UN General Assembly
1991

The dramatic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have at last enabled a half-century-old wrong to be righted. We congratulate Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the success of their courageous struggle for self-determination and for their admittance to membership of the United Nations. The International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism is the final countdown during which we hope to see efforts focused on the achieving of self-determination by the remaining 18 Non-Self-Governing Territories. The people of those Territories must exercise their inalienable right to choose their futures free from any outside Interference. We must honour their choice, be it independence, integration, free association or any other acceptable outcome of a legitimate act of self-determination. Fiji particularly looks forward to the results of the 1998 referendum In New Caledonia and will pay close attention to all preparatory acts that lead up to that event. This includes close monitoring of the actual progress of the various phases of the programme of action agreed to be undertaken under the Matignon Accords.