Guam-based international law firm Blue Ocean Law has filed a submission to two United Nations independent human rights experts detailing human rights violations they say are caused by the United States’ ongoing militarisation in Palau.
The filing was submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment on behalf of the Ebiil Society, a Palauan grassroots environmental organisation, along with seven Palauan high-school students, aged 14-18, who have dedicated the past year to documenting the impacts of militarisation in their homeland.
The submission builds on a previous joint submission to a UN treaty body outlining the incompatibility of U.S. colonisation and militarisation of island territories with human rights.
Over the past year, the students travelled to each site and spoke with local communities about the way the US military’s activities are affecting them. They claim their efforts revealed that the military has cleared huge swathes of pristine forest, destroyed resources essential to community subsistence and well-being, and imperiled species of great cultural significance. In Ngaraard, for example, the military site abuts a critical feeding ground for Mesekiu, the critically endangered Palauan dugong.
“We are worried that militarisation will impact these ecosystems and harm our Mesekiu,” say the students. “The Mesekiu is not only an endangered species of great specialness globally, but it also plays an important part in our culture. The first Mesekiu was a woman, and so Mesekiu are members of our family.”
Under international law and Palau’s domestic law, the US military was required to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of impacted indigenous communities prior to beginning these projects. Yet communities near each site report that they have received virtually no information about how the US intends to use the land or what the impacts will be let alone been given an opportunity to provide or withhold consent.
The petitioners claim the US military has further violated Palau’s laws by failing to conduct adequate environmental impact assessments and obtain necessary permits prior to breaking ground on their projects.
Many fear that the military presence is making Palau a target of war. Ann Singeo, Ebiil Society’s founder, shares this concern; “I fear that our small island and our people may be used as a war shield. Can make one feel insignificant and disposable, but that is not us. Women of Palau historically fought hard for this land and her people, by defending our values. We are the descendants of these strong women.”