63
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
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                     HOUSE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING HAWAII'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO INTRODUCE
    APPROPRIATE MEASURES IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS CALLING
    FOR AN APOLOGY TO THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE
    MARSHALL ISLANDS FOR INJURIES SUSTAINED BY MARSHALL
    ISLANDERS AS A RESULT OF UNITED STATES NUCLEAR TESTING,
    AND INCREASED FUNDING IN THE RENEGOTIATED COMPACT OF FREE
    ASSOCIATION AS JUST COMPENSATION FOR NUCLEAR-RELATED
    INJURIES AND DEATHS AND EXPANDED MEDICAL CARE FOR AFFECTED
    MARSHALL ISLANDERS.


 1        WHEREAS, the government of the Republic of the Marshall
 2   Islands has indicated that new information on the health of its
 3   people exposed to radiation from atomic and nuclear testing in
 4   the Marshalls requires more just compensation and expansion of
 5   medical care than the $150,000,000 trust fund provided in the
 6   Compact of Free Association; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, evidence from recently declassified United States
 9   government reports and studies shows that many more Marshall
10   Islanders were exposed to nuclear fallout from the United
11   States atomic and nuclear tests than American negotiators
12   admitted when the compensation package in the Compact was
13   negotiated in the early 1980s; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, many questions are arising about the accuracy of
16   medical research performed by United States government
17   laboratories on Marshall Islanders who were exposed to fallout
18   from atomic and nuclear testing; and
19   
20        WHEREAS, although the United States government provided
21   full compensation to American citizens living downwind of the
22   Nevada Test Site, Marshall Islanders have not received more
23   than sixty-one per cent of their total awards because the
24   compensation level is inadequate; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, fully one-third of the 1,574 Marshall Islands
27   recipients of nuclear test awards have died without receiving
28   full compensation; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, the United States government provided full
31   compensation to American citizens living in a significantly
32   larger area compared to the Marshall Islands, despite the fact

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   that the total tonnage of United States tests in the Marshall
 2   islands was almost one hundred times greater than the yield of
 3   tests at the Nevada test site; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, documents now show that the people of Ailuk and
 6   other nearby islands were exposed to dangerous amounts of
 7   radiation, yet purposely were not evacuated; and
 8   
 9        WHEREAS, Marshall Islanders are increasingly becoming
10   aware that islanders were not evacuated despite information
11   that prevailing wind would blow fallout over a number of
12   inhabited islands and that they were likely being used as
13   "guinea pigs" in radiation studies; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, United States government representatives deceived
16   the people of Bikini Atoll by telling them that their island
17   would be used "for the benefit of mankind"; and
18   
19        WHEREAS, the March 1, 1954, "Bravo" hydrogen bomb test at
20   Bikini Atoll was detonated despite weather reports the previous
21   day that winds were blowing to the east toward the inhabited
22   atolls of Rongelap, Utrik, Ailuk, and others; and
23   
24        WHEREAS, a 1985-1989 health survey in the Marshall Islands
25   revealed cancer rates two to thirty times higher among Marshall
26   Islanders than in the United States; and
27   
28        WHEREAS, a nationwide survey of thyroid problems in the
29   Marshall Islands in the mid-1990's by doctors from Tohoku
30   University in Japan confirmed a high rate of thyroid disorders
31   among Marshall Islanders; and
32   
33        WHEREAS, the economic provisions of the Compact of Free
34   Association implemented in 1986 will expire in 2001 and are up
35   for renegotiation in 1999; and
36   
37        WHEREAS, the United States government has not yet
38   apologized to the Marshallese people for the death of
39   Marshallese citizens and for the damage done to their homeland
40   and people; and
41   
42        WHEREAS, there are many Marshall Islanders living in
43   Hawaii and other western states; and

 
 
 
 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        WHEREAS, the $150,000,000 trust fund provided in the
 2   Compact of Free Association with the Marshall Islands is
 3   woefully inadequate and not just compensation for the health
 4   injuries and deaths caused by United States nuclear testing to
 5   the population and the loss of their atolls because of
 6   radiation contamination since 1946; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, United States funding for medical surveillance
 9   and treatment programs is inadequate to meet the needs of the
10   exposed population in the Marshall Islands; now, therefore,
11   
12        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
13   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
14   of 2000, the Senate concurring, that Hawaii's congressional
15   delegation is requested to introduce appropriate measures in
16   the United States Congress calling for:
17   
18        (1)  An official apology from the President of the United
19             States to the people of the Republic of the Marshall
20             Islands for injuries sustained by Marshall Islanders
21             as a result of United States nuclear testing; and
22   
23        (2)  Increased funding to the Republic of the Marshall
24             Islands in the renegotiated Compact of Free
25             Association as just compensation for nuclear-related
26             injuries and deaths and for expanded medical care for
27             affected Marshall Islanders; and
28   
29        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Housing and Community
30   Development Corporation of Hawaii is urged to pursue possible
31   federal funding to help the Marshall Islanders who are living
32   in public housing in the State of Hawaii; and
33   
34        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
35   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
36   United States, the President of the Republic of the Marshall
37   Islands, the United States Secretary of Energy, the United
38   States Secretary of Defense, the United States Secretary of
39   State, the United States Attorney General, the Governor of the
40   State of Hawaii, Hawaii's congressional delegation, the
41   Marshall Islands Embassy Office in Washington, District of
42   Columbia, the Housing and Community Development Corporation of

 
 
 
 
 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   Hawaii, and the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.