Notes


 1. For details of the transfer, see in general: William W. Boyer, America's
 Virgin Islands: A History of Human Rights and Wrongs (Durham, North
 Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 1983), 109-131; Isaac Dookhan,
 A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States (Epping, Essex,
 England: Caribbean Universities Press in association with the Bowker
 Publishing Company, 1974), 243-264; Paul Leary, "The Virgin Islands'
 Political Status, 1917 and 1987", in Taking Bearings: The United
 States Virgin Islands. 1917 1987 (St. Thomas, V.I.: Bureau of Public
 Administration, University of the Virgin Islands, 1988), 59-65 and
 Luther K Zabiskie, The Virgin Islands of the United States of America
 (New York and London: G.P. Putnam Sons, 1918), 294-317.

2. For a discussion of the principle of self-determination and its
 applicability to decolonization issues, see Thomas M. Franck and Paul
 Hoffman, "The Right of Self-Determination in Very Small Places", 8
 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (1976):
 331.

3. Quoted in Hector Gros Espiell, The Right to Self-Determination:
 Implementation of United Nations Resolutions (New York: United
 Nations, 1980), 39. The International Covenant on Civil and Political
 Rights (1976) also states, in Article I: "All people have the right of self-
 determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their
 political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural
 development". The Covenant is reprinted in Everyone's United
 Nations (New York: United Nations, 1979), 436-438.

4. See: The United Nations and Decolonization: Highlights of United
 Nations Action in Support of Independence for Colonial Countries and
 Peoples (New York: United Nations, 1980) and Everyone's United
 Nations, 273-313.

5. The Charter is reprinted in Everyone's United Nations, 381-401.

6. Ibid., 274 277. The Panama Canal Zone was removed from the list in
 1947 following objections by Panama. Puerto Rico was removed in
 1953 following adoption of its commonwealth status. Alaska and
 Hawaii were eliminated upon their incorporation into the United States
 federal union in 1959. The case of Puerto Rico remains controversial,
 and periodic efforts are made to reclassify it as non-self-governing.
 For a critical view of the 1953 action, see Manuel Rodriguez-Orellana,
 The Decolonization of Puerto Rico in Light of International Leaal