Freedom in the World 2001 - Marshall Islands

2001 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 1.0
Civil Liberties: 1
Political Rights: 1

Overview

President Kessai Note took office in January 2000. The country, along with several other Pacific Island countries, was implicated in allegations of moneylaundering activities. The government contested this claim but introduced new measures to monitor the country's offshore banking activities. The U.S. government is also looking into the possibility that Asian criminal groups are using the Marshall Islands as a new transport point for entry into the United States.

The Marshall Islands, consisting of the Ralik and Ratak chains of coral atolls in the central Pacific Ocean, were purchased by Germany from Spain in 1899. Japan seized the islands in 1914, governing them under a League of Nations mandate until the U.S. Navy occupied them in 1945. In 1947, they became part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under United Nations trusteeship. The Marshall Islands district drafted a constitution. On May 1, 1979, it came into effect, and the parliament chose Amata Kabua as the country's first president. He was subsequently reelected to four successive four-year terms, the last beginning in January 1996.

In 1983, the Marshall Islands signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States and the agreement came into force in 1986. Under the Compact, the country is fully sovereign but allows the United States responsibility for defense. The Compact includes an economic assistance package, which supports as much as 55 percent of the national budget. Compact money rapidly expanded the service sector but many government institutions failed, spending surpassed receipts, and there was little economic development. All this left the country saddled with a large foreign debt.

The end of the cold war reduced the country's strategic importance to the United States. Thus, a new economic package under the Compact would likely be smaller than the current one. In anticipation of this change, the government is encouraging private sector growth. The government also introduced an austerity program in 1995 that was designed by the Asian Development Bank to reduce the budget and the size of the civil service.

Amata Kabua's death in December 1996 left the country bereft of leadership. The president owed his political longevity to personal loyalties within parliament and a limited pool of viable alternative candidates. On January 14, 1997, parliament elected Imata Kabua, a long-time senator and a cousin of the late president, to finish the president's term although the constitution mandates that the speaker of the senate should serve as acting president. In October 1998, Imata Kabua won a narrow victory in a no-confidence motion, the first in the country's history. The opposition charged that Kabua misused government funds and that his administration lacked accountability and transparency. The public also strongly criticized his administration's proposal to rent remote, uninhabited islands to foreign countries as nuclear waste dumps. In December 1999, voters ousted Kabua's government in a public poll and gave the opposition Democrats Party a majority in the parliament.

Negotiations for a new economic assistance package under the Compact began in Hawaii in October 1999. The Marshall Islands also petitioned the U.S. Congress to provide $27 million to meet the shortfall in the $45 million Compact Fund to settle 6,460 claims for injuries caused by nuclear tests in the region. Already 40 percent of the claimants have died without receiving compensation and new reports revealed that the fallout from nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s was at least 20 times greater than the U.S. estimate. Talks will likely end in 2001.

A public dispute between the supreme court chief justice and the designated head of the country's judicial service commission in October 1999 raised concern about the future of judicial appointments. At the swearing in of a new supreme court justice in May 2000, President Note reiterated his administration's support for judicial independence and commitment to keep political influence out of the judicial system.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens of the Marshall Islands can change their government democratically. The 1979 constitution provides for a bicameral parliament: the 33-seat house of representatives (Nitijela) is directly elected for a four-year term, and this lower house chooses a president, who holds executive powers as head of state and head of the government, from among its members. The Council of Chiefs, or upper Iroji, has 12 traditional leaders who offer advice on customary laws. Two ad hoc parties participated in the 1991 legislative elections, but they soon dissolved afterwards. Although no legal restrictions currently exist against the formation of political parties, no formal parties exist.

The government generally respects freedom of speech and of the press, but journalists occasionally practice self-censorship on sensitive political issues. A privately owned weekly newspaper publishes in both English and the Marshallese language. The government's Marshall Islands Gazette, a monthly, contains official news and avoids political coverage. There are two radio stations; one is state-owned, and both offer pluralistic views. A cable television company shows U.S. programs and occasionally covers local events. There are no restrictions on religious observance in this predominantly Christian country.

Freedom of assembly is respected in practice. The government broadly interprets constitutional guarantees of freedom of association, but no trade union has been formed. There is no formal right to strike or engage in collective bargaining, but no legal constraint exists in practice.

The judiciary is generally independent, and the rule of law is well established. In recent years, the parliament amended the Judiciary Act and passed a new legislative act to strengthen the judiciary in order to prevent government intervention. The government respects the right to a fair trial. Both the national and local police honor legal civil rights protections in performing their duties.

Freedom of internal movement is unrestricted, except on Kwajalein Atoll, the site of a major U.S. military installation. Although inheritance of property and traditional rank are matrilineal, and women hold a social status equal to men in most matters, most women working in the private sector hold low-wage jobs, and women are underrepresented in politics and government. Domestic violence has increased, but traditional culture dissuades many victims of domestic violence from reporting the crime or prosecuting spouses in the court system.