Visiting Mission reports on plebiscite in Palau.

Visiting Mission reports on plebiscite in Palau

A four-member United NationsVisiting Mission which observed a plebiscite in Palau has reported that two thirds of those voting approved the revised Compact of Free Association with the United States, and that the people of Palau had been able "to vote freely and in accordance with their wishes'.

The referendum was held on the islandof Palau on 29 November. Separate plebiscites took place in off-island Palauan communities-- Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands--on 29 November, and in communities in Hawaii and the continental United States on 7 December.

In its report to the TrusteeshipCouncil (T/1906), which will meet next in May and June, the Mission concluded that the polling had been conducted efficiently and in conformity with the regulations adopted for the referendum, and that everyone had been able to vote in secrecy. There had been a "high turnout' of voters--82 per cent of those eligible, with 65.97 per cent of 8,775 valid votes cast in favour of the Compact.

The Compact was signed on 10January 1986 by the President of Palau and the representative of the United States, the Administering Authority of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Micronesia). It had been the subject of previous plebiscites in February 1983 and 1986, when 62 per cent and 72 per cent of those voting had approved it.

Palau is one of four administrativeentities of the Territory, known as Micronesia. In a letter dated 23 October 1986, the United States informed the Secretary-General that Compacts of Free Association with the United States entered into force in 1986 for two of the entities--the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. A Commonwealth Covenant with the Northern Mariana Islands, the fourth entity, also entered into force in 1986.

Palau's Constitution stipulates thatthe Compact must be approved by at least 75 per cent of the voters since it contains a provision (Section 324) by which the United States could operate nuclear-capable or nuclear-propelled vessels and aircraft within the jurisdiction of Palau.

After the February 1986 referendum,the Palauan Supreme Court ruled that Section 324 of the Compact would require approval by 75 per cent of the voters before it could be considered as having been ratified.

Palau's National Congress in October1986 passed a law stating it would be "in the best interest of the people' of Palau to resubmit to them the Compact of Free Association and the specific question of the delegation to the United States of the authority to operate nuclear vessels in the area.

Although it had not arrived in Palauin time to witness the political education programme or the campaign itself for the November/December voting, it was evident, the Mission stated, that a "high level of interest, involvement and even anxiety' had been generated among the general public. It also appeared that the manner in which the Government had conducted its campaign to obtain approval of the Compact may have contributed to that, it said.

Mission members had visited thePalau Senate and the House of Delegates before the polling, and heard charges of illegal campaigning and misuse of government funds. In its report it stated that "in the event these were not substantiated to the Mission'.

The Mission also reported that theChairman of the Council of Chiefs and some members of the public had cited what they called United States intervention in the campaign and pressure by the Government of Palau on its employees to campaign for the Compact.

The Mission was in Palau from 30November to 6 December, where it observed the polling, counting and tabulation of votes. It also visited Hawaii from 7 to 9 December, after which it returned to New York. Its members were Jean-Pierre Guinhut of France, Chairman, and Helen de C. Taylor of the United Kingdom, both members of the Trusteeship Council, and P. K. Mishra of Fiji and Stephen Barampataz of Papua New Guinea. The Trusteeship Council at its seventeenth special session in November 1986 in New York had authorized the Mission, which had been requested by the United States.

On 28 May 1986, the TrusteeshipCouncil, by a vote of 3 (France, United Kingdom, United States) to 1 (Soviet Union), stated it considered that the Administering Authority had "satisfactorily discharged its obligations under the Trusteeship Agreement' and that it was "appropriate' for that Agreement to be terminated when all four agreements with the administrative entities had entered into force.

The Soviet Union maintains thatthe question of the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement should be considered by the Security Council and that the Trusteeship Council has no power to decide on terminating Micronesia's trusteeship.

Micronesia is the last of the original11 Territories to remain under the United Nations Trusteeship System and has been designated a "strategic area' under the United Nations Charter. Because of its "strategic' status, the Trusteeship Council reports to the Security Council about conditions in Micronesia.

According to Article 83 of the Charter,"all functions of the United Nations relating to strategic areas, including the approval of the terms of the Trusteeship Agreement and of their alteration or amendment, shall be exercised by the Security Council'.

The Trusteeship Council is composedof the United States, China, France, the USSR and the United Kingdom, all permanent members of the Security Council. China, however, does not participate in the Council's work.

Photo: The Trusteeship Council Visiting Mission monitored voting, which took place on 29 November in Palau and other parts of Micronesia, and on 7 December in Palauan communities in both Hawaii and the continental United States.