How Many Non-Self Governing Territories Are There Left in the World? (Answer: 16)

The United Nations "Special Committee on Decolonization" is known formally as the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, was set up two years after the U.N. General Assembly adopted that Declaration.  The Declaration affirmed the right of all people to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end. It states that the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, contravenes the UN Charter and impedes the promotion of world peace and cooperation.

More than 80 former colonies, comprising some 750 million people, have gained independence since the creation of the United Nations. There are now only 16 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories.  Those Territories are home to nearly two million people.  The U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization is starting its annual meeting this week in New York. 

The 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories are:

• Gibraltar,
• New Caledonia,
• Western Sahara,
• American Samoa,
• Anguilla,
• Bermuda,
• British Virgin Islands,
• Cayman Islands,
• Guam,
• Montserrat,
• Pitcairn,
• Saint Helena,
• Turks and Caicos Islands,
• United States Virgin Islands,
• Tokelau, and
• the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).

(mew) (adapted from a UN Press Release)