United Nations A/RES/59/133 General Assembly Distr.: General 25 January 2005 Fifty-ninth session Agenda item 20 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 2004 [on the report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (A/59/478)] 59/133. Question of Tokelau The General Assembly, Having considered the question of Tokelau, Having examined the chapter of the report of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples relating to Tokelau, 1 Noting with appreciation the continuing exemplary cooperation of New Zealand as the administering Power with regard to the work of the Special Committee relating to Tokelau and its readiness to permit access by United Nations visiting missions to the Territory, Noting also with appreciation the collaborative contribution to the development of Tokelau by New Zealand and the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Development Programme, Recalling the inauguration in 1999 of a national legislative body, the General Fono, based on village elections by universal adult suffrage and the assumption by that body in June 2003 of full responsibility for the Tokelau budget, Recalling also the report of the United Nations mission dispatched in August 2002 to Tokelau at the invitation of the Government of New Zealand and the representatives of Tokelau, 2 Noting that, as a small island Territory, Tokelau exemplifies the situation of most remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories and that, as a case study pointing to successful cooperation for decolonization, Tokelau has wider significance for the United Nations as it seeks to complete its work in decolonization, Recalling that New Zealand and Tokelau signed in November 2003 a document entitled “Joint statement of the principles of partnership”, which sets out in writing, for the first time, the rights and obligations of the two partner countries, _______________ 1 2 04-48424 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 23 (A/59/23), chap. X. A/AC.109/2002/31.