cases before the international court of justice, the marshal islands in then foreign minister tony debroom showed courage and determination rooted in tragic experience. they also showed good faith in seeking law-guided solutions. tony and the marshal islands have shown similar courage and determination in confronting climate change. tony played a catalytic role at the negotiation that is yielded the paris climate agreement in december 2015. he helped to bring together a large coalition of nations the high ambition coalition that strengthened the agreement and perhaps even made it possible. so in light of developments yesterday, i think i should quote a couple of things that the marshal islands and the high ambition coalition has said. president hilda heine said yesterday that president trump's intention to withdraw from the paris agreement she said this, well, today's decision will have grave impacts, we must not give up hope. the high ambition coalition convened by marshal islands as released a statement for people around world most vulnerable to climate change, the paris agreement repres

and the republic of the marshal islands and tony debroom, higher votes of 2016 and they are our arms control persons of the year, over 1,850 people from countries participated in the voting this year back in december and that's a record for this -- this contest. our winners were nominated and are being recognized for pursuing a formal legal case in the international court of justice against the world's nuclear arm states for fail to go meet their obligations to initiate nuclear des -- disarmament negotiations. the people there were subjected to 67 u.s. atmospheric test explosions. so unfortunately tony who had accepted our invitation to come here to fly all the way from his home in the south pacific is unable to be with us due to health difficulties and the republic of marshal islands is out on business. we have asked john boros, member of the legal team that brought the suit to say a few words about tony and the significant of the case in the larger scheme of things. john, thanks for being with us to explain the importance of this. [applause] >> thank you, darrell. in bringing the n