Consideration of decolonization items (continues) Joint general debate on decolonization items (resumes) 18:00: Closure of the list of speakers on decolonization items
🇵🇾 Paraguay, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇮🇳 India, 🇵🇰 Pakistan, 🇮🇷 Islamic Republic of Iran, 🇧🇭 Bahrain, 🇦🇷 Argentina, 🇿🇦 South Africa, 🇧🇷 Brazil
You have five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Delegation of Paraguay has requested the floor for to make a statement with regard to the intervention made today on behalf of CELAC for this agenda item of the fourth committee. The delegation of Paraguay dissociates itself from the paragraphs on the topic of Puerto Rico and on the question of Western Sahara. because it does not reflect the current position of the Republic of Paraguay. We respectfully request that the current uh declaration of disassociation be uh uh recorded in the official meetings of this session and included in the corresponding report of this uh session. Thank you.
Thank you, Chair. I would like to exercise the right of reply to respond to the national statements of the distinguished representatives from Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Peru, and to the group statements delivered by the distinguished representatives of Brazil, Belize, and Uruguay. Once again, the United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and surrounding maritime areas of both territories. The UK is steadfast in its support for the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination, which is enshrined in the UN Charter and Article I of the two UN Covenants on Human Rights. The Falkland Islanders have as much right as any other peoples to determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. The Falkand Islands has a diverse and growing population of over 60 nationalities, an active and proud democratic community, and a healthy economy. The Islanders have made clear their overwhelming wish for the Falkland Islands to remain a self governing territory of the United Kingdom, including in the twenty thirteen referendum supervised by independent observers. I re-emphasize therefore that there can be no dialogue on sovereignty unless the Falkland Islanders so wish. On references made to hydrocarbons, as I have just set out, the people of the Falkland Islands have freely and democratically chosen their future. They have every right to develop and manage their natural resources without intimidation, coercion, or interference from others. This is a legitimate commercial venture working to some of the most stringent standards internationally, regulated under Falkland Islands law, and conducted in full accordance with international law, including UNCLOS. Efforts to obstruct such lawful economic activity are not acts of responsible international engagements. They are deliberate attempts to undermine the prosperity and economic security of a self governing people. To conclude, the United Kingdom will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Falkland Islands Government and the Falkland Islanders. We will robustly defend their wishes, their economy, and their right to determine their own future. Second, Chair, I'd like to respond to the statements of the distinguished representative from Spain on Gibraltar. First, the UK welcomes the agreement in respect of Gibraltar between the European Union and the United Kingdom signed in Brussels on the 14th of July this year. It reflects a new era of cooperation, trust, and respect between the UK, the EU, Spain, and Gibraltar. The UK encourages all parties to build on this positive momentum in order to further strengthen cooperation and foster a mutually beneficial relationship based on solidarity, dialogue, and shared prosperity. As the distinguished representative from Spain also referred, the agreement is, however, without prejudice to the respective legal positions of the United Kingdom and of Spain with regard to sovereignty and jurisdiction. The agreement reaffirms that those positions remain unchanged. In that vein, the United Kingdom recalls its sovereignty over Gibraltar and the territorial waters surrounding it and reaffirms that, as a separate territory recognized by the United Nations and included since 1946 in its list of non self governing territories, it enjoys the rights accorded to it under the UN Charter. The United Kingdom also recalls that the people of Gibraltar enjoy the right of self determination. The 2006 Gibraltar Constitution, which was endorsed in a referendum by the people of Gibraltar, Provides for a modern and mature relationship between Gibraltar and the UK. The government of the United Kingdom restates its long standing commitment to the people of Gibraltar that it will not enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes. The United Kingdom also confirms that it will not enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content. The United Kingdom reaffirms its commitment to safeguard Gibraltar, its people and its economy. Thank you, Chair. And now
