[ 1953 ] Part 1 Chapter 4 Questions Concerning Non-Self-Governing
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IV. Questions Concerning Non-Self-Governing Territories and the International Trusteeship System A. INFORMATION ON NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES TRANSMITTED UNDER ARTICLE 73e OF THE CHARTER In accordance with General Assembly resolution Hong Kong 218(III) of 3 November 1948,1 Members respon- Jamaica Kenya Colony and Protectorate sible for the administration of Non-Self-Govern- Leeward Islands Colony ing Territories transmitted during 1953 informa- Malaya, Federation of tion under Article 73e of the Charter with respect Mauritius to the following Non-Self-Governing Territories: New Hebrides (Anglo-French Condominium) Nigeria Australia North Borneo Papua Northern Rhodesia Nyasaland Protectorate Belgium Pitcairn Island Belgian Congo St. Helena Sarawak Denmark Seychelles Greenland Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate Singapore France Swaziland Comoro Trinidad and Tobago French Equatorial Africa Uganda Protectorate French Somaliland Windward Islands French West Africa Zanzibar Protectorate Madagascar Morocco United States New Hebrides (under Anglo-French Condominium) Alaska Tunisia American Samoa Guam Netherlands Hawaii Netherlands New Guinea Puerto Rico Virgin Islands New Zealand Cook Islands On the basis of information transmitted during Niue Islands 1953, the Secretary-General, in accordance with Tokelau Islands Assembly resolution 218(III), prepared a number United Kingdom of summaries and analyses (A/2407, A/2408, Aden Colony and Protectorate A/2409, A/2410 & Add.1, A/2411 & Add.1, Bahamas A/2413 & Add.1-8, A/2414 & Add.1 & 2). 2 Barbados Basutoland Summaries and analyses were considered by the Bechuanaland Protectorate sixteen-member Committee on Information from Bermuda Non-Self-Governing Territories set up for this British Guiana 3 British Honduras purpose by General Assembly resolution 332(IV) British Solomon Islands Protectorate of 2 December 1949 and renewed by General British Somaliland Protectorate Brunei 1 Cyprus See Y.U.N., 1948-49, p. 722. 2 The information on Cook and Niue Islands under Falkland Islands and Dependencies New Zealand administration was summarized but not Fiji produced as a document. These summaries are included Gambia in Vol. II of the Secretary-General's Summaries and Gibraltar Analyses of Information Transmitted during 1953 (the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony 1953 "Green Book"). Gold Coast Colony and Protectorate 3 See Y.U.N., 1948-49, pp. 751-52. Non-Self-Governing Territories and Trusteeship Questions 509 Assembly resolution 646(VII) of 10 December discussion on information relating to Morocco 1952. The Committee held seventeen meetings, and Tunisia was without prejudice to the recog- from 18 August to 8 September. The Committee's nition by their Governments of the sovereign report to the Assembly (A/2465) contained, status of these two Territories which were bound among other things, sections dealing with: edu- only by treaty obligations to France. cational conditions in Non-Self-Governing Terri- tories; the cessation of the transmission of in- 1. Conditions, Development and formation under Article 73e of the Charter; Policies in the Non-Self- participation of representatives from the Non- Governing Territories Self-Governing Territories in the work of the Committee; social and economic conditions; and a. GENERAL CONDITIONS international collaboration in respect of economic, social and educational conditions, including tech- During the Fourth Committee's general debate nical assistance. on information from Non-Self-Governing Terri- tories transmitted under Article 73e of the Char- The report was considered during the General Assembly's eighth session, at the 331st to 339th ter, the representatives of Australia, Belgium, meetings of the Fourth Committee, from 12 to Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and the 21 October, and at the 459th plenary meeting of United States assured the Committee that they were carrying out policies aimed at the achieve- the Assembly on 27 November. The Assembly's consideration of particular aspects is dealt with ment of self-government or independence for the Territories, but they stressed that real and en- below under subject headings. during progress could not be made too rapidly. Generally speaking, representatives in the Fourth Committee considered that the report had Some representatives, including those of Haiti, made a good contribution to the study of con- India, Indonesia, Liberia, Pakistan, Venezuela and ditions in the Non-Self-Governing Territories and Yugoslavia, felt that insufficient progress was that the special study on educational conditions being made in the Non-Self-Governing Terri- supplemented earlier studies by the Committee on tories. The representatives of Venezuela and Information from