Marshall Islands' People Want a Fair and Just Compact
Part II of "Marshall Islands Should Get the Attention Now"

Representatives from Hawaii and the Territories have shown strong support for the Marshall Islands in all the recent hearings. Their statements indicate a concern for Freely Associated States citizens and their well-being. Their help is needed to guarantee a fair and just Compact. In the next few weeks, amendments to the Bush Administration’s legislation will be tossed around by committees, with a few, hopefully, landing squarely within the Compact Act. The future of the Marshall Islands depends on it. Our RMI negotiators brought the Compact, as Amended, to this point, believing that our friends in the US Congress would not forsake America’s commitment to the Islands but bring forth a fair and just Compact, containing solutions to serious issues not addressed in the current legislation.

This Compact would honor the loyalty of the Freely Associated States to America. This Compact would remember the brave Marshallese men and women serving in US Armed Forces. This Compact would recognize the hundreds of times the Marshall Islands has stood staunchly with the US during United Nations' votes and unremittingly supported US policies.

This Compact would show that the US appreciates the sacrifice of the Marshall Islands when its land was devastated during the Cold War’s nuclear testing. This Compact would take in consideration the displacement, disease, and death that followed that testing. This Compact would acknowledge that generations of Marshallese have suffered and have been impacted health-wise and economically. This Compact would be compassionate toward a people burdened with a nuclear legacy imposed by the United States who will continue to carry the burden far beyond any Compact’s end. This Compact would resolve to make amends for this tragedy.

This Compact would not support any maneuvering to avoid further compensation to Marshall Island’s Four-Atoll victims, by barring and terminating any further claims.

This Compact would be indicative of a fair-exchange of services rendered, recognition of property rights, and reasonable rental fees. United States' number one, billion-dollar missile facility operates within Marshall Islands' waters and on its islands. The United States does not shoot its missiles over its own continental space, nor send them to Asia or Europe. Just Kwajalein. Missile parts, poison, pollution, and radioactive materials do not explode over Hawaii, Guam, or CNMI, or anywhere in the America's. Just Kwajalein, Marshall Islands.

This Compact would highlight America’s continued need for strategic position and secured access the Marshall Islands offers. US President Reagan’s statement to Congress upon the transmission of the first Compact holds true:

The defense and land use provisions of the Compact extend indefinitely the right of the United States to foreclose access to the area to third countries for military purposes. These provisions are of great importance to our strategic position in the Pacific and enable us to continue preserving regional security and peace. (February 20, 1985)

This Compact would not include any unilateral changes created to leave openings for economic and immigration restructuring.

This Compact would not short-change RMI citizens of rights and benefits just because other political entities complain.

This Compact would not punish the Marshall Islands for failings in financial accountability during the first Compact, especially since the US General Accounting Office put a major part of the blame on the Department of Interior's mismanagement.

This would be a Compact worth approving.

Where is the support?

Recently, Marshallese demonstrators have gathered in front of the RMI Nitijela and the US Embassy in Majuro, protesting these issues. Unfortunately, support from the outside for Marshallese concerns during this Compact has been undercut. Support for the “little-guy” is not out there like it was several years ago.

Charges that Marshall Islands government mismanaged its funding and wasted millions of American taxpayer dollars have been the focus of current stipulations for the new Compact. The other demand on the new Compact was clearly identified last year by DOI's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, David Cohen, when he said, "We're going to try to enshrine that [Compact-Impact Funding] into the Compact process, meaning that between the Compact and the legislation approving the Compact will be a permanent mechanism to provide the Impact funds" to Hawaii and the Territories.

We need to bring the focus back to the intent of the original Compact:

Affirming that their Governments and their relationships as Governments are founded in respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and that the peoples of the territory of the Pacific Islands have the right to enjoy self-government; and

Affirming the common interests of the United States of America and the peoples of the territory of the Pacific Islands in creating close and mutually beneficial relationships through two free and voluntary associations of their respective Governments; and

Affirming the interest of the Government of the United States in promoting the economic advancement and self-sufficiency of the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

--Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, September 8, 2003


Sunday, Part I: Once Again, Whose Compact is it Anyway?"
Monday, Part II: A Fair and Just Compact
Thursday, Part III: A Promise Made Long Ago