[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 410 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 410


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 7, 2004

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of 
   the Republic of the Marshall Islands and recognizing 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.

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 World 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.

            Passed the House of Representatives July 6, 2004.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.