International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations

   The Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples is also known as the Special Committee on Decolonization, or C-24. Opening of the meeting [Opening remarks to be delivered by the Chef de Cabinet, Courtenay Rattray on behalf of the Secretary-General] Election of the Chair Adoption of the agenda Election of other officers Organization of work - A/AC.109/2026/L.1, A/AC.109/2026/L.2/Rev.1 2026 Caribbean regional seminar Other matters The C-24 annually reviews the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories to which the Declaration is applicable. It also hears statements from representatives of the Non-Self-Governing Territories at its annual sessions, dispatches visiting missions to Non-Self-Governing Territories and annually organizes regional seminars. Related Sites and Documents: Special Committee on Decolonization website  &  Organization of Work . Watch the...

When the United Nations was founded in 1945, some 750 million people, nearly a third of the world's population, lived in Territories that were dependent on colonial Powers. Today, fewer than 2 million people live under colonial rule in the 17 remaining non-self-governing territories . The wave of decolonization, which changed the face of the planet, was born with the UN and represents the world body’s first great success. Learn more about the  Issues of Decolonization

  ,  This celebration of the  International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations  supports the United Nations ’s determination to implement the  Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples  and related decisions, and to promote decolonization as one of its main mandates. As part of the inaugural celebration of the Day, the United Nations is hosting on 18 December, a one-day high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples , with the participation of Member States and observers, as well as of the President of the General Assembly , the President of the Economic and Social Council and the United Nations Secretary-General . The meeting is to advance global dialogue on the full implementation of UN resolutions on decolonization .

More than sixty years after the adoption of resolution 1514 (XV) , colonialism in its various forms continues to exist, undermining the principles of the UN Charter , with an impact on social, cultural, and economic development. The eradication of colonialism remains a key priority for the United Nations, particularly under the Fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2021-2030).

In 2025, with the adoption of resolution A/RES/80/106 , the United Nations established December 14th as the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations . This observance reaffirms the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples ( Resolution 1514 (XV) ), emphasizing the necessity of bringing to a speedy and unconditional end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.

The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 14 December 1960. The deliberate location of the United Nations vote – in the General Assembly rather than in the Security Council where a permanent member’s veto would always be available to any one or more of the three permanent members that still had “colonial” legal ties or associations – was an obvious enough choice for the political activist States sponsoring resolution 1514 (XV). And the timing of the vote – in 1960, when the decolonisation process was already well under way – was hardly fortuitous. A working majority in favour of a patently anti-colonialist measure would not become politically possible until the General Assembly’s transformation from its original very narrow base of representation limited to the States members of the victorious wartime Alliance against Fascism to something more nearly reflective in cultural and ideological ...