Between 1946 to 1958, while administered under a United Nations Trusteeship, the Republic of the Marshall Islands was subjected to 67 known nuclear and thermonuclear weapons tests. To this day, the Marshallese people continue to suffer from the adverse impacts of this nuclear legacy on their human rights. The side event shed light on the nuclear legacy of the Marshall Islands, and the human rights of the Marshallese people, particularly their right to life, right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, right to health, and cultural rights. Following the adoption of a groundbreaking resolution by the Human Rights Council in 2022, which gave the UN the mandate to provide technical support to the Marshall Islands to address the legacy of nuclear testing in their lands, a follow up resolution is expected to be adopted by the HRC later in October. H.E. Dr Hilda Heine, president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, shared the story of her people. “It is a story of resilience and determination,” she said. “The Marshallese people were subjected to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment during the nuclear testing period.” Heine described how the Marshallese people were a group of people in a vulnerable situation exploited horribly until the end of World War II, for the sake of others gaining greater power. “…Confronting the uncomfortable truth of the darkest parts of our shared history is the only way to heal, and the only way that the United States of America and the Marshall Islands can grow together stronger than ever,” she said. “The legacy of injustice continues to this day, through the failure to come clean, to tell the truth, and to take responsibility for the restoration of our environment and people to good health.” Danity Laukon, curriculum specialist for the Republic of the Marshall Islands Public School System, Ministry of Education, Sports & Training, spoke from the lens of young people. “Unfortunately many of us in this generation are only starting to realize this history now,” she said. “The younger generations are also impacted because of the nuclear testing and that`s true.” When Laukon was growing up in the Marshall islands, her family did not discuss the topic of nuclear testing in great depth because of the psychological trauma associated with it. “My grandparents were survivors of World War II, and when the nuclear bombs were exploding it triggered the trauma again from the world war that they lived through,” she said. “I picked up the nuclear issue more closely five years ago when I was studying in Fiji, with the Marshall Island Student Association and at the University of the South Pacific.” Florian Eblenkamp, advocacy officer, and moderator of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, spoke about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as an instrument of justice for the Marshall Islands. “The legacy of nuclear testing has left deep scars, not just in the lands and waters – the actual testing grounds – but on generations of people continuing to live with it,” he said. “We must therefor address nuclear weapons, not only as a matter of historical injustices, but also as an ongoing violation of the most fundamental rights.” He noted that the treaty is built on a profound understanding of the consequences of nuclear weapons use and testing for humanity. “The treaty becomes an enabler for states that now have a legal tool to take nuclear justice in their own hands,” he said. Jennifer Philpot-Nissen, World Council of Churches programme executive for human rights with the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, invited the panellists during the follow up discussion to share suggestions as to how churches could support nuclear-test affected countries. “We have member churches in countries which carried out nuclear testing, and member churches in countries where the testing was done – what can we do to support you?” she asked. The side event was moderated by Ambassador Merewalesi Falemaka, Permanent Delegation of the Pacific Islands Forum to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, and the speakers panel also included Alson Kelen, commissioner, Republic of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission, and Leimamo Wase, Ph.D. student, Medical Anthropology, University of Washington. The event was organized by the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Vanuatu, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, World Council of Churches, Marshallese Educational Initiative. Learn more about the WCC work on arms control and disarmament "Pilgrimage to Marshall Islands brings new urgency for justice in wake of nuclear testing" (WCC news release, 30 November 2023) Watch the film "My fish is your fish" from the Marshall Islands Student Association Learn more about the WCC work on "Human dignity and rights" WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs |
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