Many of these 'former' dependencies were removed from the U.N. list through formal resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly as far back as the middle 1950's. Others were de-listed without benefit of resolutions - such as French Polynesia. The decisions to de-list were based primarily on the assurances of the cosmopolitan power that the territories had achieved a sufficient level of self-government - a determination which may not have been shared by the people of the territories at the time, nor consistent with the objective reality.
Such decisions were made well before the parametres of full self-government had been fully formulated by the United Nations through instruments such as the Decolonisation Declaration and other relevant resolutions further refining the international requirements for democratic governance, and most recent human rights conventions affirming the right to self-determination.
Since the United Nations has no formal procedure to revisit the earlier decisions to de-list territories, efforts have been undertaken in some countries to garner international support for their re-listing by the United Nations. A major step has been taken to this effect by the French Polynesia Assembly which has adopted a formal resolution calling on the French Government to support the re-listing of the territory. The response by the international community - especially the Pacific region - will be instructive given the initial French response to the French Polynesia initiative.
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