OIA backs flexibility in use of Bikini resettlement funds

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther Kia’aina has sent a letter to U.S. Senate and House congressional leadership proposing draft legislation allowing the people of Bikini to use existing resettlement and relocation funds to relocate their communities outside of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Current federal law restricts resettlement funds for use within the Marshall Islands.

“This is an appropriate course of action for the United States to take regarding the welfare and livelihood of the Bikinian people, given the deteriorating conditions on Kili and Ejit Islands in the Marshall Islands with crowding, diminishing resources, and increased frequency of flooding due to king tides on their islands,” said Kia’aina.

Kia’ana visited the Marshall Islands last March when Bikinian leaders raised the need for changes in the federal law. Subsequently, the Kili/Bikini/Ejit Local Government Council passed a resolution on Aug. 3, 2015, asking Congress to pass legislation allowing for the people of Bikini to relocate and resettle within or outside the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

In 1982, Congress, through Public Law 97-257, provided the people of Bikini a relocation and resettlement trust fund for use primarily on Kili Island and Ejit Island (Majuro Atoll) after they were relocated from their original homeland of Bikini Atoll for U.S. nuclear weapons testing. In addition to cramped living quarters and a lack of suitable sustainable resources, the people of Bikini have been experiencing more frequent storms and king tides, resulting in salt water inundation and the destruction of crops at Kili and Ejit. These developments have raised deep concerns about public health and safety.

Under current federal law, the people of Bikini are entitled to live, work, and study in the United States as nonimmigrants without visas, pursuant to the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands without restriction on duration of stay.

The proposed legislation would allow the people of Bikini to use their available U.S. funds to resettle outside of the Marshall Islands—in the United States or elsewhere—should they decide to relocate. It would also provide the people of Bikini better options and the necessary resources for habitable and sustainable living to improve their quality of life and to plan for their future. (OIA)