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I would like To respond to the intervention in right of reply that has just been made by the representative of the United Kingdom. Mr. Chair, this organization has on numerous occasions pointed out that Gibraltar is a colony that negatively affects the national unity and territorial integrity of Spain and which is incompatible with Resolution 1514 and therefore is included on the list of 17 non-self-governing territories that are awaiting decolonization. There is only one path forward, and that is the one provided for by this organization, which is that Spain and the United Kingdom, in accordance with the United Nations, begin negotiations and comply with the purposes of the Special Committee on Decolonization. Only the United Nations can decide when the process of decolonization has been of Gibraltar has been concluded. Resolution twenty-three fifty-three affirms in that regard that all um colonial situation that partially or or entirely destroys the national unity and territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and specifies that the decolonization of Gibraltar should be guided by the principle of territorial integrity. Therefore, the General Assembly condemned the 1967 referendum organized by the administering power without the backup of the United Nations and signalling that it contravened various of its resolutions, including 1514. In sum, the General Assembly has been clear in denying the existence of a supposed right to self determination of a supposed people of Gibraltar. At the same time, as we have already affirmed in our statement, Spain is the one suffering from the colonization of its territory. Spain is a s is subject to the decolonization of it via the restitution of its national unity and territorial integrity. And therefore, Spain rejects any attempt by the administering power and by the authorities of the colonized territory to alter its political relationship to claim that there is no colonial situation while also claiming a hypothetical right to self determination and the its removal from the list of non self governing territories. There is no modern relationship, rather, it is a colonial situation in new clothes. We also reiterate the fact that Spain does not recognize that the United Kingdom has any rights related to the spaces of Gibraltar that are not included in Article Ten of the Utrecht Treaty of 1713, which only ceded the city and the fortress of Gibraltar together with its ports, defenses and fortresses, and nothing more. The United Kingdom without title is occupying a portion of that as well as a portion of Spanish territorial sea, having extended that to include a part of the landing strip of Gibraltar Airport. Spain has always protested in a continuous, unequivocal, and formal way this occupation that is contrary to cut to public international law. The British claim to extend their sovereignty from Gibraltar over to the surrounding waters has no basis in the Utrecht Treaty or in international law as a whole. And this question was subject to a Spanish declaration when it ratified the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Spain has no doubt over the limits of its territory and therefore the uh waters adjacent to Gibraltar are Spanish territorial waters in which Spanish spa state ships operate as normal and have done since time immemorial, without them having that having been criticized until very recently because of these uh supposed incidents. Indeed, the agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom of Gibraltar, signed on the 14th of July, began its provisional implementation on the 15th of July and aims to create a shared zone of prosperity to benefit the citizens of the region, but it was established without prejudice to the respective legal positions of Spain and the United Kingdom with respect to the sovereignty to sovereignty and jurisdiction. Therefore Regardless of the solution reached in order to structure the United Kingdom's relations with respect to Gibraltar following Brexit, particularly with vis-a-vis Campo de Gibraltar, we reiterate that when it comes to the question of Gibraltar, there is no solution other than a decolonization process that is negotiated between Spain and the United Kingdom according to the terms established by the United Nations. And this is a process for which Spain remains totally ready. Thank you very much. And now
Chair, it is regrettable that Pakistan continues to abuse this August forum by peddling lies and falsehoods about the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. We call upon Pakistan to stop the grave and ongoing human rights violation in the areas illegally occupied by it, where the population is in open revolt against Pakistan needs military occupation, repression, brutality, and illegal exploitation of resources. In the last few months, the Pakistani armed forces and their proxies have killed dozens of innocent civilians who were agitating for their basic rights and freedoms and basic necessities. A country like Pakistan, with an established record of military dictatorship, sham election, incarceration of popular elected leaders, religious extremism, and sponsoring terrorism as an instrument of state policy, should in future refrain from preaching homilies of this at this platform. Jammu and Kashmir. is and always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. I thank you, Chay.
