Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the membership of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization on the decisions that it makes in respect of UK overseas territories.

The Government continues to believe the UN Special Committee on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Special Committee) is outdated and no longer has a relevant role to play with respect to the UK Overseas Territories.

For those Territories with permanent populations who wish it, the Government will continue to support requests for the removal of the Territory from the United Nations list of 'non-self-governing Territories'. Furthermore, the Government supports the right of the people of the Overseas Territories to address the Special Committee directly. In 2025, the UK has supported representatives from the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, and the British Virgin Islands to appear at the Special Committee's annual considerations of their respective Territories.