access to the island by sea is extremely hazardous and high
surf conditions restrict fishing efforts.
has stagnated the local economy.
Kili'’s isolation
The people are not self-
sufficient, but are dependent on imported food.
Moreover,
housing conditions on Kili remain temporary and the island
lacks suitable medical facilities or personnel.
Yet the
majority of the Bikinians continue to reside there because
they have nowhere else to go.
Hopefully,
a planned 3,000-foot
coral airstrip on Kili will make the island more accessible
and alleviate at least some of the adverse conditions that
exist today.
The lawsuit the Bikinians have filed is born both
of frustation and sadness.
The Bikinians are frustrated
because they cannot return to their homeland and are compelled
to live in conditions they find unacceptable, even hostile.
The people are saddened because they are forced to sue a
country with which they have a special relationship.
came under U.S.
They
care in 1946 when they were forced to leave
their homeland and their relationship with the United States
is thus long-standing.
Yet they feel that this nation has not
met the obligations it assumed in the 1940's that are memorialized
in the Trusteeship Agreement.
The question before this Council
is what action it
and the United Nations should take regarding the claims made