Editing Decolonization (section)

== Current colonies ==
The [[United Nations]], under "Chapter XI: Declaration Regarding Non-Self Governing Territories" of the [[Charter of the United Nations]], defines [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|Non-Self Governing Nations (NSGSs)]] as "territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government"—the contemporary definition of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-17|title=Chapter XI|url=https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-xi/index.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org|language=en}}</ref> After the conclusion of World War II with the surrender of the Axis Powers in 1945, and two decades into the latter half of the 20th century, over three dozen "states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence" from European administering powers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/asia-and-africa|access-date=2020-06-14|website=history.state.gov}}</ref> As of 2020, 17 territories remain under Chapter XI distinction:<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Non-Self-Governing Territories {{!}} The United Nations and Decolonization|url=https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/en/nsgt|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref>

=== United Nations NSGS list ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Year Listed as [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|NSGS]]
!Administering Power
!Territory
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|Anguilla}} [[Anguilla]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|BER}} [[Bermuda]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|BVI}} [[British Virgin Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|CAY}} [[Cayman Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|FLK}} [[Falkland Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|Montserrat}} [[Montserrat]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|Saint Helena}} [[Saint Helena]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|Turks and Caicos Islands}} [[Turks and Caicos Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|GIB}} [[Gibraltar]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|Pitcairn Islands}} [[Pitcairn Islands|Pitcairn]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]]
|{{flagicon|American Samoa}} [[American Samoa]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]]
|{{flagicon|USVI}} [[United States Virgin Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]]
|{{flagicon|GUM}} [[Guam]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|NZL}} [[New Zealand]]
|{{flagicon|TOK}} [[Tokelau]]
|-
|1963
|{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Spain]]
|[[Western Sahara]]
|-
|1946–47, 1986
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[France]]
|{{flagicon|New Caledonia}} [[New Caledonia]]
|-
|1946–47, 2013
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[France]]
|{{flagicon|French Polynesia}} [[French Polynesia]]
|}
"On 26 February 1976, [[Spain]] informed the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|Secretary-General]] that as of that date it had terminated its presence in the Territory of the Sahara and deemed it necessary to place on record that Spain considered itself thenceforth exempt from any responsibility of any international nature in connection with the administration of the Territory, in view of the cessation of its participation in the temporary administration established for the Territory. In 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara."<ref name=":2" />

On 10 December 2010, the [[United Nations]] published its official [[decree]], announcing the ''[[International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism|Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism]]'' wherein the United Nations declared its "renewal of the call to States Members of the United Nations to speed up the process of decolonization towards the complete elimination of colonialism".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism|url=https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/65/119|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> According to an article by scholar John Quintero, "given the modern emphasis on the equality of states and inalienable nature of their sovereignty, many people do not realize that these non-self-governing structures still exist".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century|publisher=United Nations University|url=https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=unu.edu|language=en-US|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717205732/https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some activists have claimed that the attention of the United Nations was "further diverted from the social and economic agenda [for decolonization] towards "firefighting and extinguishing" armed conflicts". Advocates have stressed that the United Nations "[remains] the last refuge of hope for peoples under the yolk ''[sic]'' of colonialism".<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=United Nations Should Eradicate Colonialism by 2020, Urges Secretary-General in Message to Caribbean Regional Decolonization Seminar {{!}} Meetings Coverage and Press Releases|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/gacol3277.doc.htm|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> Furthermore, on 19 May 2015, [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General]] [[Ban Ki-moon]] addressed the attendants of the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization, urging international political leaders to "build on [the success of precedent decolonization efforts and] towards fully eradicating colonialism by 2020".<ref name=":3" />

The sovereignty of the [[Chagos Archipelago]] in the Indian Ocean is [[Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute|disputed]] between the United Kingdom and [[Mauritius]]. In February 2019, the [[International Court of Justice]] in [[The Hague]] ruled that the United Kingdom must transfer the islands to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chagos Islands dispute: UK obliged to end control – UN |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47358602 |work=BBC News |date=25 February 2019 }}</ref> On 22 May 2019, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] debated and adopted a resolution that affirmed that the Chagos Archipelago "forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sands |first=Philippe |date=2019-05-24 |quote=Britain's behaviour towards its former colony has been shameful. The UN resolution changes everything |title=At last, the Chagossians have a real chance of going back home|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/24/chagossians-britain-colony-shameful-un-resolution?|journal=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The UK does not recognize Mauritius' sovereignty claim over the Chagos Archipelago.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chagos Islands dispute: UK misses deadline to return control |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50511847 |work=BBC News |date=22 November 2019}}</ref> In October 2020, Mauritian Prime Minister [[Pravind Jugnauth]] described the British and American governments as "hypocrites" and "champions of double talk" over their response to the dispute.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chagos Islands dispute: Mauritius calls US and UK 'hypocrites' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54598084 |work=BBC News |date=19 October 2020}}</ref>

===Settler colonies===
{{Main article|Settler colonialism}}
Some authors contend that even in countries that have become politically independent from a former colonial power, indigenous peoples may still in effect be living under the impacts of colonization. In a 2023 paper on the political theory of settler colonialism, Canadian academics Yann Allard-Tremblay and Elaine Coburn posit that: "In Africa, the Middle East, South America, and much of the rest of the world, decolonization often meant the expulsion or departure of most colonial settlers. In contrast, in settler colonial states like [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], and the [[United States]], settlers have not left, even as independence from the metropole was gained... The systemic oppression and domination of the colonized by the colonizer is not historical — firmly in the past — but ongoing and supported by radically unequal political, social, economic, and legal institutions."<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1177/00323217211018127 | title=The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing | date=2023 | last1=Allard-Tremblay | first1=Yann | last2=Coburn | first2=Elaine | journal=Political Studies | volume=71 | issue=2 | pages=359–378 | s2cid=236234578 | doi-access=free }}</ref>