The president of the Fifth Constitutional Convention of the U.S. Virgin Islands addressed the United Nations General Assembly to summarize the territory's ongoing efforts to draft a locally written constitution to replace the current constitution imposed by the administering power, the United States. However, the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands refused to transmit the draft constitution to the U.S. for review as required by law, citing objections to some provisions. The Constitutional Convention has sued to force the governor to transmit the draft. The president emphasized that the draft constitution is not intended to change the territory's non-self-governing status but to organize its internal governance, and asked the U.N. to support the public education process on

1. Fifth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands
# 1 Lagoon Street Complex, Legislature Building,
Frederiksted, Virgin Islands 00840
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Statement by Gerard Luz Amwur James II
President
Fifth Constitutional Convention of the U.S. Virgin Islands
to the
United Nations General Assembly
Fourth Committee
United Nations Headquarters
New York, N.Y.
October 6, 2009
Check Against Delivery

2. Statement to United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
My name is Gerard Luz Anwur James II, and I am the President of the Fifth
Constitutional Convention of the US Virgin Islands, elected by the people of the territory
from all four islands. I have the honor to address this Committee on the adoption last
May by our Convention of a draft constitution for consideration by the administering
power.
This was the fifth attempt by the US Virgin Islands to draft a locally written constitution
to replace the Revised Organic Act of 1954, written for the territory by the administering
power, and which continues to be amended incrementally. The present draft constitution
was submitted on May 31st of this year to the elected governor, who was to have
forwarded said document to the administering power for review, with the authority to
modify it or amend it, “in whole or in part.” The document would then be returned to the
territory for a referendum, similar to the process in 1980 where the final document was
not approved by the voters at that time.
It is important to advise this august body that the present process has been short-circuited
when the governor of the territory took the unilateral decision not to transmit the draft
constitution to the administering power, according to the law, based on the contention
that some of the provisions might not be consistent with how the US Constitution is
applied to the territory. The Fifth Constitutional Convention has filed suit in the Superior
Court of the territory to mandate that the governor transfer the document, as specified by
law. We must await the decision of the court before the resumption of the constitutional
process.
It should be emphasized that the local constitutional process is not designed to alter the
present non self-governing territorial status, but merely to “organize its internal
governance arrangements” as accurately stated in General Assembly Resolution 63/108
of 5 December 2008. Thus, if our constitution is subsequently adopted in referendum, this
does not serve as the basis for removing the territory from the UN list of non self-
governing territories, since the status of the territory would not have changed. The
provisions in the draft constitution, including those which the governor has found
objectionable, are best reviewed for US constitutional consistency by the administering
power based on its determination of what is allowable under the present dependency
status. The elected members of the Convention have placed in the document a structure
of governance to which it is the responsibility of the administering power to review, and
to respond. We look forward to this engagement.
In this connection, I wish to emphasize that the entering into force of a new constitution
based on the present status, in the language of our draft constitution, “shall not preclude
or prejudice the further exercise by the people of the (US) Virgin Islands of the right to
self-determination regarding the attainment of a permanent political status.”
In this regard, several attempts were made between the 1980 and 1993 to decide on a
permanent political status through successive governmental commissions and
committees. Our only referendum on political status was held in 1993, but as indicated in
relevant General Assembly resolutions, an insufficient percentage of voters participated

