The Republic of Palau has not joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. On 7 July 2003, the Minister of State, Temmy L. Schmull, thanked the ICBL for its “untiring effort to universalize the membership of this very important treaty” and said that “impending accession to the Mine Ban Treaty is still under consideration...as there are implications to our nationals serving in the US Armed Forces. Accordingly, the leadership will continue to consider this important issue.”[1]
Schmull confirmed that on 4 May 2000, a resolution to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty was introduced by then-Senator Sandra S. Pierantozzi and passed by the Senate of Palau’s National Congress (Olbiil Era Kelulau, OEK), but the House of Delegates did not consider the resolution. He said that should government leadership “decide to pursue the matter, we will have to reintroduce a new proposed resolution for formal re-consideration by the 6th OEK.”
Palau was absent from the vote on UN General Assembly Resolution 57/74 in November 2002, as it has been for similar pro-ban resolutions in previous years. Palau is not believed to have ever produced, transferred, stockpiled, or used antipersonnel mines. Schmull said that Palau, “historically, has had its share of similar danger to civilians posed by ordnance abandoned during World War II, and therefore, we share similar views as that of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines.”[2]
[1] Email to Landmine Monitor from Temmy L. Schmull, Minister of State, 7 July 2003.
[2] Ibid.