Marshall Islands

Free
93
100
PR Political Rights 38 40
CL Civil Liberties 55 60
Last Year's Score & Status
93 100 Free
Global freedom statuses are calculated on a weighted scale. See the methodology.

header1 Overview

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a stable democracy with regular, competitive elections, an independent judiciary, and a free press. Civil liberties are generally respected. Persistent problems include corruption, gender-based discrimination, domestic violence, and human trafficking.

header2 Key Developments in 2023

  • Voter turnout for the November general election was low at roughly 33 percent. The return rate of absentee ballots was similarly low, with only 30 percent of those mailed out eventually counted. However, the RMI election commission did not send absentee ballots to many voters abroad until just days before the return deadline, potentially affecting the number of ballots returned within the allotted timeframe.
  • Negotiations between the RMI and the United States over the renewal of the Compact of Free Association (CFA)—which allows the US military to operate in the RMI in exchange for defense guarantees and development assistance—were finalized during the year, and the agreement was signed in October.

PR Political Rights

A Electoral Process

A1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4.004 4.004

The president, who is elected by the unicameral legislature from among its members for four-year terms, nominates fellow lawmakers to serve as cabinet ministers, and they are formally appointed by the parliament speaker.

In January 2020, the parliament elected David Kabua, son of the first president of the Marshall Islands, Amata Kabua, to the post. He succeeded Hilda Heine, the first woman to be head of state of a Pacific Island country, who lost her coalition after the November 2019 elections. Heine and Kabua both ran in the November 2023 general election. The results of the election were not declared final until late December, leaving the new parliament set to vote for either Kabua or Heine as president in January 2024.

A2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4.004 4.004

The Nitijela, or parliament, consists of 33 members, with 19 seats directly elected in single-member districts and five multimember districts with between 2 and 5 seats. Members serve four-year terms. Elections are officially nonpartisan, and lawmakers are free to form alliances and change party affiliations after taking office.

All 33 seats in the Nitijela were voted on in the November 2023 general election. Approximately 40 percent of parliamentary seats changed hands following the polls, which saw several high-profile incumbents lose their seats. Voter turnout was low at roughly 33 percent. The return rate of absentee ballots was similarly low, with only 30 percent of those mailed out eventually counted. Media reports have described the handling of absentee ballots as problematic: the RMI election commission sent absentee ballots to many voters abroad less than one week before the return deadline, potentially affecting the number of ballots returned to the Marshall Islands within the allotted timeframe.

A3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 4.004 4.004

The constitutional and legal framework provides for democratic elections and is implemented impartially.

B Political Pluralism and Participation

B1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 4.004 4.004

Parliamentary elections are technically nonpartisan, but politicians can organize in groupings that compete freely and do not encounter obstacles from state or nonstate actors. These groups tend to function as loose coalitions among lawmakers, and representatives switching between them is common.

B2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 4.004 4.004

The country has an established record of democratic transfers of power between rival groups. Some governments have been replaced as a result of elections, while others have been toppled by no-confidence votes.

Approximately 40 percent of parliamentary seats turned over following the November 2023 general election, which saw several high-profile incumbents lose their seats in a victory for the opposition.

B3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are the people’s political choices free from domination by forces that are external to the political sphere, or by political forces that employ extrapolitical means? 4.004 4.004

There are no significant undue constraints on the political choices of voters or candidates. Traditional chiefs play an influential but gradually waning role in politics.

B4 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, racial, religious, gender, LGBT+, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 4.004 4.004

Naturalized citizens were allowed to run as candidates in the 2015 and subsequent elections, after a court ruling found that a 1980 law requiring parliamentary candidates to have at least one Marshallese parent and traditional land rights was unconstitutional.

Women have full political rights, though entrenched gender roles limit their participation to some extent. The November 2023 election saw a record four women elected to the 33-member Nitijela.

