Guam’s push for United Nations recognition of its decolonisation efforts has gained momentum with recent amendments to its resolution, but the territory faces significant challenges ahead as it seeks approval for a visiting mission from the Trump administration.
Melvin Won Pat-Borja, executive director of Guam’s Commission on Decolonisation, told The Guam Daily Post the C-24 committee recently adopted amendments that “reinstated some of this language that we were after” regarding the impact of militarisation on Guam’s right to self-determination.
The amendments came after language specifically addressing militarization’s impact on Guam’s right to self-determination was mysteriously removed from the territory’s annual resolution approximately two years ago, as previously reported by The Guam Daily Post.
“Right now, the resolution that was adopted by the C-24 has reinstated some of this language that we were after and then kept the existing language intact, like the recognition of our study, the request for the U.N visiting mission, but now it reflects the concern about the impact of militarization on our right to self-determination, which is important and appropriate,” Won Pat-Borja said.
However, Won Pat-Borja cautioned that the real challenge lies ahead when the draft resolution goes before the fourth committee in October.
“We’re not quite out of the woods just yet,” he said. “I would say that that’s kind of the tougher venue or the tougher obstacle to overcome because the C-24 has a limited membership whereas the fourth committee is like all of them. So, of course the United States has a lot more influence at the fourth committee level.”
The commission’s efforts have been complicated by recent military actions that used Guam without consultation. Won Pat-Borja pointed to the bombing in Iran, where “Guam was just kind of inextricably connected to those events because of the way that the DOD utilised Guam as a decoy.”
The lack of consultation on military actions has drawn criticism from local officials, including Senator Chris Barnett, whose comments Won Pat-Borja said made “a valid point” about the absence of consultation or involvement from Guam’s government.
“There’s zero consultation, there’s zero involvement or agency on Guam’s behalf in how it’s utilised for military purposes,” Won Pat-Borja said.
“There’s this clear inequity, like if even states, even state representative, the elected officials at a state level, in the highest offices in Congress and the Senate are crying foul because they’re not being represented, they’re not being considered, they’re not being consulted or involved in these very important decisions for the nation that have very deep implications. What more, how much more is that exacerbated for a non-self-governing territory like Guam?”
Won Pat-Borja contrasted Guam’s situation with that of other Pacific territories that have compacts with the United States, noting that citizens of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia “have a compact, you know, a compact mechanism that can be leveraged to hold the United States accountable for what they do or don’t do”.
“There’s no accountability mechanism” for Guam, Won Pat-Borja said. “There’s no legal requirement for the United States military to ever seek our consent. All they have to do is notify us. But even this… is violated.”
The commission also faces uncertainty regarding authorisation for a visiting mission. As previously reported by The Guam Daily Post, the U.S Mission to the United Nations is claiming it has no documentation of Biden administration approval for the requested UN visiting mission to Guam.
“We’re kind of starting from scratch in a sense where, you know, we have to, we have to get a formal commitment from the Trump administration and the UN,” Won Pat-Borja said. “We don’t know. We don’t know what that’s going to look like.”
The commission was unable to secure funding to attend the C-24 session last month, which Won Pat-Borja said was “definitely a challenge for us” because “that’s where we would have started our lobbying and our work on trying to get other members to support this effort as it elevates to the fourth committee.”
Despite these challenges, Won Pat-Borja said the commission has secured some language from other committees that strengthens their arguments. “This year, for example, we submitted language that was adopted by the first committee,” he said, noting they use such language “to kind of strengthen our argument in the C-24.”
The commission is also working to build regional support, with Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero currently attending the Micronesian Islands Forum in Majuro, where they will “attempt to get the support of the members to pass a resolution in support of our quest for decolonisation and self-determination.”
Won Pat-Borja emphasised that while regional support doesn’t “necessarily move the needle at the UN or with the United States,” it helps build momentum for the Pacific Islands Forum, where member nations “represents real votes at the United Nations in the General Assembly and the fourth committee.”
The decolonisation efforts come as Guam marks the 75th anniversary of the Organic Act, which established civilian government and granted U.S citizenship to the people of Guam. However, as officials noted during recent commemorative events covered by The Guam Daily Post, the act represents “a beginning and not an end” in Guam’s political evolution.
Won Pat-Borja said the Organic Act “really just gives us, very plain and simple, it gives us U.S citizenship and the kind of the basic fundamental rights and protections of the Constitution. But it doesn’t give us a mechanism to participate in a meaningful level in the U.S federal system of government and that I think is the failure.”
He argued that improvements to the current territorial status are insufficient, saying “we’re not here for status quo with improvements” and that “ship has sailed.”
“The time for status quo with improvements is long past,” Won Pat-Borja said. “We’re no longer looking for improvements and nobody has come up with acceptable, viable terms for what those improvements would be.”
The commission continues to push for what Won Pat-Borja called “a full measure of self-government, whether that be through free association, independence, statehood” as the solution that “solves it in its entirety and then some.”
As the commission awaits the October fourth committee session, Won Pat-Borja said they will “consistently engage” the U.S Mission to the through official letters and other means, though he acknowledged “there’s no mechanism for us to say, ‘hey, they’re not responding to us,’ and kind of force their hand on a response.”
Despite the challenges ahead, Won Pat-Borja emphasised the commission’s commitment to pursuing decolonisation through established international mechanisms.
“We’re not going to just back off of that,” he said regarding the visiting mission request. “Clearly we have things that we don’t see eye to eye on with the federal government. And so that’s the whole point of going to the UN is that this is an internationally recognised right for us and it’s not being delivered by the United States, which is contrary to their commitment in the charter and when they first inscribed us on this list of non-self-governing territories,” said Won Pat-Borja.
