In 1960, outside the headquarters in New York, the flags of the African countries that had just won their independence went up one after another on the United Nations mast; Senegal's was among them. Before the end of that same year, the General Assembly adopted the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, which was meant to put an end to colonial rule. More than sixty years on, seventeen territories still appear on the list of non-self-governing territories. President Macky Sall, whose country was born of that movement, holds decolonisation to be an unfinished mission of the Organization and writes it into his candidacy for the office of Secretary-General.
More than eighty new member states. Since the 1960 declaration, more than eighty former colonies have joined the United Nations as member states, including most of the countries of Africa. The Organization counts this work among its greatest.
Seventeen territories still listed. A special committee examines each year the situation of the remaining territories, located in particular in the Pacific and the Atlantic. Petitioners from those islands take the floor there, sometimes after several days of travel, to describe to diplomats who have never set foot on them the life of a few thousand inhabitants. Those inhabitants have the right to choose their status through a free consultation, and it falls to the Organization to guarantee that the choice is theirs.
The right of peoples, a principle of the Charter. The right of peoples to self-determination appears in the first article of the Charter. It founds the Organization's legitimacy with the majority of its members, born of its application.
Agenda and visiting missions. The status of each territory is decided by its inhabitants and by the power that administers it, under the eye of the General Assembly. It falls to a Secretary-General to keep the question on the agenda and to give the special committee the means for its visiting missions, which require the consent of the administering power and the support of the Secretariat. The 1960 declaration remains on the agenda of every session of the General Assembly.
A head of state's commitment. This position comes from twelve years at the head of a country born of decolonisation and from the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022. The same experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace, security and development conceived together; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The 1960 declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples and the list of non-self-governing territories are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net