By Owei Lakemfa
Expression of shock and incredulity were reactions from a number of persons and organisations across the world who were invited to the International Conference for the Eradication of Colonialism. The general question that followed was: “Are there still colonies in the world?” Indeed, there are 61 territories and peoples who list themselves as colonies or what the United Nations, UN, classify as Non-Self Governing Territories.
However, the UN officially recognises only 17 such territories. These are American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Western Sahara. The 17th territory is called Falkland Islands by Britain and, Malvinas, by Argentina.
The world body said these are “territories whose
people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”. It also states
that since its 1945 establishment, “… more than 80 former colonies comprising
some 750 million people have gained independence”, increasing its original 51
Member-States to 193. So its desire is to extricate more peoples from
colonialism.
The UN does not list Puerto
Rico, a territory with a 2021 population of 3.264 million people as a Non-Self
Governing Territory. It however made public the June 20, 2022 decision of its
29-Member UN Special Committee on Decolonisation. The UN body stated that it
reaffirmed “ the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination
and independence and calling again upon the United States to assume its
responsibility to promote a process to those ends.” It also stated that it
supports “a process enabling the Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a
sovereign manner, to address their urgent economic and social needs, including
unemployment, marginalisation, insolvency and poverty and… urged the United
States Government to complete the return of all lands occupied by its military
forces in the territory to the people of Puerto Rico.”
The ever growing challenges in
the world, including endless wars, dictatorship, ideological contestations,
hunger, insecurity and climate change, have combined to relegate the issue of
continued colonialism to the background. This has been so much that many have
actually forgotten that there are still colonies and peoples who want to be
free.
But the colonised have not forgotten.
The countries administering them have not. So has not the UN which
has a new 2030 deadline to rid the earth of this human scourge. However, the
challenge of the UN is that after 64 years of fighting colonialism, it seems to
have become battle-weary. Its deadlines are becoming mere dates on the
calendar, and increasingly, the colonised feel abandoned and forgotten. Also,
the powerful countries that run these territories do not seem to be in a hurry
to change the circumstances of the territories.
But the issue will not go away
and the territories erupt like active volcanoes. The latest eruption was on May
13, 2024 when mass protests and violent confrontations broke out in New
Caledonia which is administered by France. Located in the Pacific, officially,
ten persons were killed, more than 300 injured and over 1,520 arrested. France
declared a state of emergency in the colony, blocked the social media and
poured in its military. But the unrest went on for about ten weeks. In those
weeks, over one billion Euro damage was incurred. Nine hundred businesses, 200
houses, 600 vehicles and 85 per cent of grocery network, were destroyed.
In order to help remake the
world and end colonialism, the African Think Tank, the Society for
International Relations Awareness, SIRA, decided to hold an International
Conference to Eradicate Colonialism. The Conference, holding in Abuja, the Nigerian
capital, from August 12-13 at the Top Rank Hotel, Utako, aims to bring all
actors together, work out modalities that can assist the UN in its quest to
finish the task of decolonising the earth and, making the world a liveable
place for all humans irrespective of size, colour, belief or might.
SIRA said the conference, with
the theme: ‘The Forgotten Peoples: International Conference to Decolonize the
World’, is also in furtherance of the UN General Assembly’s “Declaration on the
Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples”(General Assembly
Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14th December, 1960). This Declaration acknowledges
that “all peoples have an inalienable right to complete freedom, the exercise
of their sovereignty and the integrity of their national territory”. It also
solemnly proclaims “the necessity of bringing to a speedy and unconditional end
colonialism in all its forms and manifestations”.
SIRA stated that representatives
of Non-Self-Governing Territories have been invited to state their case, while
countries administering and superintending these territories, including the
United States, United Kingdom, France, Morocco and Indonesia have been invited
to make statements at the conference. Also, representatives of social
organisations, human rights, peace and development movements have been invited.
The conference Chair is Ibrahim Gambari, former
UNESCO President, ex-Nigeria Foreign Affairs Minister, last Chair of the UN
Special Committee Against Apartheid and, erstwhile UN Special Envoy on Cyprus,
Zimbabwe and Myanmar.
The Opening Address is to be
delivered by Oscar Lopez Riveria, Leader of the Puerto Rico Independence
Movement who spent 38 years in prison.
The Keynote Address is to be
delivered by Ambassador Oubi Bachir, Representative of the POLISARIO Liberation
Movement in Switzerland and to the UN and International Organisations in
Geneva. He is also the former Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Nigeria.
Speakers include Alfredo
Miranda, Ambassador of Mexico in Nigeria; Senator Shehu Sani and Dr Olushola
John Magbadelo, the Lead Director, Centre for African and Asian Studies who
speaks on ‘The Imminent Dangers Of Re-colonization Of Post-Colonial African
States’. Dr Tamuno Clinton Jaja is to examine the ‘Trial and Deportation of
King Jaja of Opobo by colonial Britain’.
International Human Rights
Lawyer and former President of the West Africa Bar Association, Mr Femi Falana,
will be speaking on the legal implications of continued colonialism in the
world.
SIRA states that its objectives
are to build consensus around a Programme of Action: “Apart from making
declarations, how far and how well has the UN itself been undertaking its
assignment to ensure that the territories reach the stage of full independence?
What concrete steps would the administering powers be required to take to
ensure that these territories become fully and truly independent? What must the
rest of the international community do to ensure and assist the attainment of
full independence for these non-self-governing territories?”
Humanity needs to move forward
by eradicating colonialism. If the quite complex decolonisation process in
Apartheid South Africa could be negotiated, so can the processes in other
colonies. As the President of SIRA, I welcome lovers of freedom to the Abuja
2024 Conference.
*Lakemfa
is a commentator on public issues
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