Question of Guam A/RES/72/102 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 for 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 some 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 Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the Pacific Islands Forum and the agencies of the Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific, Noting the statement made by a representative of the Governor of Guam at the 2017 Caribbean regional seminar, at which participants received updates on the financial and non-financial challenges faced by the Territory and the efforts towards decolonization, including endeavours made by the Guam Commission on Decolonization for the Implementation and Exercise of Chamorro Self Determination through the education campaign to help the native inhabitants better understand the decolonization process, the plebiscite on self-determination and the political status options to be voted on, Cognizant of the efforts made by the Guam Commission on Decolonization to promote in the Territory the holding of a plebiscite on self-determination, to populate the decolonization registry and to move forward with its education campaign, and noting that more than 11,000 native inhabitants have been registered to vote, a significant increase since 2000, Noting with concern a ruling by a federal court of the United States, as the administering Power, in March 2017, that a plebiscite on self-determination could not be limited to native inhabitants, which has brought the plebiscite to a halt, Noting, in this regard, the request by a representative of the Governor of Guam at the 2017 Caribbean regional seminar that the Special Committee urge the administering Power to assume its responsibility in allowing the people of Guam to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and help Guam to develop ideas on how to overcome the current challenges hindering its ability to reach self governance, Recalling that the administering Power has approved a grant to support the self-determination education campaign in the Territory, 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 selfdetermination vote by the eligible Chamorro voters, __________________ 5 6 17-22135 Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-second Session, Supplement No. 23 (A/72/23). See resolution 65/119. 3/6