Thank you, Chair. We are compelled to respond to yet another exercise in denial and distortion by the Indian delegation. Pakistan addressed this committee on the UN Charter, the Security Council's resolutions, and the right to self-determination. India answered with a rehearsed catalogue of accusations and falsehoods. An attempt to hide facts, reality, and the legal record on Jammu and Kashmir. A barrage of false and ludicrous assertions is no answer to a question of law. Jammu and Kashmir is neither an integral part of India nor an internal matter. Reputation cannot rewrite history, occupation cannot create sovereignty, and denial cannot erase an internationally recognized dispute. Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute before the United Nations. Numerous Security Council resolutions reaffirm the principle that Jammu and Kashmir's future will be decided by its people through exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination. Let me remind the Indian delegation, Security Council resolutions do not come with an expiry date. International obligations do not disappear because India finds them inconvenient. India also also repeatedly attempts the absurd comparison between Azad Kashmir and Indian illegally occupied Jemu in Kashmir. The contrast could not be clearer. In Azad, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiris live freely and express themselves. They protest. They participate in political life. They raise their voices. In Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, political voices are silenced. Dissent is criminalized. Thousands have faced detention. Demographic changes are imposed, and fundamental right to self determination remains denied. The real question is, will India honor Security Council resolutions? Will it honor Article 25 of the UN Charter and allow the promised free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of UN? India's illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, with its 900,000 troops, cannot extinguish the Kashmiri people's rights and erase the Security Council's resolutions. I thank you, Chair. And now
Mr. Chair, my delegation wishes to exercise its right of reply as the distinguished representatives of Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have referred to the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf and the situation in the region, repeating the same baseless claim against my country's territorial integrity and its sovereignty. We must reiterate that this August body is not the appropriate platform to raise unfounded allegations that introduce territorial issues into the debate. Such statements are unnecessary and only serve to divert the committee from its substantive work. Mr. Chair, regarding the three Iranian islands, it is surprising that a few delegations continue to reiterate the same rhetoric in this committee despite the fact that no internationally recognized dispute or colonial situation exists concerning these islands. Repetition of non factual assertions cannot alter established realities. My delegation strongly and categorically rejects any statement that undermines the territorial integrity of my country. For the record, and as a clear response, we emphasize that three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tom and Lesser Tom are an integral part of the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, over which our country exercises full and undisputed sovereignty. Mr. Chev, we underline that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including over the aforementioned islands, is not negotiable. All measures undertaken on these islands by Iranian authorities have consistently been carried out in full conformity with international law, including the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Regarding the allegations directed at my country in connection with the current situation in the region, my delegation rejects these claims in their entirety. My delegation wishes to underscore that such rhetoric presents our actions in isolation disregarding the sustained aggressions against our people, particularly since the twenty eighth of February, and the circumstances under which my country was compelled to respond in the exercise of its inherent rights under Article fifty first of the United Nations Charter. Although my country, Iran, shares no border with the aggressors, their military facilities located in neighboring territories, as well as routes through our region, including the Strait of Hormose, have been used in connection with attacks against our people, a reality supported by multiple pieces of conclusive evidence. As previously stated, Mr. Chair, my country has acted strictly within the framework of its inherent right of self-defense. Our actions have been directed solely at military sites used in connection with attacks against our people and civilian infrastructure. We firmly reject any attempt to portray the defense of our people as hostility toward neighboring countries. My country regards the states of our region as partners in a shared and stable future. Such partnerships carry both responsibilities and mutual obligations. No state's territory or facilities should be used to enable attacks against another. We therefore encourage neighboring countries to remain vigilant against divisive and colonial narratives aimed at obscuring the serious crimes committed against the peoples of our region. We call on these states to take effective measures to prevent the use of their territory of hostile acts against others and to engage with us directly on the security concerns that affect all of us in the region. Last but not least, Mr. Chair, I wish to reiterate that the name Persian Gulf is firmly rooted in millennia of historical usage and is consistently applied across official United Nations cartographic and legal practice. UN standardization guidelines and authoritative geographical references confirm that this designation is neither arbitrary nor open to political reinterpretation. Accordingly, Persian Gulf remains the only internationally recognized and technically accurate name for this body of water, and no fabricated or improvised name should be used by any delegation in its place. I thank you, Mr. Chair.
