Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York
Sixty-second General Assembly
3rd Meeting (PM)
FOURTH COMMITTEE CONTINUES DECOLONIZATION DEBATE, HEARING
PETITIONERS FROM GUAM, WESTERN SAHARA
As the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its discussion of decolonization issues this afternoon, the questions of Guam and Western Sahara featured prominently, with the Committee hearing more than 20 petitioners on both those matters.
On the question of Guam, petitioners raised concerns about the steady United States military presence, and the expected rise in their number by 50,000, including military personnel, their dependents and contractors. They said militarization of Guam was an impediment to the right to self-determination of the Chamoru people -- Guam's native people. Though the Chamoru did not unanimously support the United States militarization on the island, it could not be stopped because that country was the administering Power.
"American military commanders beamed with pride at the incredible control they enjoyed over this tiny little island, which they regularly call 'Fortress Guam'," said the representative of Famoksaiyan, an organization that brings together Chamoru people from the Pacific and the United States, in support of Guam's decolonization. As the United States continued to "politely and impolitely" insist that the United Nations mind its own business, he felt it was necessary for the United Nations to engage in its own forms of "polite and impolite action".
A representative of the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice said that the militarization of the island had also sparked a capitalistic boom, with indigenous Chamoru families struggling economically, selling their land to American and foreign companies in the hope of profiting from the military boom. The United Nations should be more active in upholding the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples with respect to Guam, and more resources for educational campaigns about self-determination and decolonization should be disseminated.
A representative of the Guahan Indigenous Collective also spoke on the question of Guam.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) met this afternoon to continue its debate on all decolonization issues, and was also expected to hear petitioners from Non-Self-Governing Territories. (Reports before the Committee are summarized in yesterday's Press Release GA/SPD/371.)
Committee Chairman ABDALMAHMOOD ABDALHALEEM MOHAMAD ( Sudan) informed members that, while it had been decided that the Committee would hear petitioners on the questions of New Caledonia, Guam and Western Sahara today, the petitioner from New Caledonia was unable to come to New York as scheduled. Therefore, the Committee would begin by hearing from petitioners on the question of Guam.
Petitioners on Question of Guam
MICHAEL LUJAN BEVACQUA, representative of Famoksaiyan, an organization that brought together Chamoru people from the Pacific and the United States committed to the decolonization of Guam, noted that, in 1980, Chamorus made up 45 per cent of Guam's population, but that number had fallen to 37 per cent in 2000. Since 11 September 2001, America's military presence had risen steadily, and Guam faced a further increase of 50,000 civilian and military personnel due to the relocating of American Marines, Air Force and Army staff from Okinawa and the Republic of Korea. "American military commanders beamed with pride at the incredible control they enjoyed over this tiny little island, which they regularly call 'Fortress Guam', or the 'tip of America's spear'," he said.
The official position of the United States on its colonies today was that they were domestic concerns, he said. As such, the United Nations had no authority or mandate to encourage negotiations on their status, or to alter their relationship to the United States. The United States Government's resistance to resolution 1541 (1960) (Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples) was clear. As the United States continued to "politely and impolitely" insist that the United Nations mind its own business, he felt it was necessary for the United Nations to engage in its own forms of "polite and impolite action".
RIMA MILES, a Refaluwasch (or Carolinian), from the island of Saipan in Guam, said the Chamoru right to self-determination was being threatened by the United States' actions, which contradicted the terms of its obligation to the Chamoru people. Currently, the Territory was preparing for a population increase of 55,000 in military workers and dependents, which made up more than a quarter of the current population. The militarization of their homeland was a direct impediment to the Chamoru right to self-determination. In addition, live-fire sites would be available to the naval and air forces of other United Nations Member States, including Australia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. She urged the Committee to condemn that multinational disregard for the United Nations Charter and resolution 1541.
She said that, not only were they seeing international Governments interested in United States military schemes for Guam, but "corporate vultures" were circling and already touching down, and $10 billion in new investment by the United States Department of Defense could be expected. With one third of the island occupied, national integrity would be compromised. Where the land and sea used to be protected, now beachfront developments foreshadowed the future to come. The loss of land was coupled with environmental degradation.
The United Nations must look at non-self-governing situations on a case-by-case basis, especially when administering Powers were not cooperative, she said. She had come today with no monetary support from the United States or the local government. "We are students and parents who do not have […] money, but still we come […] in order for you to fulfil your mission", and so that "these voices cannot be forgotten". More than 160 United States atomic and hydrogen bomb tests had made women into vessels to pass death to the hope they carried in their wombs.
MARIE AUYONG, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, speaking on behalf of Victoria-Lola M. Leon Guerrero, said that an amplified militarization of Guam was a direct impediment to the native people's human right to self-determination and should spark concern in the international community about United States military presence in the Pacific. Guam was host to the largest United States military exercises in the Pacific since the Viet Nam War. The people of Guam did not unanimously support the United States militarization on the island, yet, because that country was the administering Power, they had no way of stopping it.
She said that the militarization of the island had also sparked a "capitalistic boom". The island seemed to be "for sale", and indigenous Chamoru families, struggling economically, had begun to sell their land to United States and foreign companies, which hoped to profit from the military boom. "It is tragic that more than 60 years after your inception, and the United Nations declaration to eradicate colonization, the people of Guam remain squashed under the thumb of the world's biggest super Power," she said.
The United Nations should be more active in upholding resolution 1541, ensuring that the native Chamoru people of Guam exercise their right to self-determination and decolonization. A fact-finding mission should be sent to Guam. The island also needed more resources for educational campaigns about self-determination and decolonization.