H. Con. Res. 410
Agreed to July 12, 2004
One Hundred Eighth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four
Concurrent Resolution
Whereas the Marshall Islands were ruled under a succession of
colonial regimes, including under Spanish and German rule, fol-
lowed in the 20th century by Japanese rule under the League
of Nations system for governance of territories;
Whereas military activities of Imperial Japan based in the Marshall
Islands before and during Word War II established the strategic
importance of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific;
Whereas the Marshall Islands were liberated from Japanese mili-
tary 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 establishment of local self-govern-
ment that culminated in a constitutional convention in which
delegates representing the people of the Marshall Islands pro-
posed 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 Marshall Islands,
which encouraged and fully supported the emergence of the Mar-
shall 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 Islands
established a parliamentary governmental system with separation
of powers and a ‘‘Bill of Rights,’’ guaranteeing democracy and
freedom for the Marshallese people based on the rule of law,
limited government, and individual liberty;
Whereas the United States and the duly constituted Government
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;
H. Con. Res. 410—2
Whereas the promulgation of a national constitution made possible
the termination of the United Nations trusteeship 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 Association, forming an alliance that pre-
serves the close and special political, social, economic, and mili-
tary relationship 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 Association, 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 secu-
rity of the United States and the Marshall Islands;
Whereas the Republic of the Marshall Islands is a model for transi-
tion of formerly non-self-governing territory ravaged by war to
a sovereign political status as a stable democracy, a success
story for institution building and recovery 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 relations under
the Compact of Free Association, it is entirely fitting for Congress
to recognize the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitu-
tion of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, recalling the impor-
tance of duly constituted self-government in the self-determina-
tion 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 member state in the United
Nations General Assembly is unparalleled by any other country,
further demonstrating the shared commitment of the two nations
to promote democracy and global peace: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concur-
ring), That Congress—
(1) recognizes the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and
(2) recognizes the Republic of the Marshall Islands as a
staunch ally of the United States, committed to principles of
H. Con. Res. 410—3
democracy and freedom for the Pacific region and throughout
the world.
Attest:
Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Attest:
Secretary of the Senate.