This weekend, Guam marked the 81st anniversary of the island’s liberation from Japanese occupation during World War II. The commemoration, held in the capital Hagåtña, recalls the arrival of United States (U.S.) forces in 1944 that ended a brutal three-year period of occupation by Japanese imperial forces. However, for many CHamoru people, Liberation Day also serves as a solemn reminder of ongoing colonialism under U.S. rule.
The Japanese occupation (1941–1944) was characterised by forced assimilation, cultural suppression, and widespread human rights abuses. CHamorus were coerced into labour, and executions. Many women also suffered sexual violence (Souki, 2002). The occupation’s final phase saw intensified military production efforts using forced labour, based on racialised imperial policies that cast CHamorus as destined for incorporation into Japan’s empire (Higuchi, 2001).
While some in the CHamoru community continue to celebrate 21 July as a day of liberation, especially those who experienced the wartime atrocities firsthand, growing numbers view the U.S. military presence in Guam as another form of colonial domination. Since the 1970s and 1980s, a renewed wave of Indigenous activism has reframed the post-war era as one marked by denied self-determination, land dispossession, and systemic marginalisation (Perez, 2001).
The ongoing situation in Guam stands in direct violation of multiple articles within the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, adopted by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). The CHamoru people’s situation contravenes fundamental principles established in this international framework, including Article 1’s guarantee that “all peoples have the equal right to self-determination” and the right to “freely determine their political status.” The current colonial arrangement denies CHamorus this basic right, maintaining them in an unincorporated territorial status without meaningful pathways to exercise self-determination.
Article 3 of the Declaration affirms that “all peoples have the right to their own abode, within their ancestral territory, where they can exercise their right to self-determination” and that “these territories or portions thereof shall not be taken from them, annexed or otherwise altered by force or without the agreement of the people or peoples concerned.” The extensive U.S. military presence, which controls approximately one-third of Guam’s land mass, represents a clear violation of this principle, as these lands were taken and continue to be maintained without the free, prior, and informed consent of the CHamoru people.
The UNPO continues to support the CHamoru people in their efforts to exercise their right to self-determination. In May 2020, the U.S. The Supreme Court refused to hear a case regarding a proposed non-binding political status vote for CHamoru people, effectively blocking even symbolic avenues for Indigenous consultation (UNPO, 2021).
The U.S. military’s presence has also contributed to environmental degradation, cultural erosion, and economic inequality. Construction of new bases and infrastructure projects has led to the disturbance of ancestral burial grounds and restricted access to sacred and ecologically critical sites. The military buildup has further skewed Guam’s economy, inflating housing costs and deepening socioeconomic divides between CHamoru residents and military-affiliated populations.
Toxic contamination also poses a grave concern. A 2020 Yale Law School white paper confirmed the use of Agent Orange on Guam between 1962 and 1975 during the Vietnam War era (Yale Law School, 2020). Exposure to these toxins is linked to cancer, birth defects, and chronic diseases (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). Environmental threats persist today, with portions of Andersen Air Force Base located above Guam’s only aquifer. The Guam Environmental Protection Agency has also highlighted that public drinking water has been contaminated by volatile organic compounds and PFAS chemicals (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2010; Marianas Business Journal, 2025).
Despite the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in the international human rights architecture, the CHamoru community has been systematically excluded from meaningful participation in decisions affecting their land, health, and future. Land is often seized under the guise of environmental protection, even when adjacent to hazardous military operations, disregarding traditional stewardship and Indigenous knowledge. This exclusion violates Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, which guarantees all peoples “the right to know, learn, preserve and develop their own culture, history, language, religion and customs.”
As Guam reflects on its past, the international community is urged to consider its present. As an unincorporated U.S. territory, Guam remains subject to federal law without full constitutional rights, voting representation in Congress, or an indigenous-focused binding mechanism for determining its political status. This contradiction lies at odds with core democratic values and continues to deny the CHamoru people their inherent rights to land, identity, and self-governance.
