US DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR PUSHES FEDERAL RECOGNITION ON SAMOA, GUAM & VIRGIN ISLANDS


Esther Kia`aina Heads Effort To Create Tribes 

On Tuesday, February 23, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Areas Esther Kia`aina will host a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. on Self Determination in the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.

The scope of the panel discussion is to focus on those U.S. territories – U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam – that are still listed on the United Nations List of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Since the last self-determination conference for the US territories was held in 1993 in Washington, DC, Assistant Secretary Kia`aina stated, “I believe it is important to provide an updated context for federal policy-makers and a new generation to learn about the status of self-determination in the respective territories as well as to understand what their rights are to self-determination under federal and international law.”

INDEPENDENCE FOR US TERRITORIES? WHAT ABOUT HAWAI`I?

Indian Country Today - August 25, 2010

By Leon Kaulahao Siu

In the process of offering independence to its territories, the US needs to admit to its 1959 deception and allow a fresh chance for Hawai`i to exercise self-determination.

Without much fanfare, the U.S. has been conducting educational campaigns in the “US territories” of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, to inform the people about the options they have with regard to the future governance of their territories. Among the options being offered is independence.

Is this opportunity being offered to Hawai`i also? Apparently no. So why not?...

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