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UN:
UN TEAM HEADS TO TOKELAU FOR SECOND REFERENDUM ON SELF-GOVERNMENT:
17/10/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 17 October 2007 –
A five-member team of United Nations observers
is heading
to Tokelau, a group of three small atolls in the Pacific Ocean, to monitor a
referendum next week on whether the territory should have self-government in
free association with New Zealand.
UN
spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters today that voting in the referendum
on Tokelau, a Non-Self-Governing Territory that has been administered by New
Zealand since 1926, will take place from this Saturday until 24 October.
It will
be the second such referendum: the first took place in February 2006, when 60
per cent of Tokelauan voters supported the option for self-government in free
association with New Zealand. This did not meet the two-thirds majority required
by Tokelau’s representative body, known as the General Fono.
The UN
monitoring team comprises: Ambassador Robert Aisi of Papua New Guinea, a
representative of the Special Committee on Decolonization; an official from the
Department of Political Affairs’ Decolonization Unit; two officials of the
Department’s Electoral Assistance Division; and an official with the
Department of Public Information.
A
similar team observed last year’s referendum, and deemed the election process
to be credible and reflecting the will of the people of Tokelau, which has a
population of about 1,500.
Since
then the General Fono decided to hold a second referendum on the same basis, and
to conduct a detailed process of engagement with Tokelauans – including those
communities living in Hawaii, American Samoa, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand
– to ensure that all fully understood the issues involved in the vote.
If
Tokelauans achieve the two-thirds majority during this referendum, a date will
then be set for a “day of self-government.” This will probably be in
mid-2008 to allow New Zealand enough time to make the necessary legislative
amendments.
There
are currently 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories remaining on the UN’s
decolonization list, compared to 72 such territories when the Organization was
established in 1945. The last Non-Self-Governing Territory that exercised the
right to self-determination was East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, which
gained its independence in 2002.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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