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initiative and in response to requests from
the Committee. This seems a sensible step.
13. There is, however, a point of presentation
with important implications of substance.
Mr Richard states "We should explicitly and
publicly recognise the Committee's role and
ask to be associated with it." The Committee's
mandate is to examine the application of General Assembly Resolution 1514 and make suggestions and recommendations on this implementation. General Assembly Resolution 1514, on which the UK
abstained, is not altogether in harmony with
As
our policies, in particular its emphasis on independence for all and on the non-divisibility
of the territory of states. Furthermore, the Committee has subsequently claimed functions which
would interfere with the responsibilities of the Administering Power, such as the right to lay down a date for independence. In any public statements, therefore, we need to make clear that
we maintain our full responsibility as an Administering Power on deciding how the principle of self-determination should be applied in our
territories. We should, however, recoghise
that the Committee has a potentially useful
part to play in considering
the future of our
smaller dependent territories and express our
wish to co-operate with it.
14.
I recommend that we should agree to Mr Richard's
proposal subject to the point of presentation in
paragraph 13.
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/Participation