Puerto Rico Advisory Committee

Current Topic

Insular Cases and the Unincorporated Territory Doctrine

The Puerto Rico Advisory Committee (Committee) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is undertaking a study on The Insular Cases and the Doctrine of the Unincorporated Territory and its Effect on the Civil Rights of the Residents of Puerto Rico. This is the first USCCR Advisory Committee of its kind in Puerto Rico, and the first to conduct its meetings and develop its work products primarily in Spanish. The Committee has been holding a series of panels on the following topics - a general overview of the Insular Cases and the Doctrine of Non-Incorporation, the right to vote at the federal level, racial and national discrimination, and access to federal public programs, as they work to develop recommendations for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The Committee has been collecting testimony from diverse subject matter experts and stakeholders and intends to identify areas for improvement and develop recommendations accordingly through a series of memoranda leading up to a final report.