In 2019, the Supreme Court removed a 2016 law that banned absentee voting. However, that law’s undoing did not take effect by the November 2019 elections, as the court recognized that there was too little time for the government to implement the changes. More than 30,000 Marshallese citizens live in the United States, and had a growing influence in the 2011 and 2015 parliamentary and mayoral elections, before the law was set in place. Due in part to the RMI election commission’s delayed mailing of absentee ballots for the November 2023 general election, only 30 percent of the total number of absentee ballots were ultimately counted as valid.

C Functioning of Government

C1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 4.004 4.004

There are no undue restrictions on the elected government’s ability to form and implement laws and policies. A body of chieftains from the Ralik and Ratak Island chains, the Council of Iroij, has an advisory role under the constitution. Its 12 members can offer joint opinions and request reconsideration of any bill affecting customary law, traditional practices, land tenure, and related matters. Concerns of Chinese influence persist, despite the RMI’s trade deal with Taiwan and deep ties to the United States.

The RMI has close relations with the United States under the 1986 Compact of Free Association (CFA), which allows the US military to operate in the RMI in exchange for defense guarantees and development assistance.

C2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 3.003 4.004

Corruption has been a chronic problem, though auditing bodies and the independent courts are somewhat effective in detecting abuses and holding officials accountable. High-ranking public officials, however, are rarely prosecuted for corruption. Corruption is most prevalent in the allocation of foreign aid, government procurement, and transfers.

The number of fraud cases prosecuted by the auditor general increased in both 2019 and 2020, a possible sign of added effectiveness due to new funding from the World Bank.

In February 2023, the RMI was identified by the European Union (EU) as “noncooperative on tax matters.” The RMI was removed from the list of noncooperative jurisdictions in October as a result of progress made in enforcing requirements. The EU had previously put the RMI on its tax haven blacklist in late 2017; the RMI was later removed from the list in 2018.

In 2020, a three-year review of the government’s passport program found numerous internal control and compliance problems. Over 500 passports had been issued to non-Indigenous Marshallese who did not have evidence of legal citizenship. In several instances, passport applications were approved without the required documentation at the instruction of high-ranking officials.

According to an indictment issued in the United States in September 2022, two naturalized Marshallese citizens allegedly paid thousands of dollars in bribes to at least five elected officials in the RMI between 2016 and 2020 in return for their support for the creation of a special foreign investment zone on Rongelap Atoll. A resolution endorsing the concept was passed by the Nitijela in March 2020 with the support of the bribed officials. The pair accused of bribery—Cary Yan and Gina Zhou, originally from China—were indicted on several corruption charges in the United States in September 2022 and pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe RMI officials that December. In February 2023, US courts sentenced Zhou to 2 years and 7 months in prison for her role in the scheme; Yan was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison in May. In December, the US government banned two sitting Marshallese politicians from traveling to the United States for alleged corruption involving bribes taken from Yan and Zhou.

C3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 3.003 4.004

There is no strong legal mechanism for obtaining access to government information, but documents can often be obtained through the courts. Auditors have repeatedly found invalid or poorly documented spending practices at government ministries, agencies, and state-owned enterprises.

CL Civil Liberties

D Freedom of Expression and Belief

D1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are there free and independent media? 4.004 4.004

The government generally respects the freedoms of speech and the press. A privately owned newspaper, the Marshall Islands Journal, publishes articles in English and Marshallese. Broadcast outlets include both government- and church-owned radio stations, and cable television offers a variety of international news and entertainment programs.

D2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 4.004 4.004

Religious freedoms are respected in practice. Religious groups are not required to register with the government, but those that register as nonprofits are eligible for tax exemptions.

D3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 4.004 4.004

There are no significant restrictions on academic freedom.

D4 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 4.004 4.004

Citizens are generally free to discuss their political opinions, and there are no reports of improper government surveillance.

E Associational and Organizational Rights

E1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there freedom of assembly? 4.004 4.004

The government upholds constitutional guarantees of freedom of assembly. Protests in recent years have addressed issues including climate change, women’s rights, and the legacy of US nuclear weapons tests in the country.

