A/RES/50/38 Page 2 Recalling its resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and all resolutions and decisions of the United Nations relating to those Territories, including, in particular, the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session on the individual Territories covered by the present resolution, Recognizing that the specific characteristics and the sentiments of the people of the Territories require flexible, practical and innovative approaches to the options of self-determination, without any prejudice to territorial size, geographical location, size of population or natural resources, Recalling its resolution 1541 (XV) of 15 December 1960, containing the principles that should guide Member States in determining whether or not an obligation exists to transmit the information called for under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations, Conscious of the need to ensure the full and speedy implementation of the Declaration in respect of the Territories, in view of the target set by the United Nations to eradicate colonialism by the year 2000, Noting with appreciation the continuing exemplary cooperation of New Zealand, as administering Power, in the work of the Special Committee, and welcoming its statement that it will abide by the wishes of the population of Tokelau in determining their future political status, Welcoming the stated position of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that it continues to take seriously its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations to develop self-government in the dependent Territories and, in cooperation with the locally elected Governments, to ensure that their constitutional frameworks continue to meet the wishes of the people, and the emphasis that it is ultimately for the peoples of the Territories to decide their future status, Aware of the special circumstances of the geographical location and economic conditions of each Territory, and bearing in mind the necessity of promoting economic stability and diversifying and strengthening further the economies of the respective Territories as a matter of priority, Conscious of the particular vulnerability of the small Territories to natural disasters and environmental degradation, Aware of the usefulness both to the Territories and to the Special Committee of the participation of appointed and elected representatives of the Territories in the work of the Special Committee, Expressing its conviction that referendums and other forms of popular consultation on the future status of the Non-Self-Governing Territories are an appropriate means of ascertaining the wishes of the peoples in those Territories with regard to their future political status, Mindful that United Nations visiting missions provide one effective means of ascertaining the situation in the Territories, and considering that the possibility of sending further visiting missions to the Territories at an /...