Lieutenant Governor Tregenza A. Roach, Esq will leave the Territory today to attend the Guam Commission on Decolonization conference, “Our Continuing Quest for Decolonization: Towards a broader Network of Pacific Solidarity”. The conference is being hosted in collaboration with the University of Guam and the Government of Guam, which has actively engaged in public education outreach on the topic for several years. The conference is intended to further promote dialogue on the topic, while drawing on the experiences and knowledge of other communities and groups of experts.
Lieutenant Governor Roach, who has addressed the United Nation’s (UN) Committee on Decolonization on several occasions and who has been identified as a UN expert on the topic of constitutional development in the U.S. Territories, has been invited to speak on the topic of Decolonization efforts in the Virgin Islands. In May, he attended the United Nations Caribbean Regional Seminar, “Implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Pragmatic Measures” where he updated the committee with regard to the Bryan/Roach administration’s plan to put more emphasis on the status issue, with a referendum on the topic coming sometime before 2022.
Lieutenant Governor Roach will be joined by representatives and leaders from Kanaky, Ma’ohi Nui, Belau, Timor Leste, Micronesia, Hawaii, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The conference is made possible through funds provided by the US Department of the Interior for increasing public education on Guam about self determination and possible future political status options.
Lieutenant Governor Roach will return to the Territory on September 15, 2019. During his absence, Senate President Novelle E. Francis will assume the duties of the lieutenant governor, as per the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands.