In Geneva, Switzerland, the UN Human Rights Office called on the United States to provide full and effective reparations to people affected by US nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. The Hindu reports.
The Marshall Islands, with a population of about 37,000 people, were the site of 67 US nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958. UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Ava Dabo told the UN Human Rights Council that the consequences of this history are still felt in families, on contaminated lands and in communities that were displaced.
According to the UN, many residents were forcibly removed from lands where they had lived for generations, while thousands of people were exposed to radioactive fallout. Dabo noted that virtually every Marshallese family has been affected by long-term health consequences, including increased cancer rates.
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The UN separately mentioned the consequences of the 1958 Cactus test. Two decades later, the US military dumped contaminated waste from dozens of other tests into the crater left by that test and covered the site with a large circular concrete dome. The crater floor was not lined with concrete to save costs, raising concerns about the possible leakage of radioactive materials. Cracks have appeared in the dome, while rising sea levels also pose a threat to it.
In a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council, the office said that a comprehensive and fair settlement of claims related to the nuclear testing programme has still not been achieved. It called on the United States to provide full and effective remedies to all Marshallese people and to declassify and make available all information related to the nuclear legacy.
Under an agreement from the 1980s, the Marshall Islands officially accepted a final payment of $150 million intended to cover the consequences of the tests. At the same time, Dabo stressed that this settlement did not cover harm to future generations, moral damage, environmental degradation and other types of harm. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal, established by the archipelago in 1987, issued a number of rulings over the following decades, setting the total amount of compensation at more than $2.3 billion.
Source: UA
