US nuclear tests still impact Marshall Islands, OHCHR finds
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The Marshall Islands were under UN trusteeship from 1946 until 1958, and the US conducted 67 known nuclear tests there.
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The “Baker” explosion, a nuclear weapon test by the United States military, at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, on July 25, 1946. (U.S. Department of Defense)
Specialists from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed Monday that the negative impact of US nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean between 1946 to 1958 is still visible until this very day on the health of those living in the Marshall Islands and the latter's environment.
The US Government Accountability Office admitted in January that nuclear tests conducted in the 1950s and 1960s contaminated Greenland, Spain, and the Marshall Islands.
OHCHR experts stated that not only did the testing create "impairments for the people who were exposed to nuclear radiation and waste at the time, with a disproportionate impact on women and girls, but continues to negatively impact the human rights of present and future generations."
The Marshall Islands were under UN trusteeship from 1946 until 1958, and the US conducted 67 known nuclear tests there, according to experts.
The environmental and health consequences of the experiments in question continue to violate the local population's rights to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, as well as life, health, sustenance, water, shelter, and cultural rights, according to the statement.
The statement detailed that international standards, as well as the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, make it necessary that guarantees of non-repetition should be invoked, "as well as mechanisms for truth, accountability, and reparation for the legacy of human rights violations that remain unaddressed."
March commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and March 5 is recognized as International Day for Disarmament and Nonproliferation Awareness.
Back in September 2022, the Marshall Islands suspended major discussions with the US over longstanding concerns, stretching back 70 years, pertaining to nuclear testing on the atolls in the middle of the Pacific.
The Marshall Islands have refused to continue discussions unless Washington addresses the persistent health, environmental, and economic difficulties caused by US nuclear testing on the picturesque atolls from 1946 to 1958.
US delayed funds putting relations with Pacific nations at risk
The president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, warned that ties with the US are "gradually being destroyed by party politics" over Congress' delays for the approval of crucial funding for the country, saying that doing so opens a door for China to "influence" the region.
Heine is referring to the funding packages agreed on back in 2023 with the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) as part of the Compacts of Free Association (Cofa) agreements in which the US provides visa-free residential and employment rights, economic assistance and other support to the three nations, in exchange for military access to large and strategic areas of the Pacific.
In emails to The Guardian, Heine said, “Members of the Congress have to understand that the funds that the US has agreed to provide … did not come because of the generosity of the US government and its citizens, but rather because of hard negotiations between the parties."
Some in the Pacific view Cofa as a test of the US commitment to the region, which was first completed in the 1980s. Under the deal, renewed back in October, the US agreed to supply the Marshall Islands with $2.3 billion over 20 years.
That being said, the delay has impacted funding for health, education, and other services in the Marshall Islands while seeming as though American support for the region is waning.
“Both parties had something to bring to the table, otherwise there would have been no negotiations and no new compact,” Heine said, noting that Cofa nations have often shown support for the US at the United Nations, as they are “the tip of the spear of US defence in the Pacific and are its
'Not looking good for the US'
Earlier, a group of 48 bipartisan representatives argued that failure to ratify Cofa would be “the most self-destructive gift the United States could give to [China]," since, in the agreement, the US secures “vital defence rights in strategically critical areas of the Pacific,” in addition to rights to establishing bases, operational control, and the right to deny military access by a third nation to an area of the western Pacific as large as the continental US.
For example, the US Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense test site, located in the Marshall Islands, is described as a “premier … test range for the Department of Defence” and provides “tests of all missile classes and intercept scenarios as well as space operations."
In another instant and another letter, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. reportedly sent a warning that the delay serves to benefit China and politicians in Palau who are open to Chinese economic incentives to shift diplomatic recognition of Taiwan to Beijing.
“Every day it is not approved plays into the hands of the [Chinese Communist party] and the leaders here,” Whipps penned. The Marshall Islands and Palau are two of the twelve countries that have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Heine added that the US funding delay is not a direct threat to the Marshall Islands’ commitment to diplomatic relations with Taiwan, as she called the ties “dynamic” and “one of mutual respect and understanding, rooted in our common belief that democracy is the key to peace and security within and outside our region.”
“The bedrock of our relationship is our shared commitment to democracy and the rule of law... China has neither.”
Heine said the needs of the four atolls in the country, recognized as most affected, “as well as the trauma and impacts from the American nuclear weapons testing program, are far from being addressed."
The $700 million in the Cofa package assigned to the nuclear issue is “a step in the right direction” but “does not absolve the legacy of pain and suffering," she expressed.
A resident of the Marshall Islands and consultant for the people of Bikini, Jack Niedenthal, stated that many people want an “acknowledgment and an apology” from the US since funding delays affect government services and make the US “appear as if they don’t care."
“It is not a good look for the US in this region.”
US Pacific H-bomb tests leave behind health, environment perils trail
US Presidential Envoy Joseph Yun stated in July last year that the US maintains a moral obligation to support health care, clean-up efforts, and environmental restoration in the Central Pacific islands. These islands were the site of over 67 nuclear tests carried out by the US after World War II, lasting until the late 1950s.
Yun acknowledged that radiation and damages from the tests still persist, leading to lingering health effects. He believes that the US also bears legal responsibility for its actions during that period.
"Radiation, I believe, is still there. Damages, I believe, are still there. And I believe there are lingering health effects too. I also believe we have a legal responsibility as well for what we did," he said.
Currently, discussions are underway to negotiate US compensation for the health problems and environmental damage caused by these nuclear tests as part of the ongoing compact talks with the Marshall Islands. The tests, which took place between 1946 and 1958, included numerous powerful thermonuclear explosions in places like Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll. The radioactive fallout from these tests affected the entire island chain in the Central Pacific region.
