VI Urges UN to Advance Decolonisation
VI Special Envoy E. Benito Wheatley urged the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation to use its good offices and carry out more visiting missions to help the 17 remaining Non‑Self‑Governing Territories, including the Virgin Islands, peacefully progress toward integration, free association or independence. Wheatley updated delegates that the VI government is pursuing full internal self‑government in negotiations with the UK and plans a 2031 referendum to complete decolonisation.
The British Virgin Islands has renewed its call for the United Nations to actively pursue the decolonisation of the world’s remaining territories, the VI Special Envoy E. Benito Wheatley told participants at a recent UN seminar. In a press release from the Office of the Premier, Wheatley urged the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation to deploy the “good offices” at its disposal and to carry out visiting missions to assist Administering Powers and the 17 Non‑Self‑Governing Territories (NSGTs) to advance decolonisation through peaceful routes: integration, free association or independence. “The Special Committee on Decolonisation can make a difference in advancing decolonisation by employing the major tools at its disposal, which include good offices and visiting missions,” Wheatley said, stressing that both mechanisms foster useful engagement and dialogue between administering states and the governments and peoples of NSGTs.
Wheatley updated seminar participants on the local situation, saying the VI government is preparing for upcoming constitutional negotiations with the United Kingdom aimed at securing full internal self‑government. He also confirmed plans for a referendum in 2031 where residents will be asked to choose among the three UN‑sanctioned sovereignty options.
The Special Envoy thanked the Committee for a visiting mission to the Virgin Islands in 2024 and for its support of democratic governance on the islands. He warned, however, that if meaningful progress toward decolonisation is not evident by the end of the Fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism in 2030, the Special Committee risks becoming irrelevant to the peoples it was created to assist.
Wheatley called on the Committee to redouble efforts to respond to the numerous requests from NSGTs for on‑the‑ground assessments. Administering Powers named in his remarks include France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The 17 remaining NSGTs cited include American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands and Western Sahara.
For BVI residents, the envoy’s appeal underscores that constitutional talks with the UK and the 2031 referendum are part of an internationally recognised process. Any change in status could affect areas such as local governance, citizenship matters, and the legal framework, making public information and civic engagement essential as negotiations proceed.
The remarks were made public in a release from the Office of the Premier and reported by Virgin Islands News Online.
Primary source: VINO