108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 410
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas the Marshall Islands were ruled under a succession
of colonial regimes, including under Spanish and German
rule, followed in the 20th century by Japanese rule under
the League of Nations system for governance of terri-
tories;
Whereas military activities of Imperial Japan based in the
Marshall Islands before and during Word War II estab-
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lished the strategic importance of the Marshall Islands in
the Pacific;
Whereas the Marshall Islands were liberated from Japanese
military occupation in some of the most horrific battles
of World War II, during which brave Marshallese people
risked their lives to aid the Armed Forces of the United
States and its allies;
Whereas in 1947 Congress approved a trusteeship agreement
with the United Nations Security Council under which
the United States became the administering power with
plenary powers of government in the Marshall Islands;
Whereas during the United Nations trusteeship period the
United States fulfilled its commitment to promote the
progress of the Marshall Islands toward democratic self-
government and self-determination, leading to the estab-
lishment of local self-government that culminated in a
constitutional convention in which delegates representing
the people of the Marshall Islands proposed that they be
constituted as a self-governing nation;
Whereas in accordance with the enabling measures adopted
by the United States as administering power of the Mar-
shall Islands, which encouraged and fully supported the
emergence of the Marshall Islands as a duly constituted
nation based on the freely expressed will of the people,
in 1979 the people of the Marshall Islands adopted their
own constitution and subsequently declared their form of
government to be a republic;
Whereas the Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Is-
lands established a parliamentary governmental system
with separation of powers and a ‘‘Bill of Rights,’’ guar-
anteeing democracy and freedom for the Marshallese peo-
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ple based on the rule of law, limited government, and in-
dividual liberty;
Whereas the United States and the duly constituted Govern-
ment of the Republic of the Marshall Islands adopted a
Compact of Free Association to define government-to-
government relations between the United States and the
Marshall Islands as two sovereign nations under mutually
agreed terms upon termination of the United Nations
trusteeship for the Marshall Islands;
Whereas the promulgation of a national constitution made
possible the termination of the United Nations trustee-
ship in 1986 and the emergence of the Republic of the
Marshall Islands as a sovereign nation in free association
with the United States under the Compact of Free Asso-
ciation, forming an alliance that preserves the close and
special political, social, economic, and military relation-
ship between the two countries that developed during the
trusteeship period;
Whereas the United States has no closer alliance with any
nation or group of nations than it does with the Republic
of the Marshall Islands under the Compact of Free Asso-
ciation, which continues the strategic partnership and
role of the Marshall Islands in United States strategic
programs based in the Marshall Islands, which began at
the end of World War II and has continued under the
trusteeship and Compact to promote the mutual security
of the United States and the Marshall Islands;
Whereas the Republic of the Marshall Islands is a model for
transition of formerly non-self-governing territory rav-
aged by war to a sovereign political status as a stable de-
mocracy, a success story for institution building and re-
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covery from conflict not only for the Pacific region but
throughout the world;
Whereas in light of the shared history of the United States
and the Republic of the Marshall Islands and special re-
lations under the Compact of Free Association, it is en-
tirely fitting for Congress to recognize the 25th anniver-
sary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic
of the Marshall Islands, recalling the importance of duly
constituted self-government in the self-determination
process leading to national sovereignty for the Marshall
Islands; and
Whereas the Republic of the Marshall Islands has remained
one of the staunchest allies of the United States during
the cold war and the war on terrorism, and the voting
record of the Republic of the Marshall Islands as a mem-
ber state in the United Nations General Assembly is un-
paralleled by any other country, further demonstrating
the shared commitment of the two nations to promote de-
mocracy and global peace: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress—
(1) recognizes the 25th anniversary of the adop-
tion of the Constitution of the Republic of the Mar-
shall Islands; and
(2) recognizes the Republic of the Marshall Is-
lands as a staunch ally of the United States, com-
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mitted to principles of democracy and freedom for
the Pacific region and throughout the world.
Passed the House of Representatives July 6, 2004.
Attest:
Clerk.