THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            124
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  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   

 
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 1        WHEREAS, the United States government provided full
 2   compensation to American citizens living in a significantly
 3   larger area compared to the Marshall Islands, despite the fact
 4   that the total tonnage of United States tests in the Marshall
 5   islands was almost one hundred times greater than the yield of
 6   tests at the Nevada test site; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, documents now show that the people of Ailuk and
 9   other nearby islands were exposed to dangerous amounts of
10   radiation, yet purposely were not evacuated; and
11   
12        WHEREAS, Marshall Islanders are increasingly becoming
13   aware that islanders were not evacuated despite information
14   that prevailing wind would blow fallout over a number of
15   inhabited islands and that they were likely being used as
16   "guinea pigs" in radiation studies; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, United States government representatives deceived
19   the people of Bikini Atoll by telling them that their island
20   would be used "for the benefit of mankind"; and
21   
22        WHEREAS, the March 1, 1954, "Bravo" hydrogen bomb test at
23   Bikini Atoll was detonated despite weather reports the previous
24   day that winds were blowing to the east toward the inhabited
25   atolls of Rongelap, Utrik, Ailuk, and others; and
26   
27        WHEREAS, a 1985-1989 health survey in the Marshall Islands
28   revealed cancer rates two to thirty times higher among Marshall
29   Islanders than in the United States; and
30   
31        WHEREAS, a nationwide survey of thyroid problems in the
32   Marshall Islands in the mid-1990's by doctors from Tohoku
33   University in Japan confirmed a high rate of thyroid disorders
34   among Marshall Islanders; and
35   
36        WHEREAS, the economic provisions of the Compact of Free
37   Association implemented in 1986 will expire in 2001 and are up
38   for renegotiation in 1999; and
39   
40        WHEREAS, the United States government has not yet
41   apologized to the Marshallese people for the death of
42   Marshallese citizens and for the damage done to their homeland
43   and people; and
44   

 
 
 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            124
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        WHEREAS, there are many Marshall Islanders living in
 2   Hawaii and other western states; and
 3   
 4        WHEREAS, the $150,000,000 trust fund provided in the
 5   Compact of Free Association with the Marshall Islands is
 6   woefully inadequate and not just compensation for the health
 7   injuries and deaths caused by United States nuclear testing to
 8   the population and the loss of their atolls because of
 9   radiation contamination since 1946; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, United States funding for medical surveillance
12   and treatment programs is inadequate to meet the needs of the
13   exposed population in the Marshall Islands; now, therefore,
14   
15        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
16   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
17   Representatives concurring, that Hawaii's congressional
18   delegation is requested to introduce appropriate measures in
19   the United States Congress calling for:
20   
21        (1)  An official apology from the President of the United
22             States to the people of the Republic of the Marshall
23             Islands for injuries sustained by Marshall Islanders
24             as a result of United States nuclear testing; and
25   
26        (2)  Increased funding to the Republic of the Marshall
27             Islands in the renegotiated Compact of Free
28             Association as just compensation for nuclear-related
29             injuries and deaths and for expanded medical care for
30             affected Marshall Islanders;
31   
32   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, and the
41   Marshall Islands Embassy Office in Washington, District of
42   Columbia.
43 
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45 
46                           OFFERED BY: ___________________________