UNITED STATES DISGUISES OCCUPATION WITH ANNEXATION

The Polynesian
October 2000

The people of Hawai'i and the world have been led to believe that the Hawaiian Islands were legally made a part of the United States, which forever altered the former international status of the Hawaiian Kingdom. We now know that Hawai'i was never legally annexed to the United States, but rather it has been occupied since the Spanish-American War in 1898. Along with this false illusion of annexation, and not occupation, arose the terms; colonialism, de-colonization, non-self governing territories, and self-determination.

Under the international laws of occupation, more particularly the 1907 Hague Convention, the occupying government must establish a system of direct administration of the laws of the country that its occupying. In other words, the United States government, as an illegally occupying government in the Hawaiian Islands since 1898, was supposed to have been administering Hawaiian Kingdom law over the territory and not its own, until they withdraw. This is not a mere descriptive assumption by the occupying government, but rather it is the law of occupation.

"Modern occupants came to prefer, from a variety of reasons, not to establish such a direct administration. Instead, they would purport to annex or establish puppet states or governments, make use of existing structures of government, or simply refrain from establishing any form of administration. In these cases the occupants would tend not to acknowledge the applicability of the law of occupation to their own surrogates' activities, and when using surrogate institutions, would deny any international responsibility for the latter's actions." Benvinisti, The International Law of Occupation, 1993, p. 5.

Instead of establishing a system to administer Hawaiian Kingdom law in 1898, the United States, by its Congress in 1900, created a "puppet government." This government, called the Territorial Government of the Hawaiian Islands, would enforce American law throughout the islands. As its governor, U.S. President William McKinley appointed the most heinous criminal in the Kingdom, Sanford Dole. Sanford Dole, a traitor to the Kingdom, was given the authority by a U.S. President to punish and even put to death any Hawaiian subject or loyalist in the Kingdom who would challenge his so-called authority. U.S. military bases sprang up throughout the islands and together with the Territorial Government they imposed rule over Hawaiian nationals through brute force. American citizens unknowingly flocked to the Hawaiian Islands, under the impression that it was lawfully annexed, and soon overwhelmed the population of Hawaiian nationals.

In 1945, the United Nations was created with the United States as one of its charter members. According its Charter, the United Nations would promote the protection of human rights and establish a process of de-colonization for those people who have not yet attained independence. This process of de-colonization was termed self-determination and it applied to colonies which were called non-self-governing territories. United Nations' Resolution 1514 provides that "all peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

In accordance with Article 73 (e) of the U.N. Charter, colonial countries (i.e. England, France, United States, etc.) were required to report yearly to the Secretary General the status of their colonies in relation to self-determination. It was at this point that the United States committed fraud before this international organization by reporting the Hawaiian Islands as a colony of the United States together with Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The apparent problem here was that the Hawaiian Kingdom had already achieved independence for the Hawaiian Islands on November 28, 1843, which could not be said for the other listed American colonies. It was on this date that the Queen of England and the King of France recognized the Hawaiian Islands as an independent State with the Hawaiian Kingdom as its governing body.

This attempt to hide the American occupation of Hawai'i is what forged the creation of the "puppet" State of Hawai'i in 1959. In 1959, the American Ambassador to the United Nations reported to the Secretary General that "since 1946, the United States has transmitted annually to the Secretary General information on the Territory of Hawai'i pursuant to Article 73 (e) of the Charter. However, on August 21, 1959 Hawai'i became one of the United States under a new constitution taking effect on that date. In the light of this change in the constitutional position and status of Hawai'i, the United States Government considers it no longer necessary or appropriate to continue to transmit information on Hawai'i under Article 73 (e)."

"Since the law relating to the continuity of the occupied State is clear and unequivocal, any acts of the occupying power which are not in accordance therewith are clear violations of international law." And "...a disguised annexation aimed at destroying the independence of the occupied State, represents a clear violation of the rule preserving the continuity of the occupied State." Marek, Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law, 1968, p. 110.

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