Islands were never formally decolonized by the United Nations general assembly
Removal from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGT’s): the capstone of decolonization.
Removal from the UN list of NSGT’s is the final step in the decolonization of a colony. Only the UN General Assembly is authorized to issue a resolution authorizing the removal from that list.
The example of French Polynesia and New Caledonia:
These are examples of territories which were not included in the 1963 list of NSGT’s, while the UN had never declared that “Chapter XI of the Charter no longer applied”. In the 1940s France had unilaterally stopped reporting on these territories under Article 73e of the Charter. Because France was no longer reporting, the committee charged with drawing up the list in 1963, wrongfully omitted them from the list.
This was brought to the attention of the United Nations General Assembly and both territories were relisted and now appear on the list of NSGTs.
Netherlands Antilles:
The committee committed the same error with the Netherlands Antilles. Because the Netherlands had been excused from transmitting the reports under article 73e of the Charter, the islands were wrongfully omitted from the list, even though the UN had refused to declare that “Chapter XI of the UN Charter can no longer be applied to the Netherlands Antilles”.
Action to be taken:
Because the UN has renewed its call for decolonization in this decade, the Netherlands are under the obligation to return to the UN with the six islands and finalize their decolonization in order to obtain the declaration that “Chapter XI no longer applies to the Netherlands Antilles”. In order to achieve that, the Kingdom Charter will have to be adjusted to meet United Nations requirements. The UN already made it clear what the problems with the Charter are: The position of Governor and articles 44, 50, and 51 of the Kingdom Charter (Statuut). Those items will have to disappear. COHO and the Cft will also have to disappear as they conflict with “aims and objectives” of the UN Charter which are, a “Full Measure of Self-Government”.
PDB April 28, 2021
