Asia Pacific Report
Ambassador Tammy Bruce, Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, has called for the UN Decolonisation Committee’s mandate to be “terminated” as having “outlived its original purpose”.
She also attacked regional visits as “yearly junkets to resorts in the Caribbean and South Pacific” in ramping up the usual US annual attack on decolonisation processes.
At last week’s UN Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonisation Committee) meeting, 160 countries voted in favour and two — US and Israel — voted against the initial resolution concerning non self-governing territories.
- READ MORE: US calls for end to UN decolonisation committee, criticises Pacific visits
- Other UN Decolonisation Committee reports
Only the United Kingdom, France and Paraguay abstained.
The United States and Israel were the only countries that voted against all 20 of the meeting’s resolutions and decisions of the committee.
Just six of the remaining 17 UN-defined colonies are in the Pacific — American Samoa, French Polynesia, Guam (American territory), New Caledonia (French), Tokelau (New Zealand) and Pitcairn (British).
West Papuan independence advocates also claim that a 1969 plebiscite enabling Indonesian rule over the Melanesian region was fraudulent and seek a fresh decolonisation process.
The US said the foundation texts of the modern UN decolonisation process — including Resolution 1514 adopted in 1960 — were non-binding and did not necessarily reflect international law.
Divided votes
Votes on other resolutions were more divided, including on whether the concept of colonialism should extend to economic coercion and other contemporary practices.
Washington argued that independence should not be treated as a “one-size-fits-all” solution, that the people of a non-self-governing territory should be able to choose among options such as independence, free association, integration with the administering state or another status freely determined by the people concerned.
But Ambassador Bruce’s speech also restated her administration’s disagreement with criticism of a US federal court decision that blocked Guam’s planned self-determination plebiscite and reasserted its “sovereign right to conduct military activities” in the Pacific territory in accordance with its national security interests.
The United Kingdom, which administers 10 of the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories, abstained on the draft resolutions concerning its territories but voted in favour of a decision on Gibraltar.
The Fourth Committee in session on 15 October 2026. Video: UN Media
Pacific churches reject US call on decolonisation
In Suva, the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) rejected the call by the US to end
the UN Decolonisation Committee mandate and the description of the committee’s Pacific engagement as “yearly junkets.”
“Six of the world’s 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories are in our region,” said the PCC in a statement. “While they remain on the list, the work of decolonisation is unfinished, and the mandate to complete it has not outlived its purpose.
“Our people are not props, and our homes are not junkets,” said PCC general secretary Reverend James Bhagwan.
He also said that although West Papua was not on the UN list, the PCC continued to advocate for the “self-determination and human rights of Papuan people, including UN access to the territory”.
