UN cries freedom to contented Caribbean colonies
Monday, May 24, 2004
UNITED NATIONS: Unable or unwilling to play
an effective role towards regime change in Iraq, this week the United Nations
launches a week of "Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-governing
Territories" in a drive to "liberate" them.
The UN has sworn to make the world’s 16
remaining colonies independent whether their inhabitants like it or not.
Describing colonialism as "an anachronism in the 21st century," UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan said, "Decolonisation is a UN success story but it is a
story that is not yet finished. We must see the process through to its end."
More than 80 nations formerly under colonial
rule have become independent since the UN was formed in 1945.
"The decolonisation efforts of the United
Nations derive from the principle of equal rights and self-determination of
peoples," the UN says.
But the problem for UN purists is that most
of the colonies are either too small to be viable, or are populated by people
who do not want to be independent.
Almost half of the 16 remaining colonies are
in the Caribbean region and the UN list includes the US territory of the
Virgin Islands and the British territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Some could not function without hefty subsidies from the administering
countries but Bermuda is one of the exceptions in that it is economically
sound and the 65,000-strong population of Bermuda enjoys one of the highest
living standards in the world.
In Bermuda there is disagreement among the
parties over independence. Earlier this year Prime Minister Alex Scott backed
the UN’s call for decolonisation. He said that the Progressive Labour Party (PLP)
had long favoured independence "and that position has not changed".
But opposition leader Grant Gibbons said
that the UN had no business "telling the people of Bermuda what’s good for us.
We are a sophisticated and mature people and it’s a matter for Bermudians to
decide when and how we wish to move to independence".
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