[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 410 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
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, followed 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 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 establishment 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 Marshall 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 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;
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 preserves the close and
special political, social, economic, and military 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 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 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 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 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 concurring),
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
democracy and freedom for the Pacific region and throughout the
world.
Attest:
Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Attest:
Secretary of the Senate.