‘Is the UN really effective?’- Hon Ronnie
“I know the Premier continue to [refer to] the UN Charter on self-determination. Madam Speaker, is the UN really effective?” Hon Skelton said during the Continuation of the Ninth Sitting of the Sec...
“I know the Premier continue to [refer to] the UN Charter on self-determination. Madam Speaker, is the UN really effective?” Hon Skelton said during the Continuation of the Ninth Sitting of the Second Session of the Fifth House of Assembly, on Wednesday, September 25, 2025. Members of the House have been debating the 2022-2023 Constitution Review Commission’s (CRC) Report and Hon Skelton was the last member to speak.
Self-determination discussions ongoing for a while The discussion surrounding self-determination for the Territory has been ongoing for years, from leaders of government, individuals in public life, to opinion pieces written in the media. In July 2025, a draft resolution calling for the full decolonisation of the Virgin Islands (VI) was adopted by the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation (C-24).
The VI is one of the 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories falling under the remit of the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation. The UN’s C-24 visited the Territory in August 2024 and produced the document, ‘Report of the United Nations visiting mission to the British Virgin Islands, 26 to 27 August 2024’.
The C-24 report revealed that since 2019, representatives of the VI “invited the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples to dispatch a visiting mission to the Territory”.
Hon Skelton, during his contribution asked, “[Does] anybody listen to them anymore?… Because we continue to reference them, and I don’t think it has any effect on the British.” He said the UN has existed for all these years, and the British are “still treating us like this”. The former Opposition Leader told the Premier, “I think you need a new approach, that’s my observation.” This online news site is the sole property of and is operated by Advance Marketing and Professional Services dba Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) in the Virgin Islands.
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