Guam Decolonization at the UN

Decolonization Commission testifies before UN
Posted: Oct 18, 2011 4:56 PM
Updated: Oct 18, 2011 7:10 PM
KUAM NEWS
by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Island leaders are continuing the push for self-determination. Just recently a delegation from Guam appeared before the United Nations and over the next couple days meetings and seminars will be held to discuss the process of decolonization.

Before the United Nation's Committee of Four in New York, Commission on Decolonization executive director Ed Alvarez and Speaker Judi Won Pat presented testimony regarding Guam's quest for self-determination. From October 4-6, Alvarez says he let the committee know the time is now to strengthen Guam's relationship with the United States. "We let them know that we were serious about embarking on this question for political destiny," he said. "We let them know about the brief history of what's happened and that it's time, it's time to modernize the relation between Guam and the United States as far as political status."

Speaker Won Pat meanwhile appealed for the assistance of the UN. In the political evolution of Guam and suggested three steps for the consideration of the committee, including to rebuke administering powers that continued the practice of colonialism; dispatch a special mission to Guam to provide information to the people of Guam on the role of the United Nations in the process of self-determination; and recognize Guam and other non-self- governing- territories as member states of the United Nations.

It's been 30 years since the UN has dealt with decolonization with 16 colonies currently remaining, including Guam. "The other was to present a plan, a call for action by this committee because they have decided to make this the third decade and I've asked not to make this just a third decade, which is 30 years, but they pass a resolution to make this the final decade in which then they should be able to eradicate the colonies," said Won Pat.

Although it may be costly to send delegates to the UN, Won Pat adds the Guam Legislature will continue efforts for decolonization by spearheading a series of conferences regarding Guam's political self-determination. She adds a presence must be made to continue dialogue and educating them about Guam.

Moving forward, international advisor on governance and former minister for external affairs for the U.S. Virgin Islands Dr. Carlyle Corbin is on Guam to provide training on the UN process and a history of other countries who had gone through decolonization. He says other territories are in the same situation and there are various stages of political evolution and modernization that need to be addressed.

He said. "This is important to know because we're not all isolated in that respect and what we can do together and with the information we can exchange is always useful. It is also important to have to the highest degree possible common message and common information and moving forward so that the message coming from five or four is stronger than coming from one."

Corbin has served for more than a decade as a United Nations expert on self-determination and will discuss his experiences with relating issues in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the CNMI and the Virgin Islands as well. The seminar takes place on Thursday at Adelup from 2-5pm. Alvarez says the Commission will reconvene its meetings once the governor returns from off-island.

Meanwhile, Alvarez says he didn't get any specific feedback from the UN, but requested the committee send experts to Guam in order to reignite the discussion on self-determination. He also hoped that the next Regional Experts Seminar could be hosted in Guam, which would enable the international community to see the great potential of the people of Guam.

Meanwhile Dr. Corbin is scheduled to speak tomorrow at the University of Guam where a public forum explaining political decolonization is being held. Dr. Corbin will speak on the topic of the role of the United Nations in the self-determination process.

Also speaking is Attorney Julian Aguon from the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice. Aguon will talk on the topic of "Defrosting the Self-Determination Imagination: The Trajectory of Right Under International Law". The forum is being hosted by the Division of Social Work in partnership with the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice. It's scheduled for 5:30 to 8:30pm at the Class Lecture Hall.

Powerful U.S. Senators Arrive in Guam; Guam Governor Calls on U.S. Senate to End Its Bipartisan Colonialism

Office of the Governor of Guam


Powerful U.S. Senators Arrive in Guam; Guam Governor Calls on U.S. Senate to End Its Bipartisan Colonialism


Immediate Release: April 18, 2011

(Hagatna, Guam) Guam Governor Eddie Baza Calvo, one of the 55 United States governors, found out this morning that fifteen percent of the U.S. Senate landed on Guam in secrecy today. The contingent includes the Senate Majority and Minority leaders and other powerful U.S. Senators. These U.S. Senators, both Democrat and Republican, have decided to thumb their noses at the island and its government. The Governor, who is a member of the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association, releases the following statement about how this snub can severely affect Guam colonial-federal relations as the U.S. government pushes a $15 billion realignment of Asian-Pacific forces on Guam:

“This morning, Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo asked whether I would be greeting the 15 U.S. Senators scheduled to arrive at Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base today. We were both surprised and extremely upset that no one in the federal establishment informed Guam of their visit. We called the Navy to verify this stopover and we were told that the U.S. Senators will not entertain any meeting or discussions with Guam leaders or the Guamanian people. Instead of landing at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam, they have decided to shield their visit in secrecy and land within the confines of Andersen Air Force Base.

“In the 100 years we have been a colony of the United States, the U.S. government hardly did anything to resolve our colonial status. What kind of democracy allows colonialism to flourish? I am livid the U.S. Senate, a body created by the will of the people of 13 colonies who wanted freedom and democracy, would turn its back on the Guamanian people. It is obvious we are not part of their constituency, and they do not consider us a valuable part of the American family. This only serves to inflame our long-held belief that we are an American colony of second-class citizens who matter only when our geopolitical position is needed by the U.S. government.

“This is a sad state of affairs. This is the third time in the last year that Congress has made it clear that we are of no importance to the nation. This snub follows Congress trying to sell our own resources to us at Fena and Congress taking away our Delegate’s voting power in House committees. These U.S. Senators are only hurting American interests abroad. Look at the great relationship we’ve built with the U.S. military. Congress’s actions only undermine that work. Why? If Guam was so important to U.S. strategic interests, then why would the nation’s leaders continue snubbing Guamanians?

“If the Senate wants to thumb its nose at Guamanians, then perhaps it is time for Guamanians to call in every injustice ever committed upon our people by the U.S. government. And we can start with the Insular Cases of the same U.S. Supreme Court of the 1900s that said people of color were separate but equal. How many times have Guamanians answered the call to serve? How many have died for a democracy that doesn’t even fully apply to us? How many more times must Guamanians accept colonial treatment before Congress ever recognizes that our voices count, too? How much more oppression can our people take before they get fed up and tell the Congress to take their buildup somewhere else?

“We can have the greatest relationship with the U.S. military and the Department of the Interior, but if Congress continues ignoring Guam like the colony it is, we will never truly enjoy the America that the Marines of 1944 fought and died to bring to Guam. What happened to the pledge of a “One Guam” policy? It’s clear these U.S. Senators have no intention of uniting our best interests. To them, there is an American inside a military fenceline, and an American colony outside of it. They want nothing to do with that colony. Here is yet another compelling reason the Guam Legislature, Lt. Governor Tenorio and I are working together to call for a vote of self determination. We cannot continue on as a colony of the United States. We should either be a part of the U.S., with voting membership in the House and Senate and the right to vote for President, or we should govern ourselves. This is a message we will share with U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Carl Levin when they visit with us next week. At least these gentlemen have the consideration and decency to meet with their fellow Americans in Guam.

“I want Guamanians living in the U.S. States where these U.S. Senators are from to remember what these U.S. Senators did to Guam in the next national elections.”

Guam is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States, a colonial status that has not changed. Its residents are called Guamanians and were granted U.S. citizenship by an act of Congress called the Organic Act of 1948. Only certain provisions of the Constitution's Bill of Rights apply to the residents of Guam, called Guamanians. Guamanians have among the highest enlistment rates in the U.S. military. There are 183,000 Guamanians living in Guam. An unknown number reside throughout the U.S. mainland, Hawaii and Alaska. A 2000 census of those who call themselves Chamorro (the ethnicity indigenous to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) or part-Chamorro says that 33,849 Chamorros alone live in California. This does not include the broader number of Guamanians of other ethnic backgrounds who live in California. According to the 2000 Census, nearly 100,000 Chamorros live in the 50 States and Puerto Rico.


Office of the Governor of Guam
Ricardo J. Bordallo Governor's Complex | Adelup, Guam 96910
Tel: (671) 472-8931/6 | Fax: (671) 477-4826 | http://governor.guam.gov