Question of Guam A/RES/73/113 Recognizing the importance of the conclusions and recommendations adopted by the seminar, which are annexed to the report of the Special Committee 5 and which outline the findings of the seminar, including, especially, the way forward f or the decolonization process within the context of the proclamation by the General Assembly of the period 2011–2020 as the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, 6 Noting with appreciation the contribution to the development of so me Territories by the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Food Programme, as well as regional institutions such as the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Community, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, the Pacific Islands Forum and the agencies of the Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific, Noting the ruling 7 of a federal court in the United States, the administering Power, holding that a plebiscite on self-determination could not be limited to native inhabitants, which has brought the plebiscite to a halt, and noting also that there is an ongoing appeals process, Noting also the statement made by a representative of the Governor of Guam at the 2018 Pacific regional seminar, at which participants received updates highlighting the continuing financial challenges faced by the Territory and the efforts made to advance self-determination, including those endeavours made by the Guam Commission on Decolonization for the Implementation and Exercise of Chamorro Self-Determination through the education campaign, Cognizant of the efforts made by the Guam Commission on Decolonization to promote in the Territory the holding of a plebiscite on self-determination and to advance its education campaign on each of the three political status options, and recalling that more than 11,000 native inhabitants have been registered in the Guam decolonization registry to vote in the plebiscite, Noting, in this regard, the statement by a representative of the Governor of Guam at the 2018 Pacific regional seminar that, while the ca se on the plebiscite had put a strain on native rights and the ability to choose the political future of the people of Guam, Guam would continue to move forward in pursuing self-determination, Recalling that the administering Power approved a grant to sup port the selfdetermination education campaign in the Territory in March 2016, Recalling also that, in a referendum held in 1987, the registered and eligible voters of Guam endorsed a draft Guam Commonwealth Act that would establish a new framework for relations between the Territory and the administering Power, providing for a greater measure of internal self-government for Guam and recognition of the right of the Chamorro people of Guam to self-determination for the Territory, Aware that negotiations between the administering Power and the territorial Government on the draft Guam Commonwealth Act ended in 1997 and that Guam has subsequently established a non-binding plebiscite process for a self-determination vote by the eligible Chamorro voters, Cognizant of the importance of the administering Power continuing to implement its programme of transferring surplus federal land to the Government of Guam, __________________ 5 6 7 18-21501 Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-third Session, Supplement No. 23 (A/73/23). See resolution 65/119. District Court of Guam, Davis v. Guam et al, decision of 8 March 2017. 3/6