3. for the result to be valid. The present non self-governing status, therefore, remained – and
remains - unchanged.
Mr. Chairman,
It is important to reveal that the work of the present Constitutional Convention has been
impeded by a lack of resources. This has caused several inordinate delays in the drafting
process, as well as in the initiation of the critical public education phase of our work. A
similar resource deficit existed for the 1993 political status referendum process, as
explained to the Decolonization Seminar in St. Kitts last May by the international
political advisor to our Convention.
As this committee is aware, a 2008 request by our Constitutional Convention for
assistance from the administering power was denied. In this connection, we welcomed
the adoption of Resolution 63/108 last December which requested the administering
power and relevant UN organizations to assist the territory’s public education program,
consistent with Article 73(b) of the United Nations Charter which mandates such
assistance. We trust that the commitment made in the resolution, which is also included
in the present draft resolution under your consideration, would be expeditiously
implemented since the educational component is critical to the process. If the
administering power is not forthcoming with the requested assistance in support of our
constitutional evolution, we ask them to facilitate our access to United Nations electoral
assistance similar to that provided to other territories such as Tokelau, Sint Maarten the
former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and others.
In any case, assistance from any quarter is vital given the degree of mis-interpretation in
public discussion based on incomplete and sometimes misleading reports. The lack of
resources for our Convention prohibits us from mounting the required public education
program to counter the mis-information. In this regard, the relevant provisions of the
draft constitution include:
• A bill of rights
• A structure of the various branches of internal government
• The mandate for establishment of decentralization of government
• Free and compulsory education, which “preserves the African history,
culture and traditions of the people,” and which creates eligibility criteria
for free tertiary education
• The control of the natural resources by the people of the territory,
including the marine resources and submerged lands, as well as the
protection of the environment, pursuant to longstanding United Nations
resolutions
• The preservation of culture
• A mechanism to make recommendations on the future political status of
the territory based on the legitimate political status options of integration,
free association and independence, consistent with General Assembly
Resolution 1541.

4. Mr. Chairman,
A major area of public discussion on the draft constitution relates to the definition of a
Virgin Islander. According to the 1917 treaty, through which the territory was purchased
by the United States from Denmark, the political rights and citizenship of the inhabitants
of the territory at the time of transfer would be determined by the US Congress. The
citizenship of these persons at the time of the transfer who were mainly, but not
exclusively, comprised of former enslaved Africans and their descendents, was not
determined until ten years later.
Thus, the provisions of the draft constitution defining Ancestral Native Virgin Islander
was based on the laws of the administering power emerging from that period (See Section
306 INA (8 U.S.C. 1406). It is also consistent with the definition of native populations in
the constitutions of other non self-governing territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
A second section of the draft constitution provides a broader definition of a Native Virgin
Islander as having been born in the territory, or a descendent of a native born person. The
importance of the reference to Native Virgin Islanders in the constitution is highlighted
by the fact that the native-born population in the territory is on the decline, with the
percentage in 2005 at about 51.3 % according to a 2007 University of the Virgin Islands
study. This decline has significant implications for the self-identity of the people.
The draft constitution also provides that only Ancestral or Native Virgin Islanders be
eligible to serve as governor and lieutenant governor, and as members of a future political
status advisory commission. Additionally, a provision to exempt Ancestral Virgin
Islanders from paying property tax has been inserted. This is due to the fact that
significant externally motivated land speculation continues to result in the major loss of
property by the native population. This provision of the draft constitution is consistent
with relevant General resolutions, most recently operative paragraph 9 of General
Assembly Resolution 63/108, which calls for all necessary steps to be taken to protect the
property rights of the peoples of the territories.
It is these and related provisions which appear to be objectionable to certain interests, but
similar native rights' provisions are part of constitutions of other US-administered
territories, (such as American Samoa and the Northern Marianas, both of which have the
same unincorporated political status as the U.S. Virgin Islands). We would wish to know
why such provisions would be applicable to some territories, but not to others.
To conclude, Mr. Chairman,
We are confident that, notwithstanding the present delay, the draft constitution will be
ultimately forwarded to the administering power for assessment, as in the case of other
draft constitutions before it. In the end, we recognize that under our present political
status the administering power alone will determine the final content of the document
based on its unilateral applicability of laws to our territory. Thus, the delay in the process
is especially troubling, and prevents the people of the US Virgin Islands from gaining a
better understanding of the parameters of the dependency status as defined in the 21st
Century. We are confident, however, that the political obstacles will be cleared from our
path so that we can take this next step along the path towards a full measure of self-
government.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.