Question of American Samoa, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands

XXVI. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE FOURTH COMMITTEE
2869. Question of American Samoa, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands

The General Assembly, Having considered the question of American Samoa, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands, Having examined the relevant chapters of the report of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,[1] Recalling its resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and its resolution 2621 (XXV) of 12 October 1970, containing the programme of action for the full implementation of the Declaration, Recalling its previous resolutions relating to those Territories, in particular resolution 2709 (XXV) of 14 December 1970, Deploring the policy of some administering Powers in establishing and maintaining military bases in some of the Territories under their administration, in contravention of the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, Deeply deploying the attitude of those administering Powers which continue to refuse to allow United Nations missions to visit the Territories under their administration, Convinced of the vital importance of visiting missions as a means of securing adequate and first-hand information in regard to political, economic and social conditions in the Territories and to the views, wishes and aspirations of the people in those Territories, Conscious that those Territories require the continued attention and assistance of the United Nations in the achievement by their peoples of the objectives embodied in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Aware of the special circumstances of the geographical location and the economic conditions of those Territories,

1. Approves the chapters of the report of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples relating to those Territories;

2. Reaffirms the inalienable right of the peoples of those Territories to self-determination and independence in accordance with the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples;

3. Calls upon the administering Powers to take all necessary steps, without further delay, to ensure the full and speedy attainment of the goals set forth in the Declaration with respect to those Territories;

4. Reaffirms its conviction that the questions of territorial size, geographical isolation and limited resources should in no way delay the implementation of the Declaration with respect to those Territories;

5. Deprecates any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and territorial integrity of colonial Territories and the establishment of military bases and installations in those Territories, as being incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV);

6. Calls upon the administering Powers concerned to reconsider their attitude towards the receiving of visiting missions to the above-mentioned Territories and to permit access by such missions to Territories under their administration;

7. Decides that the United Nations should render all help to the peoples of those Territories in their efforts freely to decide their future status;

8. Requests the Special Committee to continue to give full consideration to this question, including in particular the dispatch of visiting missions to those Territories, and to report to the General Assembly at its twenty-seventh session on the implementation of the present resolution.

2028th plenary meeting,
20 December 1971.


[1] Ibid., chaps. DC, XIV, XVI, XVII, XIX, XXIII and XXIV.
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