Non-Self-Governing Terri- Yugoslavia emphasized that peace was indivisible tories on economic and social conditions. The and stated that failure to meet the aspirations of representatives of Argentina, Brazil, the Domini- the indigenous inhabitants would endanger world can Republic, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, peace. They and the representatives of Brazil, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay were among Egypt, Indonesia, Liberia, Mexico and the Philip- those who praised the Committee's report. pines called for the co-operation of both Adminis- tering and non-administering Members in seeking In the Committee on Information from Non- a solution of the problems of the Non-Self- Self-Governing Territories and in the General Governing Territories. The representatives of the Assembly, statements reserving the position of Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the their Governments in regard to sovereignty over Ukrainian SSR and the USSR maintained that the and the transmission of information on Nether- Administering Members were not fulfilling their lands New Guinea (Irian) were made by the obligations under the Charter; that they were representatives of Indonesia and the Netherlands. failing to carry out the recommendations of the Reservations were made in regard to sovereignty General Assembly; and that, in pursuance of their over British Honduras (Belize Territory) by the colonial policies, they were exploiting the in- representatives of Guatemala and the United digenous inhabitants, and were attempting to Kingdom. The representative of Mexico stated conceal the real conditions which prevailed in the that if the constitutional status of British Hon- Non-Self-Governing Territories. duras were changed the rights of Mexico over a part of that Territory would have to be taken into At the 335th meeting of the Fourth Committee, account. Reservations were also made in regard during the general debate, the representative of to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Guatemala asked the Chairman of the Fourth Malvinas) by the representatives of Argentina Committee to arrange for the communication and the United Kingdom, and over Aden by the from Reverend Michael Scott, dated 15 October, representatives of the United Kingdom and and his letter to the Secretary-General, dated Yemen. 5 May 1953, to be circulated to the Committee. Formal declarations were made by the repre- The communication asked the General Assem- sentatives of Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and bly to include in its agenda an examination of the Syria to the effect that their participation in the proposed Central African Federation of Northern 510 Yearbook of the United Nations Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. At of such an item in the agenda. Moving closure of its 337th meeting on 19 October, the Committee the debate on the agenda item concerning infor- decided, without dissentient vote, that the letter mation from Non-Self-Governing Territories, the (A/C.4/241) should be circulated; the represen- representative of the United Kingdom stated that tative of the Union of South Africa asked that the General Assembly had no authority to examine the reservations of his Government be recorded. certain aspects of the political situation in Central In his letter, Mr. Scott said that he had been Africa. Petitions could be considered from Trust asked to present the observations of 83 Chiefs of Territories but hot from Non-Self-Governing the Nyasaland Protectorate, of African members Territories and the United Kingdom, although of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Rhodesia, prepared to co-operate, could not concede that its and of members of the Northern Rhodesian Afri- record be examined in the light of communi- can Congress. These observations, he claimed, cations from individuals without competence in indicated that no adequate consideration of the the matter. Moreover, an examination of the ques- economic, social and educational problems of tion was untimely since the Central African Fed- Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia could be under- eration was already in being. taken without an understanding of the consti- The United Kingdom motion for closure of the tutional changes which were taking place in those debate was rejected by 25 votes to 17, with 11 Territories, to the prejudice of the large majority abstentions. of inhabitants. Speaking against the motion for closure, the The Chiefs also stated that the proposed Feder- representative of India said that two of the Terri- ation would obstruct the progress of the African tories involved in the Federation were Non-Self- people, reinforce colour barriers which they said Governing Territories on which information con- already existed in Southern and Northern Rho- cerning educational, economic and social con- desia, and relegate Africans