize Argentina’s claims and has controlled the islands since 1833. In 2013, island residents overwhelmingly supported retaining British status, but Argentina rejects the result, considering that the principle of self-determination does not apply to a population that, it says, was resettled by the United Kingdom.
