A/RES/70/102 A-B
Questions of American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands,
the Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena,
the Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands
Aware that, under United States law, the relations between the territorial
Government and the federal Government in all matters that are not the programme
responsibility of another federal department or agency are under the general
administrative supervision of the Secretary of the Interior,17
Recalling 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,
Cognizant of the importance of the administering Power continuing to
implement its programme of transferring surplus federal land to the Government
of Guam,
Noting that the people of the Territory have called for reform in the
programme of the administering Power with respect to the thorough, unconditional
and expeditious transfer of land property to the people of Guam,
Aware of the deep concern expressed by civil society and other parties
regarding the potential social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts of the
planned transfer of additional military personnel of the administering Power to the
Territory,
Conscious that immigration into Guam has resulted in the indigenous
Chamorros becoming a minority in their homeland,
Welcomes the convening of the Guam Commission on Decolonization for
1.
the Implementation and Exercise of Chamorro Self-Determination and its ongoing
work on a self-determination vote, as well as its public education efforts;
2.
Stresses that the decolonization process in Guam should be compatible
with the Charter of the United Nations, the Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples2 and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights; 18
3.
Calls once again upon the administering Power to take into consideration
the expressed will of the Chamorro people as supported by Guam voters in the
referendum of 1987 and as subsequently provided for in Guam law regarding
Chamorro self-determination efforts, encourages the administering Power and the
territorial Government to enter into negotiations on the matter, and stresses the need
for continued close monitoring of the overall situation in the Territory;
4.
Requests the administering Power, in cooperation with the territorial
Government, to continue to transfer land to the original landowners of the Territory,
to continue to recognize and to respect the political rights and the cultural and
ethnic identity of the Chamorro people of Guam and to take all measures necessary
to address the concerns of the territorial Government with regard to the question of
immigration;
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17
18
12/18
United States Congress, Organic Act of Guam, 1950, as amended.
Resolution 217 A (III).