KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 20, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- The United States government is the dominating force in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, but the citizens of these tiny specks of coral in the South Pacific are not receiving all the benefits to which they are entitled. Now, in an action taken in a church convention thousands of miles away, help may be on the way.
The General Synod of the United Church of Christ, meeting in Kansas City, approved a pronouncement, "Ministry and Witness with Micronesians," a teaching document that lifts up the issues for the denomination's 6,000 local churches.
The United Church of Christ is the predominant expression of Christianity in the Marshall Islands and a strong presence in Micronesia.
Washington is now in negotiation with the two island nations on a renewable treaty that will govern relationships for the next 15 years. The islanders charge that this "Compact of Free Association" is a bum deal: that the U.S. will continue to dominate Micronesia through control of its defense and security programs, and will not agree to pay what Marshall Islanders claim is adequate compensation for victims of nuclear testing.
Americans tested 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshalls, and 43 years after the last nuclear devise was detonated, the fallout in human suffering is still painful.
"I am suffering from thyroid cancer," Ella Ben, a survivor from nuclear fallout over Utrik atoll, told the hushed delegates at General Synod. "I have lost a child from cancer," she continued. "We are all suffering from cancer."
"Jellyfish babies" are another legacy of radiation: deformed infants that "look like a bunch of grapes," in the words of an island midwife.
The Marshall Islands government is asking for $2.7 billion for damages caused by U.S. military nuclear testing. Since the first "Compact of Free Association" was signed in 1983, Washington has released only $150 million.
Life for Micronesians is scarcely better. The United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense matters, which includes the option of establishing military bases and facilities anywhere in the country. Already, some 15,000 people were removed from their island home to make way for a missile base.
A more knotty problem is the status of poor Micronesians and Marshallese who have immigrated to the United States, mostly to Hawaii. Through a quirk of bureaucratic reasoning, the U.S. Attorney General's office has determined that they are non-immigrants and thus ineligible for such public assistance as food stamps and subsidized housing. They are helped by the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ, which has a strong ministry to the newcomers.
Hawaii U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka is also involved. "As a member of the United Church of Christ, I am deeply interested in the church supporting a position that would be in the best interests of the people of Micronesia," he wrote in a letter of endorsement. Other support comes from the United Church of Christ in Japan and the UCC's Pacific Islander and Asian American Ministries (PAAM).
The pronouncement will serve as a vehicle for study and reflection among the church's 6,000 congregations. But clearly, sponsors hope the word will get to Washington that justice must be done.
"The pronouncement has been one of the most historic that the UCC has adopted," said Ron Fujiyoshi, past moderator of PAAM. "It teaches our members about an injustice in the Pacific of which most Americans are unaware."
The United Church of Christ is a union of the Congregational Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Resolutions and pronouncements adopted by the General Synod speak to the churches, not for them.
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