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Feb. 21, 2021
To this day, the UN maintains a list of 17 territories considered as non-self-governing – territories that have yet to be decolonized. All, except one, are islands, the vast majority administered by the United Kingdom; the smallest, Pitcairn, has just 43 residents. By far the largest by poulation (582,000 inhabitants) and land area (266,00 sq km) is Western Sahara.
In 1960, the UN passed Resolution 1514, which declared, "All peoples have the right to self-determination." In 1975, Western Sahara was recognized as a non-self-governing territory, after Spain renounced its sovereignty. In 1990, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed that Western Sahara was was still waiting to be decolonized, and that its future should be determined by its people.