Affirming the interest of the Government of the United States in promoting the economic advancement and budgetary self-reliance of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

-Compact of Free Association

In 1986 the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) signed a Compact of Free Association. Along with granting the Marshall Islands independence, in recognition of the “special relationship” between the two countries it promised a continual flow of funds from the United States to the    RMI.[1] From 1986 to 2001 the RMI received $1 billion in aid from the United States.[2] In 2002 and 2003 the countries renegotiated the payments, creating a new plan that will last until 2023. In addition to the grants included in the original agreement, the renegotiated Contract includes payments into a “Trust Fund” to support the Marshall Islands at the end of this period. Under the new agreement, the United States pays the RMI approximately $60 million a year. For a country of a little over 70,000 people this is a huge sum. In fact, United States aid from the Compact composes approximately 60% of the RMI’s annual budget for education, healthy, infrastructure, etc. Moreover, the government is by far the largest employer in the Marshall Islands, employing 60% of the salaried workforce. In short, without American payments the Marshallese economy would collapse. This is doubly true in the Kwajalein Atoll. The United States garrison offers the highest hourly wages in the Republic. Workers commuting from Ebeye earn $10 to $12 dollars an hour instead of the $2 national minimum wage.[3]  Without the US military’s presence, Ebeye would have almost no income.

Often American aid is literally keeping Marshallese alive. In 2008 when flooding washed out Ebeye’s freshwater reserves, the US military quickly set up expensive desalination machines to restore the basic need.[4] In 2016 Ebeye launched a $50 million project to fix their malfunctioning sewage and water system.[5] Backed by grants funded by the United States, Australia, and Asian Development Bank, the infrastructure project is a small step towards establishing humane conditions on Ebeye, where sewage has been strewing into the sea since the treatment plant broke nearly two decades ago. The Marshall Island’s deep economic dependency on the United States complicates decolonialism, for simply by holding the purse strings the United States has significant control over the RMI.

[1] U.S. Department of State, “Compact of Free Association: Agreement Between the United States and Marshall Islands,” April 30, 2003, Treaties and Other International Acts Series 04-501.

[2] “Marshall Islands,” The World Factbook (Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, continually updated).

[3] Dan Zak, “A Ground Zero Forgotten: The Marshal Islands, Once a U.S. Nuclear Test Site, Face Oblivion Again,” Washington Post, November 27, 2015.

[4] Coral Davenport, “The Marshall Islands Are Disappearing,” New York Times, December 1, 2015.

[5] “$50 million revamp for Ebeye in Marshall Islands,” Radio New Zealand (RNZ), April 25, 2017.