...Blue Ocean Law, in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Rights and ACLU-Puerto Rico, has submitted a shadow report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee detailing the ways in which the United States continues to deny self determination to the peoples of its unincorporated territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

The Shadow Report details the way in which U.S. law and policy has actively prevented colonized peoples from taking steps to define their political future, the harms of second class citizenship that comes with unincorporated territorial status, and the human rights violations caused by U.S. militarization of its territories, the release said.

The report ends with recommendations that the Human Rights Committee may make, in order to bring the U.S.’ conduct in compliance with its human rights obligations.

Fundamentally, this means taking concrete steps toward decolonization and self-determination...

Read the full piece here.