The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation — also known as the Special Committee of 24 — is to hold its Pacific Regional Seminar in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from 28 to 30 May. Its agenda is to review progress in the United Nations decolonisation process.
On 8 December 2005, the UN General Assembly declared that 4 April of each year shall be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. To that effect UN Secretary General has released a message.
Foreign minister Luis Almagro said on Wednesday that Malvinas Islands’ sovereignty belongs to the whole of Latinamerica and as part of Latinamerica and the Caribbean, “we will defend the territorial integrity of the continent”.
Argentina's Foreign minister Hector Timerman together with Latam representatives called on UN chief Ban Ki Moon and demanded talks with the UK on the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty, but Britain again refused, pointing to the Islanders' overwhelming vote this month to remain British.
Argentina this coming week will be meeting in New York with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, with the support of top regional officials to renew its long-standing demand that the UK sits to discuss with Argentina the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute.
With the world undergoing a “great transition,” it is time for a new kind of inclusive dialogue about decolonization, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, calling for fresh approaches to resolve the situations of the remaining 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories.
By Fernando Petrella (*) - The following article by an Argentine former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs was published as a column in the Buenos Aires media. The following reproduction in English is not necessarily literal but tries keep to its spirit as much as possible.
The open letter sent by Argentine president Cristina Fernandez to Prime Minister David Cameron demanding the return of the Falkland Islands, which allegedly were “forcibly stripped” from Buenos Aires in 1833 will be distributed as a document among members of the UN General Assembly, on request from the Argentine ambassador Maria Perceval.
A day after Argentine President Cristina Fernández sent an open letter to be published as an advert in several UK newspapers calling on PM David Cameron’s government to re-open negotiations over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, the UK responded: “the Islanders remain free to choose their own futures.”
The Falklands referendum on March 10/11 is designed to simply ask the people of the Islands to state clearly their wishes regarding their political status, and this is supported by democratic practice, the UN guiding principle of self determination and even by Ban Ki-moon in recent reports in the Argentine press, said lawmaker Dick Sawle.