& 6 Trust Territories The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Micronesia In a letter addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General, February 17, 1978, the Soviet Permanent Representative, Ambassador Oleg Aleksandrovich Troyanovsky, charged the United States with "in essence transforming . . . [the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands] into a United States possession." He accused the United States of violating a principle that a trust territory should be treated as a single entity, and he claimed that the United States was attempting to partition it and to give a different status to its component parts. He cited in support of his charge the coming into effect of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, on January 9, 1978. He alleged that the United States was taking similar measures in connection with the Caroline and Marshall Islands, and that giving them the status of territories "associated" with the United States "in effect would also perpetuate their subordinate position." The United States conveyed its observations upon these statements in a letter from the United States Permanent Representative, Ambassador Andrew Young, addressed to the President of the Trusteeship Council, March 17, 1978, the substantive portion of which read: (footnotes selectively omitted) The United States Government is fully cognizant of its responsibilities as the Administering Authority of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and has carried out its administration of the Territory in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the provisions of the Trusteeship Agreement. In particular, the United States supports the right of the peoples of the Trust Territory to self-determination. This support is fully documented in the records of the Trusteeship Council and the annual reports of the Trusteeship Council to the Security Council, these two bodies being the sole United Nations organs empowered by the Charter to discharge the responsibilities of the United Nations with regard to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1975, the United States concluded an agreement with the representatives of the Northern Mariana Islands by which the islands will enter into a commonwealth relationship with the United States following the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement. The plebiscite on the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Covenant, held in June 1975, was observed by a Visiting Mission dispatched by the Trusteeship Council on the invitation of the United States Government. The Visiting Mission reported, inter alia, that "The people of the Northern Mariana Islands, in a wellorganized and well-attended poll, voted by a majority of almost 80 percent to become a commonwealth of the United States. There was no improper interference by the Administering Authority. The campaign was freely fought. The poll was free and seen to be free." The Northern Marianas Commonwealth Covenant will become fully operative only after termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, but certain of its provisions not inconsistent with that Agreement have properly been implemented during the period of trusteeship. The United States has acted on the authority conferred by the Trusteeship Agreement to permit the people of the islands to draft a constitution consistent with the Commonwealth Covenant and to establish a Government elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage. This Government was established 9 January 1978. The question of the future status of the Marshall and Caroline Islands is under negotiation and will be resolved in accordance with the wishes of the people of the islands. Present negotiations envisage a relationship of free association under which the Micronesians would be fully self-governing with regard to internal matters. The United States has not excluded other possible arrangements, including independence, if that is the wish of the peoples of Micronesia, in the exercise of their right of self-determination. The United States has previously informed the Trusteeship Council that it is the intention of the United States to raise the question of termination of the Trusteeship Agreement with the Security Council at the appropriate time. We take this opportunity to reaffirm the intention of the United States in this regard. For the report of the Mission, see Official Records of the Trusteeship Council, Forty-third Session, Supplement No. 2 (T/1771). U.N. Doc. T/1787, Mar. 28, 1978; for the statement of the Soviet Permanent Representative, see U.N. Doc. A/33/59-S/12569. For the Trusteeship Agreement for the former Japanese Mandated Islands, approved by the U.N. Security Council Apr. 2, 1947, and by the President of the United States, July 18, 1947, pursuant to authority granted by a joint resolution of the Congress, July 18, 1947 (61 Stat. 397), entered into force July 18, 1947, see TIAS 1665; 61 Stat. 3301; 12 Bevans 951. For the text of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States, signed Feb. 25, 1975, see P.L. 94-241, approved Mar. 24, 1976, 90 Stat. 263; 48 U.S.C. 1681 (1976) note. The Covenant is also at U.N. Trusteeship Council Off. Rec., 42d Sess. (1975), sessional fascicle, annexes, Doc. T/1759. On April 9, 1978, at Hilo, Hawaii, a Statement of Principles for a free association between the peoples of Micronesia (the Caroline and Marshall island groups) and the United States was signed by representatives of the Congress of Micronesia's Commission on Future Political Status and Transition, the Marshall Islands Political Status Commission, the Palau Political Status Commission, and the United States. The principles constitute the basis for negotiations on the relationship between the peoples of Micronesia and the United States. They are to be embodied in a final status agreement, subject to the ap proval of the United States Congress; the agreement will also be put to a United Nations observed plebiscite. The Statement of Principles reads: STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES 1. An agreement of free association will be concluded on a government-to-government basis and executed prior to termination of the United Nations trusteeship. During the life of the agreement the political status of the peoples of Micronesia shall remain that of free association as distinguished from independence. The agreement will be subject to the implementing authority of the United States Congress. 2. The agreement of free association will be put to a United Nations observed plebiscite. 3. Constitutional arrangements for the governance of Micronesia shall be in accord with the political status of free association as set forth in these principles. 4. The peoples of Micronesia will enjoy full internal selfgovernment. 5. The United States will have full authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to Micronesia, including the establishment of necessary military facilities and the exercise of appropriate operating rights. The peoples of Micronesia will refrain from actions which the United States determines after appropriate consultations to be incompatible with its authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to Micronesia. This authority and responsibility will be assured for 15 years, and thereafter as mutually agreed. Specific land arrangements will remain in effect according to their terms which shall be negotiated prior to the end of the trusteeship agreement. 