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CHAPTER 19
UNITED NATIONS
19.1
19.1.1
GENERAL LIAISON
The United Kingdom Mission in New York is concerned with all questions affecting the UK Dependent Territories (DTs) which are likely to arise in the United Nations. To enable the Mission to carry out these functions effectively, it needs to be fully and regularly supplied with information both from the DT geographical Departments in the FCO and direct from the governments of the Territories. Annual Reviews and, where relevant, Governor's speeches and Budget estimates should be copied automatically to the UK Mission. Confidential background material should also be provided.
19.1.2 Primary responsibility in the FCO for maintaining contact on these matters with the UK Mission lies with UN Department, but Departments should bear in mind the need to keep the Mission informed of significant developments in their respective fields. Copies of all important correspondence, particularly that bearing on major political and constitutional developments, should be made available to the section of UN Department dealing with Colonial and Trusteeship
matters.
19.2
19.2.1
TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION UNDER ARTICLE 73(e) OF THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER
As a signatory of the UN Charter, the United Kingdom has accepted an obligation under Article 73(e) to transmit annually to the United Nations information on economic, social and educational conditions in the Territories under its administration. The United Kingdom has also agreed to provide information on constitutional developments. The material transmitted under Article 73(c), with additions from published sources, is used by the UN Secretariat in the drafting of a Working Paper which is discussed in the Committee of 24 (Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples) with which the United Kingdom cooperates, although it is not a member. Following discussion, this Committee, which tends to be unsympathetic to the administering powers, puts forward reports and resolutions to the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly. These form the basis for the resolutions passed by the General Assembly.
19.2.2 Guidance on drafting the annual transmissions is given in Annex 21. The text of the Standard Form issued by the UN is shown in Annex 22. In order to save Posts unnecessary work, copies of annual reports, in lieu of the Standard Form, are acceptable from those Territories which still produce such reports, provided 10 copies are sent (See para 19.2.3).
19.2.3 Responsibility for forwarding the transmission to the UN through the UK Mission rests with UN
Department, acting in consultation with the geographical Departments concerned. Ten copies of the transmission should be sent to UN Department, to arrive not later than six months after the end of the Territory's administrative year. The importance of sending transmissions in good time is stressed by the Committee of 24 each year. Failure to do so means that when preparing their Working Paper, the UN Secretariat have to rely on published sources which are frequently inaccurate and biased against the United Kingdom. A list of Territories from which reports are required, setting out the deadlines for submission to the FCO, is given in Annex 23.
19.2.4
UN Department will ensure that one copy of cach transmission is sent to the geographical desk officer, the FCO Library, the ODA Library and for registration on UN Department files. The remainder are despatched to the UK Mission in New York.
19.2.5 The UK Mission will ensure that copies of the Committee of 24 Working Papers are sent to the Territories concerned. Undesirable references should be drawn to the attention of the UK Mission when the next transmission of information is made.
May 1981
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