His message was delivered in New York on Monday at the opening of the 2026 session of the Special Committee on Decolonisation, widely known as the C\u201124.<\/p>\n
Since 1945, more than 80 former colonies representing around 750 million people have gained independence. Yet 17 Non\u2011Self\u2011Governing Territories remain on the UN list, home to nearly two million people. These include Western Sahara in Africa and several small island territories across the Caribbean and Pacific.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In remarks delivered on his behalf by Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray, Guterres reminded delegates that decolonisation has been a core purpose of the UN since its formation. \u201cThis Organisation was created as a place where nations could meet as equals, not as rulers and ruled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He warned, however, that the legacy of colonialism continues to shape global inequalities. \u201cColonialism has left profound scars in the form of entrenched economic exploitation, racism, inequality and persistent exclusion from decision\u2011making structures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Established in 1961, the C\u201124 monitors progress towards self\u2011government for territories that have not yet achieved full autonomy, as set out in Chapter XI of the UN Charter and the landmark 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Many of the remaining territories are small islands on the front lines of climate change. Rising sea levels, severe storms and coastal degradation are destroying homes and infrastructure, straining limited resources and threatening livelihoods. Guterres urged the Committee to place resilience and adaptation at the centre of its discussions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Secretary\u2011General outlined three priorities to guide the remaining decolonisation agenda: inclusive dialogue involving territories, administering powers and all relevant stakeholders; the active engagement of young people, whose leadership will shape the future of these territories; and urgent climate action, especially for islands facing existential environmental threats.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He called on member states to uphold the principles of the UN Charter and ensure that the decolonisation process is completed with fairness, legitimacy and respect for the aspirations of the people concerned.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15711,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-23858","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"More than six decades after the United Nations (UN) began its formal push to end colonial rule, Secretary\u2011General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has urged member states to reinvigorate efforts to complete what he called the organisation\u2019s \u201cunfinished business\u201d. ","published_date":null,"news_description":"More than six decades after the United Nations (UN) began its formal push to end colonial rule, Secretary\u2011General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has urged member states to reinvigorate efforts to complete what he called the organisation\u2019s \u201cunfinished business\u201d. ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26700,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23858\/revisions\/26700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}