The United Nations has a committee focused on decolonization. In the 20th century, most of the world was owned by European and Asian imperial powers. Now, very few colonies remain. Tammy Bruce, the U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N., has called for an end to that committee.
Bruce claimed that the Special Committee on Decolonization had “outlived its original purpose” and therefore “wastes the UN’s time and resources.”
“Finally, and most troubling,” Bruce said, “the Special Committee has become a venue for ideological posturing rather than a forum focused on the people it claims to serve. Governments that deny their own citizens free elections and the right to choose their leaders, use this body to lecture others about self-determination. Puerto Rico shows this most clearly.”
She boldly brought up the fact that the Special Committee conducts annual hearings on Puerto Rico’s status every year. Puerto Rico, unlike the other U.S. unincorporated territories, was removed from the list of non-self-governing territories at the request of Puerto Rico and the U.S. in 1953. Nonetheless, Cuba, Iran, and other nations known for their human rights violations call for independence for Puerto Rico every year.
The United States does not attend these hearings in any official capacity. However, U.S. and Puerto Rican statehood advocates as well as separatist groups and even the faction calling for renewed colonization by Spain do speak at these events.
Bruce also objected to Special Committee criticism of a U.S. federal court ruling on Guam, which is still on the list of non-self-governing territories. She concluded with, “The people of the remaining territories deserve better than to be considered as props in other governments’ political campaigns.”
Responses
“It is true that the people in Non-Self-Governing Territories deserve better,” responded Adi Martínez Román, Co-director of Right to Democracy. “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,”
Distinguished Boricuas posted on Facebook, “Let’s be clear: this is Washington’s demand—not an approved elimination of the committee. But seeking to dismantle a forum where Boricuas bring their demands deserves our attention. You can question a committee’s effectiveness. Closing that forum, however, does nothing to resolve Puerto Rico’s political status. Our future deserves a meaningful process in which our people decide. Silencing the discussion is no substitute for addressing it.”
A call to dismantle the U.N. Decolonization Committee is unlikely to have much effect. The committee has already sent 44 resolutions on Puerto Rico to the United Nations general assembly, with no effect, so the committee is not making much difference. Puerto Rico is, as Bruce pointed out, no longer on the list in any case. However, with Puerto Rico’s official request for statehood, it is certainly time to remove Puerto Rico from the committee’s annual discussion — by admitting Puerto Rico as a state.
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