MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Regional C24 seminar in Jamaica in anticipation of Falklands’ June 23 presentation in New York

Ambassador Francisco Carrión-Mena (Ecuador), chairman of C24

The United Nations Special Committee of 24, (for the implementation of the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples) will hold its annual regional seminar in Kingstown, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, from 31 May to 2 June.

The regional seminar is in anticipation of the annual C 24 meeting in New York when the situation of the 16 non-self-governing territories will be debated including the Falklands case on June 23.

On the occasion Falkland Islands elected representatives will be defending their right to self determination and to remain a British Overseas Territory.

The coming Caribbean seminar, within the framework of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2011-2020), declared by the General Assembly last December, will provide an opportunity to assess the past decade and focus on goals and expected accomplishments in the area of decolonization during the coming years, according to the release from the UN news and media division.

The discussion will focus on the dynamics and possible action concerning the 16 Non Self-Governing Territories under the Special Committee’s purview in the Caribbean, Pacific and other regions, as well as 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.

The Chairman of the Special Committee, Ambassador Francisco Carrión-Mena (Ecuador), will preside over the seminar. The participants will include a formal delegation of the Special Committee, comprising the Bureau and delegations of regional groups, other 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.

The 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 Islands/Malvinas, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Western Sahara.