UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette Tuesday hailed the forthcoming independence of East Timor as a milestone accomplishment.
In May, East Timor will join the ranks of sovereign States, ending a long period of suffering and marking another major achievement of the decolonization movement, which brought about one of the signal transformation of the 20th century, Frechette said while opening the annual session of the United Nations decolonization committee.
The committee is known as the Special Committee of 24, which monitors implementation of the General Assembly's 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
"I hope that in this new century, it will be possible to close, once and for all, and in accordance with the principle of the 1960 Declaration and all relevant resolutions, a chapter that truly belongs to a previous era," she said.
Including East Timor, which is now administrated by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), there are currently 12 Non-Self-Governing Territories: American Somoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Gayman Islands,
Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcaira, St. Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands, and Western Sahara.
(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2002)
