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Pacific News Minute: As American Samoa Participates in Decolonization Seminar, an update on Pacific

U.S. Department of the Interior / Flickr
U.S. Department of the Interior / Flickr

The government of American Samoa announced plans to send a representative to the United Nations Decolonization Committee's Pacific Seminar this week. The unincorporated US territory is one of six Pacific entities on the Decolonization List and, as we hear from Neal Conan in the Pacific News Minute, there could be two more.

Last year, American Samoa's Governor asked the Pacific Seminar to keep the territory on the decolonization list -quote "Our current legal status, as temporarily satisfactory as it may be, leaves us exposed to vagaries in Washington DC that are beyond our control." Since then, American Samoa established an Office of Political Status, Constitution and Federal Relations, prompted, in part, by federal decisions to restrict fishing.

Guam, the other US territory on the list, plans a plebiscite this November that would offer voters three choices - statehood, independence, or Free Association with the US; any change in status would have to be approved by Congress.

French Polynesia and New Caledonia are both on the list, over French objections...a plebiscite is scheduled in New Caledonia by 2018.  Then there are two tiny entities...Britain's Pitcairn Islands, and New Zealand's Tokelau.

Some citizens of Norfolk Island have asked the UN to put them on the decolonization list- last year, Australia's parliament dissolved the semi-autonomous government, and, come July first, Norfolk Island will be governed by a local council, like the rest of Australia.

Then there is the looming crisis in West Papua - indigenous groups argue that Indonesia's seizure of the former Dutch Colony was illegitimate, and their call for a plebiscite is beginning to gather international support over bitter objections from Jakarta.

Over 36 years with National Public Radio, Neal Conan worked as a correspondent based in New York, Washington, and London; covered wars in the Middle East and Northern Ireland; Olympic Games in Lake Placid and Sarajevo; and a presidential impeachment. He served, at various times, as editor, producer, and executive producer of All Things Considered and may be best known as the long-time host of Talk of the Nation. Now a macadamia nut farmer on Hawaiʻi Island, his "Pacific News Minute" can be heard on HPR Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
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