6. The peoples of Micronesia will have authority and responsibility for their foreign affairs including marine resources. They will consult with the United States in the exercise of this authority and will refrain from actions which the United States determines to be incompatible with its authority and responsibility for security and defense matters in or relating to Micronesia. The United States may act on behalf of the peoples of Micronesia in the area of foreign affairs as mutually agreed from time to time. 7. The agreement will permit unilateral termination of the free association political status by the processes through which it was entered and set forth in the agreement and subject to the continuation of the United States defense authority and responsibility as set forth in Principle 5, but any plebiscite terminating the free association political status will not require United Nations observation. 8. Should the free association political status be mutually terminated, the United States' economic assistance shall continue as mutually agreed. Should the United States terminate the free association relationship, its economic assistance to Micronesia shall continue at the levels and for the term initially agreed. If the agreement is otherwise terminated, the United States shall no longer be obligated to provide the same amounts of economic assistance for the remainder of the term initially agreed. An early free association agreement based on the foregoing eight principles shall be pursued by the parties. Dept. of State Bulletin, Vol. 78, No. 2015, June 1978, p. 49; U.S. Permanent Representative (Young) to the President of the Trusteeship Council, letter, Apr. 19, 1978, U.N. Doc. T/1789. The Statement of Principles, ante, replaced, as a basis for future negotiations, the Compact of Free Association which had been initialled on June 2, 1976, at the conclusion of the eighth round of status negotiations, in Saipan, May 28-June 2, 1976. For the provisions of the Compact, see Dept. of State, 29th Annual Report to the United Nations on the Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, July 1, 1975 to June 30, 1976, Pt. V, "Political Advancement," Ch. 4, p. 21; see, also, Report of the Trusteeship Council to the Security Council on the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, June 8, 1975 to July 13, 1976, S/12214, Pt. II, "Conditions in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands," "F-Constitutional developments and progress towards self-government or independence," par. 448, pp. 72-73. See, also, the 1977 Digest, Ch. 2, § 6, pp. 71-82, and the statement of Stoney Cooks, U.S. Representative to the Trusteeship Council, on May 15, 1978, post. See, further, the 1976 Digest, Ch. 2, § 6, pp. 56–60. Prior to convening of the 1978 session of the United Nations Trusteeship Council, the President of the Congress of Micronesia Senate, Tosiwo Nakayama, and Bethwel Henry, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, expressing concern at the possible "fragmentation" of Micronesia through the July 12, 1978, referendum, requested the Security Council to supervise it, as well as the Trusteeship Council. The Seventh Congress of Micronesia adopted Senate Joint Resolution No. 7-80, S.D. 1, February 26, 1978, on the same subject, which authorized, in addition, the presiding officers of the Congress of Micronesia, in circumstances which they deemed appropriate, to request the Special Committee on Decolonization to observe the referendum and the program of education (Education for Self-Government-ESG) prior thereto (U.N. Document T/PET.10/126, April 28, 1978). In a letter from Ambassador Andrew Young to the President of the Trusteeship Council, May 10, 1978, the United States confirmed its invitation to the Trusteeship Council to observe the referendum, and commented upon its role as Administering Authority in the referendum and its position on the draft constitution. The substantive paragraphs of the letter follow (footnotes omitted): The referenced letter invites the Security Council to supervise the 12 July 1978 referendum on the draft constitution of a Federated States of Micronesia and to observe the political education efforts which will precede that referendum. As the members of the Trusteeship Council are aware, the United States, as Administering Authority of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, last year invited the Trusteeship Council to dispatch a special mission to Micronesia to observe the 12 July referendum and related activities. This invitation was issued with the concurrence and active support of the Congress of Micronesia. My Government plans to reaffirm this invitation at this year's regular session of the Trusteeship Council. It is the view of the United States that the Trusteeship Council is the appropriate United Nations body to observe the 12 July referendum. While noting that the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands is a "strategic trusteeship," we recall that Articles 83 (1) and 83 (3) [of the Charter of the United Nations] provide for consideration of issues regarding strategic trust areas by the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council. By Resolution 70 (1949) of 7 March 1949, the Security Council, in conformance with Article 83 (3) of the Charter, expressly requested the Trusteeship Council to perform United Nations functions under the Trusteeship System which relate to political, economic, social and educational matters in the strategic areas. Carrying out these functions as to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Trusteeship Council has dispatched regular and special visiting missions and has reported annually to the Security Council. We therefore conclude that normal and established practice requires that the Trusteeship Council observe the 12 July referendum and report its findings to the Security Council. Permit me also to comment on some of the observations contained in the Congress of Micronesia letter concerning the role of the Administering Authority in the 12 July referendum and its position on the draft constitution. The date of the referendum was established by the Acting High Commissioner pursuant to Trust Territory law. Unless the Congress of Micronesia changes the date, the referendum will take place as scheduled in all districts of the Trust Territory save the Northern Mariana Islands, which are separately administered pursuant to the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America. Pursuant to Congress of Micronesia legislation approved by the High Commissioner, a special constitutional referendum board with members appointed by both executive and legislative branches has been established to administer the referendum. With regard to the draft constitution itself, representatives of the United States Government and of the Congress of Micronesia's duly constituted negotiating commission, the Commission on Future Political Status and Transition, have discussed in detail the relationship of that draft constitution with the future political status of free association now under active negotiation between them. Several methods have been explored to ensure that the draft constitution, if approved, will not raise legal impediments to the full implementation of free association if the parties should ultimately agree to such future political status, as now seems likely. At a session of the political status negotiations from 7 to 9 April 1978, the Commission on Future Political Status and Transition agreed in principle that future Micronesian constitutional arrangements will conform to the political status of free association as defined in the agreed principles for free association there signed by the United States and each of the Micronesian negotiating commissions, a copy of which has been circulated in document T/1789. For its part, the United States |