US seeks end to UN decolonisation committee’s mandate

The United States has called for an end to the mandate of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation (C-24), one of the main multilateral channels used by Argentina to keep its sovereignty claim over the Malvinas Islands on the international agenda.

The US proposal was put forward on October 15 before the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, where Washington questioned the body’s costs and argued that it had outlived the purpose for which it was established.

According to a United Nations press release, the US representative said the Special Committee on Decolonisation “has outlived its original purpose,” arguing that more than 80 former colonies had since joined the organisation as member states, while the committee continued to revisit the same texts every year.

The US representative also criticised the committee’s annual trips to resorts in the Caribbean and South Pacific, describing them as a waste of UN time and resources. 

The official pointed to Puerto Rico, which the General Assembly removed from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories in 1953, but which the committee continues to hold hearings on every year.

“The people of the remaining territories deserve better than to be considered as props” in political campaigns, she said, calling for an end to the committee’s mandate, according to the UN report.

The US position was formally recorded by the United Nations during a session in which the Fourth Committee approved more than 20 draft resolutions relating to decolonisation.

During proceedings, the US delegation called for the C-24 committee’s mandate to be terminated.

The move would have direct implications for Argentina, as the Malvinas issue is examined by the committee every year.

Britain and Argentina fought a brief but bitter 10-week war in 1982 over the South Atlantic islands, known to Argentines as Las Islas Malvinas and in the UK as the Falkland Islands.

Since 1989, the C-24 has served as the principal forum within the United Nations where Argentina presents its position. It has secured resolutions recognising the existence of a sovereignty dispute, and the committee has urged Argentina and the United Kingdom to open talks on the issue.

President Javier Milei has sought to give Argentina's sovereignty claim over the islands more visibility in recent weeks. The shift came after US President Donald Trump suggested he could review Washington's stance on the territory.

The UK government does not recognise Argentina’s claim over the islands, which have been under British control since 1833.

Island residents themselves voted overwhelmingly in 2013 to remain British. 

But Argentina rejects that outcome, arguing that the principle of self-determination does not apply to a population it considers implanted by Britain.

– TIMES/NA/AFP