E2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights– and governance-related work? 4.004 4.004

Civil society groups, many of which are sponsored by or affiliated with church organizations and provide social services, operate freely.

E3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 3.003 4.004

Constitutional and legal provisions that protect freedom of association also apply to trade unions. However, there are no laws regulating the right to strike, and few employers are large enough to support union activity among their workers.

F Rule of Law

F1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there an independent judiciary? 4.004 4.004

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and the judiciary generally operates without political interference. Judges are appointed by the cabinet on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission, and the legislature confirms the appointments. High Court and Supreme Court judges can only be removed by a two-thirds vote in the Nitijela, for clear failure or inability to perform their duties or for serious crimes or abuses.

F2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 4.004 4.004

The authorities generally observe legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention. The state provides lawyers for indigent defendants, and due process standards for trials are upheld.

F3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 4.004 4.004

Violent street crime and other such threats to physical security are relatively rare, though conditions in the country’s few prison and jail facilities are sometimes overcrowded or otherwise below international standards.

Dangerous radiation levels on various atolls of the RMI—with levels similar to those observed after the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident—were caused and hidden by the US military but have been reported on in recent years. From the 1940s through the 1950s, the US military displaced Marshallese living on various atolls, detonated 67 nuclear bombs, destroyed entire islands, and dumped 130 tons of irradiated soil from Nevada into Runit Dome on the atoll Enewetak. Further, the US government withheld key information about the contents of Runit Dome and falsely claimed it would be safe for the Marshallese to return before the 1986 CFA was signed. An international tribunal created by the RMI and United States in 1988 acknowledged $2.3 billion in claims to be paid by the US government; only $4 million had been paid out by 2010.

In 2019, then president Heine called on the US government to pay to repair Runit Dome, which was found to be leaking, further endangering the nearby population. In 2020, the United States declared that Runit Dome was safe, despite RMI–provided evidence to the contrary. The RMI’s Nuclear Commission claimed that the US report contained no new analysis and ignored evidence and information from local communities. In 2021, members of a US House of Representatives subcommittee criticized the Biden administration, saying that its stance on Runit Dome was affecting CFA renewal negotiations. In September 2022, RMI negotiators called off scheduled talks on revising the CFA, saying that the US government was unwilling to meaningfully address the country’s nuclear legacy. The RMI government agreed to the third compact in mid-2023, but it was not signed until October. The signing was delayed due to negotiations over the provision of funding to address the US nuclear legacy in the RMI.

F4 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 3.003 4.004

Women generally enjoy equal treatment under the law, but there is no explicit ban on discrimination in employment, and women face disadvantages in the workplace in practice. While same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in 2005, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not prohibited by law.

G Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights

G1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 4.004 4.004

Freedom of movement is generally respected. Marshallese citizens have the right to live and work in the United States and to travel there without a visa. In recent years, sea level rise due to climate change has become a more prominent impetus for Marshallese citizens to move to the United States, in a trend known as voluntary out-migration.

G2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 3.003 4.004

Individuals have the rights to own property and establish private businesses, and these rights are largely observed in practice. Land ownership is, however, subject to complex local ownership rules and norms.

G3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 3.003 4.004

Personal social freedoms are mostly upheld. However, the minimum age for marriage is 16 for women and 18 for men; about a quarter of women aged 20–24 were married by age 18. While domestic violence remains widespread, reporting of the problem has increased in recent years, possibly due to improved processes for obtaining orders of protection.

G4 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 3.003 4.004

The government enforces a minimum wage law, though it does not apply to the informal sector. Some local and East Asian women are subjected to forced prostitution in a trade that depends on visiting freight or fishing vessels. The RMI was upgraded to Tier 2 in the US State Department’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report due to the RMI government’s significant and increasing efforts to improve its response to trafficking crimes in the country, and remained there in 2023.

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  • Population

    41,569
  • Global Freedom Score

    93 100 free