Said Rais. Mr. Chair, we exercise our right of reply on behalf of the states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. In response to what the Iranian delegate said regarding the three um Emirati Islands, we reject what was said. In the statement of the Iranian delegate regarding these islands, we stress yet again that the three islands, Greater Tom, Lesser Tom, and Abu Musa, which are in the located in the Arab Gulf, are a part and parcel of the UAE. They are occupied by Iran. We also support the right of uh sisterly UAE of sovereignty on these islands, territorial waters, airspace, continental shelf, and the exclusive economic zone of these three islands. These are integral part of the territories of the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, we stress that any practices, resolutions, or actions taken by Iran on these islands are null and void. They do not change the historical realities or the legal reality. They all are unanimous as to the sovereignty of the UAE on these three islands. We call on Iran to respond to the efforts by the UAE to resolve this issue through direct negotiations or resorting to the ICJ. Chair. I exercise my right of reply now on an in a national capacity, and in response to what was said by the Iranian delegate regarding the Strait of Hormones, we reject categorically all the allegations regarding the use of our territory to launch attacks against Iran. We stress that we are not party to the hostilities. We did not take part in these hostilities directly or indirectly. We also confirm that these allegations will not distract from Iran's obligations pursuant to international law as well as Security Council resolutions, most notably 2817 of the Security Council. This resolution was supported broadly by 136 member states in the United Nations. This resolution condemned the um blatant aggr um attacks by Iran against the countries of the region. It asked Iran to cease these attacks and any actions or threats that would um jeopardize navigation in the Strait of Hermones. We also recall the resolution of the Human Rights Council. Uh 611 that was adopted in uh March without vote. It condemned the Iranian attacks and their impact on human rights. It called on Iran to unconditionally stop its attacks and its provocation against the Kingdom of Bahrain and other countries in the region. I thank you, Mr. Chair. Shukran al-Mutra Muqar Alima I thank the distinguished delegate of I think Bahrain and now
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. In response to what was said by the Distinguished Representative of the United Kingdom on the question of the Malvinas Islands, I wish to recall that the Malvinus, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas are an integral part of the Argentine National Territory. and are illegally occupied by the United Kingdom and are subject to a sovereignty dispute recognized by the United Nations. The General Assembly, in its resolution 2065, recognized the existence of a sovereignty dispute and urged the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume negotiations to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the dispute as a way towards the decolonization of the territory. The Special Committee on Decolonization has repeatedly pronounced itself to the same effect the last time in June of this year. The principle of self-determination is not applicable to the Malvinus Islands. The United Nations has characterized this question as a special and particular case of decolonization, the solution to which requires a negotiation between the two states that are party to the dispute, taking duly into account the interests of the inhabitants of the islands. Self determination cannot be used to turn a population that is established by the occupying power into the arbiter in a sovereignty dispute in which that same power is a party, nor to retrospectively validate a situation that was begun through an act of force. Mr. Chair, it is solely the power of the General Assembly and not the administering power to um take a position on the um means of um free and and authentic uh expression of a territory where it's appropriate, including the formulation of questions put to consultation. In consequence, the carrying out of a supposed referendum lacks any legal value. Chair, in accordance with international law, the parties to a dispute should refrain from introducing unilateral modifications into the situation while the dispute is awaiting settlement, nor adopt measures that exacerbate the dispute. In the context of the Mavinas question, that obligation is reflected in Resolution 3149 of the General Assembly, which expressly urged the two parties to refrain from taking decisions that would imply introducing unilateral modifications in the situation while the islands are going through the process recommended by the United Nations. Argentina rejects all characterization according to which anything that would put obstac would reconstruct an obstacle to this, the measures adopted in accordance with um national regulations and international law constitute the legitimate exercise of its sovereign rights in the face of unilateral acts of exploitation and exploration of natural resources, both renewable and non renewable, which are incompatible with the resolution 3149 of the General Assembly of the United Nations International Law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Far from hindering the well-being of the inhabitants of the islands, the