Hawaiian Kingdom Complaint filed with U.N. Security Council against the United States On July 5, 2001, the Agent for the Hawaiian Kingdom, H.E. David Keanu Sai, Acting Minister of Interior, filed with the Security Council at United Nations headquarters in New York a Complaint against the United States of America concerning the prolonged occupation of the Hawaiian Islands since the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Complaint was filed with the Security Council in accordance with Article 35(2) of the United Nations Charter, which provides, a State which is not a Member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly any dispute to which it is a party if it accepts in advance, for the purpose of the dispute, the obligations of pacific settlement provided in the present Charter. The Hawaiian Kingdom has requested the Security Council, in accordance with Article 36(1) of the United Nations Charter, to investigate the Hawaiian Kingdom question, in particular, the merits of the complaint, and to recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment. The July 6 Press Release provides a summary of the Complaint. hawaiiankingdom.org/united-nations.shtml History On January 16, 1893, United States diplomatic and military personnel conspired with a small group of individuals to overthrow the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom and prepared to provide for annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States of America, under a treaty of annexation submitted to the United States Senate, on February 15, 1893. Newly elected U.S. President Grover Cleveland, having received notice that the cause of the so-called revolution derived from illegal intervention by U.S. diplomatic and military personnel, withdrew the treaty of annexation and appointed James H. Blount, as Special Commissioner, to investigate the terms of the so-called revolution and to report his findings. The report concluded that the United States legation assigned to the Hawaiian Kingdom, together with United States Marines and Naval personnel, were directly responsible for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom government. The report details the culpability of the United States government in violating international laws and the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, but the United States Government fails to follow through in its commitment to assist in reinstating the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Instead, the United States allows five years to lapse and a new United States President, William McKinley, enters into a second treaty of annexation with the same individuals who participated in the illegal overthrow with the U.S. legation in 1893 on June 16, 1897, but the treaty was unable to be ratified by the United States Senate due to protests that were submitted by Her Majesty Queen Lili‘uokalani and signature petitions against annexation by 21,169 Hawaiian nationals. As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States opted to unilaterally annex the Hawaiian Islands by enacting a congressional joint resolution on July 7, 1898, in order to utilize the Hawaiian Islands as a military base to fight the Spanish in Guam and the Philippines. The United States has remained in the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian Kingdom has since been under prolonged occupation to the present, but its continuity as an independent State remains intact under international law.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 05:02:00 +0000
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