[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 39 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Pages 1873-1874]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6726--Placing Into Full Force and Effect the Compact of 
Free Association With the Republic of Palau

September 27, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Since July 18, 1947, the United States has administered the United 
Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (``Trust Territory''), 
which has included the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of 
Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.
    On November 3, 1986, a Covenant between the United States and the 
Northern Mariana Islands came into force. This Covenant established the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as a self-governing 
Commonwealth in political union with and under the sovereignty of the 
United States.
    On October 21, 1986, in the case of the Republic of the Marshall 
Islands, and on November 3, 1986, in the case of the Federated States of 
Micronesia, Compacts of Free Association with the United States became 
effective. Under the Compacts, the Federated States of Micronesia and 
the Republic of the Marshall Islands became self-governing sovereign 
states, in free association with the United States. Following the 
changes in political status of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, the 
Trusteeship Agreement ceased to be applicable to those entities and only 
Palau remained as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
    On January 10, 1986, the Government of the United States and the 
Government of Palau concluded a Compact of Free Association similar to 
those that the United States entered into with the Republic of the 
Marshall Islands and with the Federated States of Micronesia. As in 
those instances, it was specified that the Compact with Palau would come 
into effect upon (1) mutual agreement between the Government of the 
United States, acting in fulfillment of its responsibilities as 
Administering Authority of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 
and the Government of Palau; (2) the approval of the Compact by the two 
Governments, in accordance with their constitutional processes; and (3) 
the approval of the Compact by plebiscite in Palau.
    In Palau the Compact has been approved by the Government in 
accordance with its constitutional processes and by a United Nations-
observed plebiscite on November 9, 1993, a sovereign act of self-
determination. In the United States the Compact was approved by Public 
Law 99-658 of November 14, 1986, and Public Law 101-219 of December 12, 
1989.
    On May 25, 1994, the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations 
concluded that the Government of the United States had satisfactorily 
discharged its obligations as the Administering Authority under the 
terms of the Trusteeship Agreement and that the people of Palau had 
freely exercised their right to self-determination and considered that 
it was

[[Page 1874]]

appropriate for the Trusteeship Agreement to be terminated. The Council 
asked the United States to consult with the Government of Palau and to 
agree on a date, on or about October 1, 1994, for entry into force of 
their new status agreement.
    On July 15, 1994, the Government of the United States and the 
Government of the Republic of Palau agreed, pursuant to section 411 of 
the Compact of Free Association, that as between the United States and 
the Republic of Palau, the effective date of the Compact shall be 
October 1, 1994.
    As of this day, September 27, 1994, the United States has fulfilled 
its obligations under the Trusteeship Agreement with respect to the 
Republic of Palau. On October 1, 1994, the Compact will enter into force 
between the United States and the Republic of Palau, and Palau will 
thereafter be self-governing and no longer subject to the Trusteeship. 
In taking these actions, the United States is implementing the freely 
expressed wishes of the people of Palau.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States, including sections 101 and 102 of the Joint 
Resolution to approve the ``Compact of Free Association'' between the 
United States and the Government of Palau, and for other purposes, 
approved on November 14, 1986 (Public Law 99-658), and section 101 of 
the Joint Resolution to authorize entry into force of the Compact of 
Free Association between the United States and the Government of Palau, 
and for other purposes, approved on December 12, 1989 (Public Law 101-
219), and pursuant to section 1002 of the Covenant to Establish a 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the 
United States of America, and consistent with sections 101 and 102 of 
the Joint Resolution to approve the ``Compact of Free Association'' and 
for other purposes, approved on January 14, 1986 (Public Law 99-239), do 
hereby find, declare, and proclaim as follows:
    Section 1. I determine that the Trusteeship Agreement for the 
Pacific Islands will be no longer in effect with respect to the Republic 
of Palau as of October 1, 1994, at one minute past one o'clock p.m. 
local time in Palau. This constitutes the determination referred to in 
section 1002 of the Covenant with the Northern Mariana Islands (Public 
Law 94-241).
    Sec. 2. The Compact of Free Association with the Republic of Palau 
will be in full force and effect as of October 1, 1994, at one minute 
past one o'clock p.m. local time in Palau.
    Sec. 3. I am gratified that the people of the Republic of Palau, 
after 47 years of Trusteeship, have freely chosen to establish a 
relationship of Free Association with the United States.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh 
day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and nineteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:12 a.m., September 
28, 1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 29.