Trusteeship Council mission observes conditions in Palau.

A two-member Visiting Mission has been called on to observe current conditions in Palau-one of four administrative entities of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, known as Micronesia. The Trusteeship Council took that decision on 17 March during a two-day special session held in New York.

(The mission, which included Trusteeship Council President jeanMichel Gaussot (France) and J. Stephen Smith (United Kingdom), visited Palau from 10 to 17 April.)

The United States-the Administering Authority of Micronesia, the last remaining Trust Territory-had invited the UN organ to send such a mission. The mission was directed by the Council to observe steps being taken regarding Palau's Compact of Free Association with the United States, obtain first-hand information concerning political, economic and social developments in the Territory, and examine petitions.

The vote was 3 in favour (France, United Kingdom, United States) to I against (USSR). China, the Council's fifth member, does not take part in the deliberations. The Soviet Union, calling the proposal "inappropriate" and "unconstructive", felt that any UN involvement in helping bring the Compact into effect might pressure Palauans into accepting a document it said had been previously rejected. The Trusteeship Council in May 1986, in its resolution 2183 (LIII), called the Administering Authority's obligations under the Trusteeship Agreement "satisfactorily discharged" as regards Micronesia, and stated it was "appropriate" for the 1947 Trusteeship Agreement to be terminated on entry into force of the Compacts of Free Association for the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, and the Commonwealth Covenant in respect of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Council at that time also noted that the peoples of those four entities had freely exercised their right to self-determination in choosing their future status. The Soviet Union voted against the text.

Compacts with the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia entered into force on 21 October 1986 and 3 November 1986, respectively. The Covenant with the Northern Mariana Islands took effect on 3 November 1986. The United States has informed the Council that the Compact for Palau has not yet entered into force because Palau had not yet completed its constitutional approval process.

The Council in May 1987 recommended that the process of approval of the Compact between Palau and the United States be...