Question of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and United States Virgin Islands

XXIX. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE FOURTH COMMITTEE
3289. Question of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and United States Virgin Islands

The General Assembly, Having considered the question of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and 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, as well as all other resolutions relating to the Territories listed above, in particular resolution 3157 (XXVIII) of 14 December 1973, Taking into account the statements of the administering Powers relating to the Territories listed above, and noting in particular the expressed readiness of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to grant independence to the peoples of those Territories under its administration, in accordance with their wishes,[2] Noting with deep concern the slow progress in the full implementation of the Declaration with respect to the above-mentioned Territories, notwithstanding the encouraging but limited political and constitutional development which has recently taken place in some of the Territories, Noting with satisfaction the continued active participation of the United States of America in the relevant work of the Special Committee, but deploring the negative attitude of that country's Government with respect to receiving a United Nations visiting mission in the Territory concerned, Welcoming the positive decision of the United Kingdom to participate in the relevant work of the Special Committee and to permit United Nations visiting missions access to the Territories under its administration, as appropriate, Concerned that the economies of the Territories referred to above are based mainly on fluctuating activities such as tourism, land sales and tax haven arrangements, Bearing in mind the constructive results achieved as a consequence of previous visiting missions to colonial Territories, including those dispatched by the Special Committee in 1974 to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and Niue,[3] and reiterating its conviction that the dispatch of visiting missions to the Territories dealt with in the present resolution is indispensable for securing adequate and first-hand information in regard to the political economic and social conditions in the Territories and to the views, wishes and aspirations of the peoples therein, Mindful 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 economic conditions of the 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 the Territories of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands and United States Virgin Islands;[4]

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. 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 the Territories concerned;

4. Calls upon the administering Powers concerned to take all the necessary steps, without further delay, to ensure the full and speedy attainment of the goals set forth in the Declaration with respect to the Territories and, in that regard, to establish, in consultation with the freely elected representatives of the people, a specific time-table for the free exercise by the peoples of the Territories of their right to self-determination and independence;

5. Calls upon the Government of the United States of America, as the administering Power concerned, to reconsider its attitude towards receiving a United Nations visiting mission in the Territory concerned;

6. Calls upon the administering Powers to take all possible steps to diversify the economies of the Territories listed above;

7. Urges the administering Powers to safeguard the inalienable right of the peoples of those Territories to the enjoyment of their natural resources by taking effective measures which guarantee the rights of the peoples to own and dispose of those natural resources and to establish and maintain control of their future development;

8. Requests the organizations of the United Nations system to assist in accelerating progress in all sectors of the national life of those Territories;

9. Invites the Secretary-General, having regard to the mandate entrusted to him by the General Assembly in its resolution entitled "Dissemination of information on decolonization"[5] to pay particular regard to the need to intensify widespread dissemination of information on the process of decolonization in respect of the Territories listed above and, in particular, to consider intensifying the activities of the information centres concerned;

10. 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 thirtieth session on the implementation of the present resolution.

2318th plenary meeting
13 December 1974

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[1] Ibid., chaps. III and XXIII-XXV. [2] See A/AC.109/SC.3/SR.198-200 and 202 and Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-ninth Session, Fourth Committee, 2116th meeting. [3] See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 23 (A/9623/Rev.1), chap. XX, annex, chap. XXI, annex I, and chap. XXII, annex I. [4] Ibid., chaps. XXIII-XXV [5]. Resolution 3329 (XXIX).