24 Aug 2016

Constitutional expert says American Samoa not ready for change

From , 5:03 am on 24 August 2016

The head of the American Samoan office that deals with constitutional and political status issues, says the US regards the issue of American Samoa's political status as an internal one, outside of the purview of the United Nations.

Tapa'au Dr Daniel Aga told a Senate hearing yesterday that the US has stopped attending meetings of the UN Committee on Decolonization, the Committee of 24, for this reason.

He said there was no US representative at the UN Seminar on Decolonisation which he attended in Nicaragua in June, where the case of American Samoa was discussed.

Tapa'au represented American Samoa at the request of Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga.

He told Dominic Godfrey that hearing from representatives of other non-self-governing states gave him a sense of perspective.