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TRUSTEESHIP GENERAL T/PV.1637 COUNCIL 26 May 1987

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TRUSTEESHIP GENERAL T/PV.1637 COUNCIL 26 May 1987 UNITED NATIONS Distr. TRUSTEESHIP GENERAL T/PV.1637 COUNCIL 26 May 1987 ENGLISH Fifty-fourth Session VERBATIM REO)RD OF THE SIXTEEN IIJNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH MEETING Held at Hea(Xfuarters, New York, on Friday, 22 May 1987 at 10.30 a.m. President: Mr. BIRCH (United Kingdom) - Examination of the annual report of the Administering Authority for the year ended 30 september 1986: Trust Terri tcry of the Paci fie Islands (continued) - Appc in tmen t of a Drafting COmmi ttee - Letter dated 4 May 1987 from the acting Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the secretary-General (T/1910), ccnta ining a request for the dispatch of a visiting mission of the Trusteeship council tc observe a plebiscite in Palau, Trust Territory of the Paci fie Islands (continued) - Programme of work Th is record is subject to correction. Ccrrections should be submitted in one of the working languages, preferably in the same language as the text tc which they refer. They should be set forth in a mem:,randum and also, if possible, inoorpcrated in a oopy of the record. They should be sent, within one week of the date of this oocument, to the Chief, Official Reoords Fditing Section, Department of Conference Services, room DC2-750, 2 united Nations Plaza, and incorpcra ted in a copy of the record. Any corrections to the reoords of the meetings of this session will be consclida ted in a single corrigendum, to be issued shortly after the end of the session. 87-6041) 5693V ( E) JSM/ed T/PV.1637 2-5 The meeting was called to order at lo.so a.m. EXAMINATION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THR ADMINISTERING AUTHORITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 1986: TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS (continued) The PRESIDENT: Today the Council will continue the examination of the annual report of the Administering Authority and begin the general debate. Mr. SMITH (United Kingdom): Since this is the first formal opportunity we have had to do so, I should like to begin by thanking the representatives from Palau and the representives of the Administering Authority who have come from Micronesia to participate in this session of the Trusteeship Council. That they have done so is, r helieve, a sign of their continuing interest in and regard for the work of the Council. I should also like formally to thank the many petitioners who were heard by the Council. Although this year we have asked very few auestions, I should like to reassure them that we have listened to their words carefully. Their interventions, particularly those of the Micronesian petitioners, are an important contribution to the Council's work. BRS/JK T/PV.1637 6 (Mr. Smith, United Kingdom) Last year, when the Trusteeship Council met in this Chamber for its fifty-third session, a good many speakers, members of the Council as well as representatives from Micronesia and from their South Pacific neighbours, referr.ed to that session as a momentous and historic occasion. They did so, I believe, in the expectation that the fifty-third session would he the occasion on which the Trusteeship Council completed its consideration of the last remaining Trust Territory, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The fact that the Trusteeship Council is meeting now in its fifty-fourth session does not in any way diminish the importance of what took place here last year. At its fifty-third session, the Trusteeship Council adopted resolution 2183 (LIII) of 28 May 1986. My delegation was pleased to co-sponsor that resolution. We did so because we believed that the Trusteeship Council should recognize the progress made in the' Territory towards the development of free political institutions and the establishment of self-government and should acknowledge the reauests made to the Council by their elected representatives for early termination of the Trusteeship Agreement. Most importantly, we did so because we were convinced - and remain convinced - that in adopting its resolution 2183 (LIII) the Council was acting in accordance with the freely expressed wishes of the people of Micronesia. Resolution 2183 (LIII) was the culmination of a lengthy process which began in 1969 when political status negotiations were opened between the United States and representatives of the peoples of Micronesia. In participating in this process, the United States was acting in fulfilment of its obligations under Article 76 (h) of the United Nations Charter and under the Trusteeship Agreement to promote the political advancement of the inhabitants of the Trust Territory and their progressive development towards self-government. This process continued over a number of years as the inhabitants of the Territory, exercising their right of BHS/JK T/PV.1637 7 (Mr. Smith, United Kingdom) self-determination, decided through a number of plebiscites, of which the majority were observed by United Nations Visiting Missions, to establish four separate entities within the Territory, each with its own Constitution, and each freely choosing its own particular status. ~he details of those plebiscites are well known~ I do not need to elaborate them again. Suffice it to say that, in its resolution 2183 CLIII), the Trusteeship Council rP.cognized that this process had been successfully completed. As I have said, it had been a lengthy process and one which had not been without setbacks. Yet, under a democratic system in which all the inhabitants of the Territory were able freely to express their wishes and their differing views, it would have been most surprising if the movement towards self-government had gone forward without a hitch. In the same resolution, the Trusteeship Council acknowledged further that the United States, as Administering Authority, had satisfactorily discharged its obligations under the terms of the Trusteeship Agreement and that it was appropriate for the Agreement to be terminated. It remained, in the view of this Council, for the Government of the United States, in consultation with the four Governments of the Trust Territory, to reach agreement on a date for entry into froce of their respective new status arrangements. The Soviet Union has alleged that the people of Palau have been coerced into accepting political arrangements against their wishes. This is clearly not true. The Palauan people have had many opportunities over the years to make clear their views in plebiscites observed by this body. In making their choices, they have shown the freedom of thought and independence of mind that one would expect from the people of a democracy. That we are sitting here today is evidence that they have not been coerced. Moreover, the fact that we received an invitation at our opening meeting from the democratically elected representative of the Palauan people, President Salii, to observe a further plebiscite in Palau on the Compact of BHS/JK T/PV.1637 8-10 (Mr. Smith, United Kingdom) of Free Association, is eloauent testimony that the people of Palau are free to determine their own politic~l future. As representative of a country which has participated in each of the United Nations Visiting Missions to the Trust Territory, I believe I can speak with particular authority on this point. The delegation of the soviet Union, and a number of petitioners mainly from outside the Territory, have stated or have implied that the decision which the Council took in its resolution 2183 (LIII) was in need of clarification in the light of subseauent events. My delegation has noted these suggestions, but sees no reason why such clarification is necessary. We note the assurances given to the Council last week by the representative of the United States that the Trusteeship Agreement remains in force and that the United States will continue to fulfil its obligations towards the Trust Territory, under the Charter and under the Trusteeship Agreement. We note, too, the assurance she gave that the United States will continue to provide an annual report to the Council on the Trust Territory. This will, I am sure, assist the Council in carrying out its work. We hope that, as recommended by the Trusteeship Council at its fifty-third session, the internal process of approval for the Compact of Free Association for Palau can be completed by the Administering Authority as soon as possible, so that the wish expressed so eloquently last year by the representatives of the four Micronesian Governments for early termination of the Trusteeship Agreement may be fulfilled. The Soviet Union has sought to show through its auestioning of the Administering Authority that the United States has failed in its obligations to promote the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the Trust Territory. This is a familiar theme which members of the Trusteeship Council have heard from the soviet delegation many times. FMS/4 T/PV.1637 11 (Mr. Smith, United Kingdom) The people of the Trust Territory made the choice themselves to form £cur separate p:,litical entities within the Territory. F.ach chose fer itself its new status. In ooing so the people chose to enter into relationships with the Administering Authority that seem to my delegation entirely appropriate for small Territories such as these: they are free to govern their own internal affairs and their relations with their neighbours, yet they are able at the same time to rely on the assistance and protection of a najor Power in the important area of security and defence, an area in which small nations cannot have the necessary resources to provide to tally fer themselves. As regards the ether areas of eooncmic, social and educational advancement, we spent five of our meetings considering the substantial report of the Administering Authority.
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