Palau President Johnson Toribiong announced this week that his country is willing to temporarily host the detainees as a “humanitarian gesture intended to help them be freed from any further unnecessary incarceration and to restart their lives anew in a normal fashion.”
The U.S. doesn’t consider these detainees enemy combatants, but there are fears they may be prosecuted in China if they’re repatriated.
Joaquin Omar, director of the Emergency Management Office, said Palau’s decision is a “mistake.”
“They should keep them in Guantanamo Bay. These people are not covered by the rules of engagement because they are [suspected] terrorists. I beg to differ with the president’s stand.”
Omar noted Palau’s close proximity to the CNMI, Guam and Japan.
“This is also not good for the commonwealth which is just one and a half hours away from Palau. This is not good for Guam too which hosts a U.S. military base,” he added.
Omar and other residents said the presence of suspected terrorists in any island-nation will have a negative impact on the tourism industry.
“The image of the islands will be changed,” Omar said.
Isidoro Cabrera, agreed.
“I am sure this will have a negative impact on the tourists’ impression,” he said.
But Cabrera believes there is a trade-off involved.
“It might help Palau,” he said.
A Palauan resident who asked not to be identified said she fears the move will endanger her country’s security.
“Why did they take them in?” she asked.
Another Palauan fears that the detainees can resort to violence.
“What if they escape and do terrorist activities in Palau?”
Press Secretary Charles Reyes Jr., for his part, said the CNMI respects Palau’s decision.
According to a human rights lawyer, “Each and every one of these folks, once in Palau, will be entitled to seek political asylum and/or protection from torture in their homelands — at which time, merely upon the request being made, the Palau government shall be precluded by international law from subjecting the detained asylee/torture protection applicants to ‘non refoulement; (return to the asylees’ country of origin) unless and until such time as full processing of their asylum applications is concluded…which, as Palau has no such procedure, could mean years and years…as was the case with the Aussie detainees in Nauru.”
