The UN Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Special Committee of 24, will hold its regional Pacific seminar on decolonization in Quito, Ecuador, from 30 May to 1 June 2012.

Under the umbrella of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2011-2020), the seminar will discuss current realities in decolonisation and prospects for progress.

Discussions will address the situation concerning the 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories under the Special Committee’s purview in the Pacific, Caribbean, and other regions, as well as United Nations system assistance.

The seminar’s conclusions and recommendations will be considered by the Special Committee at its substantive session in June and subsequently transmitted to the General Assembly.

The Chairman of the Special Committee, Ambassador Diego Morejon- Pazmino (Ecuador), will preside over the seminar with Syria’s Bashar Jaafari will act as the rapporteur.

The participants will include a specially constituted delegation of the Special Committee, comprising the Bureau and members of regional groups, other United Nations Member States, including administering Powers, as well as representatives of the Non-Self-Governing Territories, civil society and non-governmental organizations and experts.

The members of the Special Committee are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Chile, China, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq.

Mali, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Syria, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania and Venezuela.

The Non-Self-Governing Territories are American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands (Malvinas)*, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Western Sahara.

The Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism was established by the UN General Assembly in a resolution adopted in December 2010.

The annual Secretariat working papers on each Territory are available on the United Nations decolonisation website www.un.org/en/decolonization.