TNAG-0436-FCO40-501-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-international-organisations-1973 — Page 44

ANNEX

COMMITTEE OF 24

PART I

ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTION OF THE COMMITTEE

1.

The Sub-Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementa- tion of the Declaration on the Granting of Indpendence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was established in November 1961, its 17 members being appointed by the President of the General Assembly and representing different geographical areas. In 1962 the number of the Special Committee was enlarged to 24 and it has since been known informally as the Committee of 24.

2.

The Committee was established to examine the application of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960), on which the UK abstained, to make suggestions and recommendations on the progress and extent of the implementation of the Declaration and to report to the General Assembly. The enlarged Special Committee took over the work of the Special Committee on Territories, Portuguese Adminis- tration and on South-west Africa, and of the Special Committee on the Situation in Angola. The Committee's terms of reference are worldwide.

3. The present membership of the Committee is as follows:

Afghanistan

Australia

Bulgaria

Chile

China

Congo

Ethiopia Fiji

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ivory Coast

Mali

Sierra Leone

Syrian Arab Republic: Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

USSR

United Republic

Czechoslovakia

Denmark

UK RELATIONS WITH THE COMMITTEE OF 24

of Tanzania

Venezuela Yugoslavia

4. The UK abstained on both the resolution establishing the Committee and on that enlarging it, but agreed to serve on the Committee, despite our reservations on the resolutions, in the hope that we might influence thinking about the problems of Dependent Territories and induce greater understanding of our policies and difficulties. However, UK representatives at the UN had made clear that we would not accept any form of intervention in the territories for which we were responsible.

5. In practice, the Committee tended to adopt a rigid and inflexible approach to Dependent Territories; stylised demands were regularly made for instant independence for all non-self-governing territories, without regard to the actual situations in the individual territories.

/Requests

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