Nuclear powers have criticised an effort led by the Marshall Islands at the United Nations to seek help in dealing with the consequences of nuclear testing, sources following the talks involving countries including the United States, Britain, Russia, India and China Reuters reported.
Pacific islanders are becoming more vocal in seeking redress from former colonial powers and wealthy countries on environmental and climate issues which they say affect their human rights.
This motion brought to the Human Rights Council on Monday by the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa and Vanuatu and backed by Australia requests assistance from the UN rights office, seeks a report from its boss and calls for a future debate at the council.
The proposal, backed by Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Nauru, asks the high commissioner for human rights to provide technical assistance to the Marshall Islands’s National Nuclear Commission in its efforts to pursue “nuclear justice” https://t.co/SwAjX1xX7T
— Pasifik Secure (@PasifikSecure) October 4, 2022
A vote on the issue might be called later this week.
Defending against future liability
“Nuclear powers were converging in their determination to protect themselves from any future accountability and there were attempts to empty out the resolution of any significance,” Yves Lador from Earthjustice said.
Diplomats say there were concerns about opening the door for future litigation. Past nuclear test sites include French Polynesia, Algeria, Kazakhstan and China’s Xinjiang region.
The Marshall Islands Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Doreen de Brum could not join the talks because she is on leave following her daughter’s death from cancer. “My fight for nuclear justice is personal,” she said on Twitter.
My fight for nuclear justice is personal – 4 members of my immediate family passed away from cancer including my parents and less than 2mos ago, my daughter.
https://t.co/D1GoFIRekE
— Doreen de Brum (@Jabkanira) October 2, 2022
While the motion does not mention the United States by name, some see it as an attempt to wield leverage over Washington in ongoing negotiations on a Compact of Free Association (COFA) that governs US economic assistance to the RMI. Marshallese diplomats deny this.
New from me: Not only does Solomon Islands say it won't sign on to US deal, but Palau, FSM and Marshall Islands also raising serious concerns about negotiations on COFA
US Pacific summit faces rocky start as island leaders reject Washington’s offers https://t.co/oaBqHE8mCR
— Kate Lyons (@MsKateLyons) September 28, 2022
Nuclear powers including the United States, Britain, India, China and Russia argued that the rights council was not the appropriate forum to raise the issue and sought to strip out references to the new UN right to a clean and healthy environment, according to sources.
The United States conducted 67 nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958 including “Castle Bravo” at Bikini Atoll in 1954 – the largest US bomb ever detonated. Islanders still suffer health and environmental effects such as high cancer rates and enduring displacement from contaminated areas.