The Marshall Islands Fights Back

The Marshall Islands has decided to file a lawsuit against Britain, Pakistan, and India for ignoring the statutes explicated in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They will appeal to the UN International Court of Justice based in The Hague, Netherlands. Wikimedia Commons

The islands have had a long bomb testing history. The Majuro Embassy reported that between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted a series of 67 nuclear explosive tests. The most disastrous tests on Bikini Atoll far surpassed what scientists expected would happen. Codenamed “Bravo,” The United States detonated a 15-megaton hydrogen explosive that had a force one thousand times greater than the atom bomb that struck Hiroshima, Japan. However, according to Bill Graham, a former Public Advocate at the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, the United States did not release reports of the event to the public until 1994

The islands were physically torn apart and laid to waste from the mass destruction. Such damages affected every aspect of the islanders’ lives. Dr. Neal Palafox, professor at the John Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa said “I really believe that the bigger destruction is the cultural, environmental, [and] emotional [impacts], that carry further and are bigger.” Despite the United States scientists’ assertions that the island was safe in the 1970s, many people suffered from poison due to radioactive local foods. Additionally, the $150 million that the United States distributed to the nuclear victims amounts to only $46 per month.

Such damages have never left the memory of the islanders as they plead for some of the world’s largest countries to follow the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The government in Majuro believes that the ongoing arms race constitutes a flagrant breach of the terms put forth by the treaty.

On April 24, 2014, the Marshall Islands accused nine nations, China, Britain, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States, for not respecting their duty to comply with nuclear international laws. However, only Britain, Pakistan, and India have agreed to accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.

Britain has already issued a list of “preliminary objections” against the accusations. On January 29, 2016, the International Court of Justice announced a press release that Britain, Pakistan, and India will all hold public hearings starting in early March.

There will be contention since Pakistan and India have not yet signed the treaty, which will likely create contention with its premises. However, those aligned with the Marshall Islands believe that the countries should still abide by “customary international law.” They want to persuade the court that the international community should hold Pakistan and India accountable, and eventually have the nuclear-armed countries disarmed.

In the meantime, grassroots activism across the Marshall Islands has grown dramatically in order to spread awareness and gather support. Recently, a new organization formed, called the Radiation Exposure Awareness Crusaders for Humanity – Marshall Islands, to educate the younger generations about the history of nuclear testing on the island and the efforts to stop nuclear arms.

It is unprecedented for such a tiny island nation to spearhead an lawsuit against some of the most powerful countries in the world. The world will now have to see how the island will fare among the rough waters of nuclear international politics.