MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islands elected lawmaker will attend C24 regional seminar in Ecuador

Member of the Falklands Legislative Assembly Mike Summers OBE

Falkland Islands elected lawmaker Mike Summers will attend next week the Caribbean Regional Seminar of the Special Committee on Decolonization which is to be held in Quito, Ecuador in anticipation of the main C24 annual meeting in New York.

MLA Summers says that he will be talking to members of C24, making sure they are aware of the Falklands position.

“It will be an opportunity to express the views of the Falkland Islands Government and the people of the Falklands, following the recent referendum” that overwhelmingly approved the Islands want to remain as a British Overseas Territory.

According to the UN C24 release proceedings in Quito will focus on the third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2011-2020), as the Seminar reviews developments during the first quarter of the International Decade and related novel trends affecting decolonization.

The Seminar will also discuss the situation concerning the Non-Self-Governing Territories within the remit of the Special Committee in the Caribbean, Pacific and other regions, as well as assistance from the United Nations system assistance.

The Seminar’s conclusions and recommendations will be considered by the Special Committee at its substantive session in June, and subsequently transmitted to the General Assembly.

Presiding over the Seminar will be Diego Morejón-Pazmiño from Ecuador, Chairman of the Special Committee. Other participants will include a specially constituted delegation of the Special Committee, comprising the bureau and members of regional groups, United Nations Member States, including administering Powers, as well as representatives of the Non-Self-Governing Territories, civil society and non-governmental organizations and experts.

Members of the Special Committee are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Chile, China, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Mali, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Syria, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania and Venezuela.

The Non-Self-Governing Territories are American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland/Malvinas Islands, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Western Sahara.

The administering Powers are France, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.