Talk:Sikaiana

Solomons/United States sovereignty question

The sovereignty issue is dismissed misleadingly in the current Sikaiana article (November 16, 2017). The U.S. Office of Management and Budget report cited as disavowing U.S. sovereignty over the Stewart Islands was the opinion of an O.M.B. author stated in a footnote. The United States, and the courts of the United States, have never decided the question; the U.S. Executive Branch has not ceded the territory or taken a formal position on it since at least 1898. It is thus unfounded to state that "The United States disagrees..." based solely on the article's citations.

The Stewart Islands were independent and native-ruled until 1856. Their cession to the Kingdom of Hawaii by the chief and people of the islands was delivered in writing, and it was completed by the written acceptance and assent of the King Kamehameha IV. The Stewart Islands and Palmyra Island became parts of the Kingdom of Hawaii in the same way; the latter was formally upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court in United States v. Fullard-Leo. (It is unclear whether the Stewart Islands/Sikaiana would now be a federal "incorporated" territory or not, if excluded from the State of Hawaii.)

Hawaii was not, as the article states, annexed by the United States from the Kingdom of Hawaii, but rather from the Republic of Hawaii which had replaced the Provisional Government of Hawaii, which had overthrown the Kingdom in 1893. In the records of the annexed Republic, the individual Stewart Islands are named as being part of Hawaii: Ihi Kai Ana, Te Perena, Taore, Matua Ati and Matua Ivoto. (Hawaii State Archives, M-313).

If, as the article claims, the Stewart Islands were not annexed in 1898, for the reason that they were omitted from a Hawaiian Comission report, then they would remain a seperate territory under the sovereignty of whatever technically remains of the Republic of Hawaii; its governmental successor now is the United States. They were not ceded by treaty to The United Kingdom or to any other country. (And if in fact an "incorporated" territory, then they cannot be ceded, under the United States Constitution.)

The cited Hawaiian Sovereignty Election Council decision, to exclude the islanders in 1996 from a fund for distribution, had no authority to decide a question of U. S. sovereignty over territory.

The Stewart (Sikaiana) islanders have a colorable and arguable claim to be entitled by law to United States citizenship.

The article should be revised to be WP:NPOV with full references.2605:6000:ED0D:9E00:F10A:410D:FBA3:6DDD (talk) 13:20, 16 November 2017 (UTC)

References