The participating States reaffirm the universal
 significance of respect for and effective
 exercise of equal rights and self-determination
 of peoples for the development of friendly
 relations among themselves as among all
 states; they also recall the importance of the
 elimination of any form of violation of this
 principle.3

 Among the signatories to this Declaration was the United States.

 The Helsinki Declaration is just one example of many that demonstrates that the
 transfer of sovereignty over the Virgin Islands that took place in 1917 would violate
 contemporary international law and opinion. What is remarkable, however, is not that
 the principle of self-determination was ignored in 1917 when colonialism was
 widespread, but that in 1992 it has still not been applied to the Virgin Islands. The
 islands remain an unincorporated territory of the United States with no right to elect
 national officials. The people of the Virgin Islands have never been provided an
 opportunity to express their wishes concerning that relationship and possible
 alternatives. While documents contained in this publication demonstrate an increased
 level of internal political autonomy has been granted the Virgin Islands in recent years,
 the external relationship with the United States remains unchanged since 1917 and
 unapproved by popular vote.

 In essence then, the issue of the political status of the U.S. Virgin Islands is an
 issue of self-determination with important international legal dimensions. In the
 aftermath of World War I, President Wilson was concerned about applying the principle
 of self-determination to the European peoples freed from the domination of defeated
 empires, such as Austria Hungary. In the aftermath of World War II, the applicability of
 these principles to the peoples of the European colonial empires became the
 dominant concern. The institution that would take the lead in the anti-colonial struggle
 was the United Nations.4

 The Charter of the United Nations, to which the United States is a signatory,
states in Chapter XI, Article 73 ("Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing
Territories"): "Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities
for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure
of self-government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these
territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the
utmost ... the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories .. ." The Article goes
on to note that this includes the obligation "to develop self-government, to take due
account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive
development of their free political institutions, according to the particular
circumstances of each territory and its peoples and their varying stages of
advancement... ."5