Argentine Republic respects their way of life and their interests in accordance with the mandate established in its national constitution and in United Nations resolutions. Their prosperity, however, cannot be rooted in the illegitimate exploitation and exploration of natural resources that belong to the Argentine people as a whole and which are located in a disputed area. Mr. Chair. The announcements made in December 2025 regarding the intention to begin hydrocarbon exploration activities in the disputed area constitute a unilateral act that is potentially irreversible given that these are non renewable uh natural resources. Faced with this situation, uh the Argentina fur categorically rejects these actions and affirms its legitimate right to, with full respect to international law, take the necessary measures in the face of non authorized actions for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources. Mr. Chair. Argentina reiterates its full readiness to resume substantive bilateral negotiations with the United King Kingdom in accordance with Resolution twenty sixty five. Our country reaffirms its commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes, to effective multilateralism, and to a world order that is based on rules. We urge the United Kingdom to fulfill its decolonization obligations and to immediately cease its failures to comply with international law. The Argentine Republic reaffirms its legitimate sovereignty rights over the Malvinus, South Georgia, and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Chair. Um, South Africa just want to request Brazil to clarify their statement with regards to supporting the Moroccan autonomic plan on the position on Western Sahara. I heard Brazil saying um the the group of Zopak supports the Moroccan autonomy plan. I just want the clarity. Just to be clear, South Africa supports fully the right of the people of Western Sahara to self determination. Thank you.
Thank thank you very much Chair. Uh just to clarify, our statement on behalf of Zopakas made no mention of Morocco. It was purely about the Malvinus Islands. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for giving me the floor. My delegation takes the floor once again in response to the statement we just heard from Representative of Bahrain. While categorically rejecting these baseless claims, my delegation wishes to reiterate once again that long before the UAE came into being, official documents and maps consistently identified these three islands. as belonging to the Territory of Iran. The intervention by these countries offers nothing that alters this established record. A claim does not acquire legal force through repetition, nor does raising it in this committee change the status of the territory whatsoever. Mr Chair, the item before us concerns decolonization. This assertion, however, pertains to a claim of sovereignty over territories belonging to my country. Even when presented under this agenda item, it cannot be considered relevant to the subject matter of decolonization. We urge delegations not to conflate an unsupported territorial claim with the committee's mandate concerning peoples and territories subject to colonial rule. In addition regarding the situation in our region, we should stress that the rejection of foreign domination cannot be confined to its co historical forms while the security and resources of our region are exposed to the power of actors from outside the region and used by them for killing our families and children. A reality confirmed blatantly by aggressors and factual evidence. No neighbor security is strengthened when outside military actors are allowed to treat our region as a platform for confrontation. Nor can my country be expected to ignore attacks against its people while the circumstances enabling those attacks remain unaddressed. We respect the sovereignty of our neighboring states and expect equal regard for our own people's security. The Slavic Republic of Iran will continue to protect its people and call on its neighbors to address these risks with the seriousness they demand. That is the basis on which a fast a safer region can be built. I thank you. I now give the floor for a second exercise of right of reply for the representative of the Kingdom of Bahrain. You have three minutes, please go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am taking the floor to exercise our second right of reply on behalf of the GCC. We once more emphasize that any decisions or practices or action exercised by Iran on the three islands is null and void and cannot change the historical or legal realities that all culminate in proving the sovereignty of the UAE over the three. Islands, Abu Musa, the Greater Tom, and the Lesser Tom, in the Arab Gulf. We call upon Iran once more to respond to the endeavors of the UAE to resolve the matter through direct negotiations or resorting to the ICJ. Mr. Chair, we reject any allegations aiming to delude the international community. We remind of the Security Council Resolution 2817, which condemns Iran. We call upon Iran to fully implement this resolution and to respect the principles of state sovereignty and territorial integrity and good neighborliness. And refraining from interference in internal affairs. Thank you, Mr Chair.
Verbatim from the transcript. A reply is identified from its own words, the Chair's grant, or its place in the right-of-reply sequence; delegations and addressees follow the transcript's attribution.