text: placewhichwouldnotbebasedontheprinciples ofthe1960Declaration and related texts. 64.Mr.PaulM.Leary, Director oftheBureauofPublic Administration, University oftheUnited States VirginIslands, reviewed theUnitedStatesVirgin Islands political status issue. Hedescribed hisuniversity's public information campaign inpreparation forthereferendum scheduled tohavetakenplacein1989whichhad beensubsequently postponed until1991inthewakeofHurricane Hugo. Public education wasexpensive. Withanewandcomplicated issue,itwasdifficult to reachtheaverage person whowasmoreconcerned aboutdailysurvival. Furthermore, thepublic mustbeconvinced thatthestatus issuewasserious andwouldhavea majorimpact onitsfuture. 65.Heconsidered thatthedifficulty ofpublic education intheUnited States Virgin Islands hadtodowiththepurely localcharacter ofthestatusinitiative. Because theinitiative didcomefromtheUnited States, therewasnofederal funding andtheresults ofanyvotewouldbepurely advisory. Heconsidered that theUnited States should fundathorough pUblic education programme aspartofits responsibility fortheself-determination oftheUnitedStates Virgin Islands. Ill.ADOPTION OFTHEREPORT OFTHESEMINAR 66.Atitsfinalmeeting, on21June1990,theparticipants intheSeminar adopted byacclamation thefollowing summary ofdiscussions: Summary ofdiscussions 1.Theparticipants intheCaribbean Seminar reaffirmed theimportance of General Assembly resolution 1514(XV)of14December 1960andpraised the United Nations and,inparticular, theSpecial Committee fortheroletheyhad played inthedecolonization process during thepast30years. Theycontinued I •..A/AC.109/l043 English Page13 tosupport theDeclaration andtheneedforitsimplementation inthe remaining colonial Territories. 2.Theynotedwithappreciation theopening address bythePrimeMinister of Barbados, Mr.L.Erskine Sandiford, M.P.,andsupported hisposition thatall peoples should determine freelytheirpresent andfuturestatus andthat options mustbeleftopenfortheNon-Self-Governing Territories todetermine their owndestiny, whichwasthebirth-right ofallpeoples. 3.Participants reaffirmed thatthequestion ofterritorial size, geographical isolation andlimited resources shouldnotconstitute anobstacle totheimplementation oftheDeclaration. WhereGeneral Assembly resolution 1514(XV)hadnotbeenfullyimplemented, theinternational community should continue tobearresponsibility fortheTerritories concerned untilallpowers weretransferred tothepeoples oftheTerritory without anyconditions or reservations andthepeoples concerned hadhadanopportunity toexercise freelytheirrighttoself-determination andindependence inaccordance with theDeclaration. 4.Notingthatwiththeindependence ofNamibia, thedecolonization process hadentered anewandcomplex phase,participants reaffirmed thatinnovative approaches tothechallenges facing theremaining Non-Self-Governing Territories wererequired tocomplete thedecolonization process. 5.Manyspeakers pointed outthatinthecaseoftheremaining small Territories, because oftheirpeculiar characteristics, special measures might berequired toenhance theimplementation oftheprinciples ofdecolonization. 6.Theparticipants stressed theimportance ofafairandunbiased political education forthepeoples intheTerritories concerned, andinthatregard called fortheintensification ofthedissemination ofinformation on decolonization withaviewtoraising theawareness ofthepeoples abouttheir political rights andtheoptions available tothemindetermining theirfuture status. 7.Whiletaking noteofthestrongdesire whichcurrently existed amongsome Non-Self-Governing Territories intheregion foramorerapidandprogressive movetofullinternal self-government, without theimposition ofaspecific timetable forindependence, participants stressed thateverysupport should be givenduring sucharrangements, sothatthepeoples oftheTerritories could assumegreater responsibilities formanaging theirownaffairs, toprepare themforthefullexercise oftheirrighttoself-determination and independence.
analysis: The text appears to be a report from a seminar on decolonization and self-determination, focusing on the political status of Non-Self-Governing Territories, particularly the United States Virgin Islands. The discussions revolve around the importance of public education, the role of the international community, and the need for innovative approaches to complete the decolonization process. The text does not mention specific economic or environmental issues, but rather emphasizes the political and human rights aspects of the topic.