By Pacific Island Times News Staff
The U.S. military’s presence in Palau is threatening to turn the Pacific nation into a potential battle zone again, according to Palauan activists, who filed human rights violations against Washington.
“As tensions rise in the region, many also feel that this ongoing militarization is making Palau—which is the closest U.S.-affiliated island chain to China—a target of war,” states a complaint filed with the United Nations by the Blue Ocean Law on behalf of Ebiil Society.
“This increasingly likely outcome is seen as history repeating itself,” the group said, recalling Palau as the site of some of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
“Now, although Palau is an independent nation, many—especially elders who lived through that war—feel that Palauans are once again being deprived of their autonomy and that their nation is once again being used as a pawn in the United States’ war,” states the complaint.
The complaint was submitted to Astrid Puentes Riaño, special rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and Francisco Calí Tzay, special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples.
Ebiil noted that while becoming an independent nation in 1994 through the Compact of Free Association, Palau ceded some of its sovereign authority to the United States.
The compact grants the U.S. exclusive defense authority in Palau, including the military’s use of the nation’s land, water and air space for “strategic” purposes.
“The United States is now using these Compact provisions, which have never before been invoked, to justify a rapid and unprecedented wave of militarization throughout Palau as part of its broader geopolitical strategy to assert dominance in the Asia-Pacific region,” the complaint said.
Ebiil said the U.S. military is expanding its footprint in Palau from the northernmost tip of its archipelago to its southernmost edge: in Kayangel Atoll, on the main island of Babeldoab, on Peleliu Island, on Angaur Island, and in the Southwest Islands of Hatohobei.
“In each of these areas, U.S. military activities are imperiling rare and endangered species, the indigenous people of Palau, and the pristine natural
environment on which they all depend,” the complaint reads.
“The U.S. military has violated all manner of law in the process, including Palau’s environmental protection laws, U.S. domestic laws (to include the compact itself), and international laws, including those protecting the rights of the Palauan people to self-determination, free, prior and informed consent, culture, and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the complaint said.
The group, which also includes young students, warned that the United States has unlimited authority to designate defense sites under the compact.
“In a show of deep disdain for Palau’s sovereignty, the U.S. military has repeatedly and unabashedly flouted each and every one of these requirements, resulting in clear violations of indigenous Palauan’s self-determination and human rights, the complaint said.
"As the military continues its rapid build-up, the damage to Palau’s environment—and correspondingly to Palauan culture and well-being—is only intensifying. Increasingly, this damage is becoming irreparable," Ebiil added.
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