Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The United States is calling for an end to the United Nations body tasked with advancing decolonization, even as self-determination for its own “unincorporated” territories remains unrealized. 

On October 15, 2026, as the United Nations debated action on resolutions recommended by the Special Committee on Decolonization, the U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Tammy Bruce, called to dismantle the decolonization committee altogether. 

After voting against each resolution and decision debated during the session, the United States representative argued that the Special Committee on Decolonization had “outlived its original purpose” and that its ongoing work “wastes the UN's time and resources.” 

She specifically criticized the Special Committee because it “holds hearings on Puerto Rico every year” even though the General Assembly “removed Puerto Rico from the list of non-self-governing territories” in 1953. She also objected to “criticism of a U.S. federal court ruling, which enjoined Guam's planned plebiscite on self-determination.” She concluded by stating, “the people of the remaining territories deserve better than to be considered as props in other governments political campaigns.”

Adi Martínez Román, Co-director of Right to Democracy, which works to advance democracy, equity, and self-determination in U.S. territories. In June, testified before the United Nations to call on the United States to address the colonial rule of U.S. territories on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

“It is true that the people in Non-Self-Governing Territories deserve better — the people Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands should enjoy full political rights and self-determination long denied to them by the United States. 

“These communities are labelled as ‘unincorporated territories’ by the federal government, and their residents are subjected to the ‘plenary power’ of Congress and U.S. sovereignty, while being denied basic democratic rights and self-determination.

“The colonial relationship between the United States and its Territories is a direct contradiction of U.S. democratic values, constitutional principles, and international human rights commitments.”

The Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) is in charge of monitoring implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (GA resolution 1514 (XV). Its work includes examining the political, economic and other developments in Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs). 

Under Chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations, a Non-Self-Governing Territory (NSGT) is a territory “whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”. 

Article 73 of the U.N. Charter establishes that administering powers, that is, states like the United States that administer NSGT’s, have an obligation to promote the latter’s self-government. Under U.N. Resolution 1541 (XV) a NSGT can reach a full measure of self-government by becoming an independent State, by choosing free association with an independent State,  or by integration with an independent State. 

Seventeen NSGTs remain under the consideration of the Special Committee. Three of them are U.S. Territories: Guam, the Virgin Islands of the U.S., and American Samoa. Since 1972, the Special Committee has recognized Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination and has subsequently requested for it to be re-listed as a NSGT by the General Assembly. The Northern Mariana Islands was formerly part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific before entering into its current political relationship with the United States, so has never been on the list of NSGTs.

“While the Northern Mariana Islands have never appeared on the list of NSGTs, recent and historical unilateral decisions made by the United States over mutual consent agreements in the Covenant and objections of people and elected officials in the NMI call into question whether the NMI's present relationship with the United States constitutes a ‘full measure of self-government,’” said Zeno Deleon Guerrero, Jr., Solidarity Director at Right to Democracy.

“Recent actions by the United States to unilaterally impose deep sea mining over the unanimous objection of Pacific territories, threaten citizenship rights, and argue that the U.S. military can decide to conduct open detonation of hazardous explosives without any obligation for community consultation or environmental review highlights how questions about democracy and self-determination in U.S. territories are more important than ever. 

“While more must be demanded of the United Nations, it is ultimately the United States that has failed in its commitment to advance self-determination for the people in U.S. territories under its rule. 

“As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of rejecting colonial rule in the Declaration of Independence, it must ensure that principles of ‘consent of the governed’ apply equally to people in U.S. territories today,” said Neil Weare, Co-Director of Right to Democracy. 

Right to Democracy brings together people across the political status spectrum to confront the undemocratic colonial framework governing the U.S. Territories and advance a future grounded in democracy, equity, and self-determination.