nuclear-news

Marshall Islands -UN report offers even-handedness and focus on future?

““The Special Rapporteur’s mission tells the world the Marshall Islands is entitled to know the truth, to be treated with dignity, and to have all those human rights which should never have been lost,” Muller commented, adding the Marshall Islands welcomed the recommendations and “we urge the United States and the international community to do likewise, and we look forward to doing our part to ensure their implementation.

UN report offers even-handedness and focus on future

Giff Johnson

The release in mid-September of the United Nations Special Rapporteur’s report on the human rights impact of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands provides a roadmap for the Unite d States, the United Nations and the Marshall Islands to effectively address the numerous outstanding problems in this north Pacific nation.
One of the most important aspects of Calin Georgescu’s 19-page report for the UN Human Rights Council is its even-handedness and focus on the future.

Among other key points in the report include:

• The United States government should provide compensation needed to pay about $2 billion in Nuclear Claims Tribunal awards;
• Declassify secret reports on the nuclear tests to end a “legacy of distrust”;
• Follow the recommendations of its own Presidentially-appointed Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments that recommended personalized apologies to the individuals who were the unwitting subjects of radiation experiments;
• Calls on United Nations agencies to get involved in solving a number of radiation-related environment and health issues; and
• Calls on the Marshall Islands to sponsor an independent radiological survey of the entire country with the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But many islanders have watched with increasing dejection as American courts have tossed out lawsuits by the nuclear ground zero islands of Bikini and Enewetak, and the US government for 12 years has ignored petitions seeking additional nuclear test compensation for personal injuries and land damages, clean-up programs, and loss of past use.

Jack Niedenthal, who works for the Bikini Council, underlined a point now in the minds of many Marshall Islanders following the report’s release: Will the newly released UN report on the Marshall Islands have any impact on the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands?
He said the report raises the issues Marshall Islanders have been making for years. “This is exactly the case the nuclear victims have been trying to make to both the US Congress and the US courts,” Niedenthal said.

“The US still has unfinished business in the Marshall Islands when it comes to the nuclear legacy, and their obligations are moral ones and no court can ever take those obligations away.”
From his viewpoint, “The big question now is, what impact—if any—will the UN Special Rapporteur’s report have on the situation in the Marshall Islands?”
“It is time now,” said Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Phillip Muller, speaking to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 13, “to move beyond accusations and take action to resolve the very real human rights impacts which continue to exist as a result of the nuclear testing. 
“The Special Rapporteur has identified clear recommendations regarding those impacts and his report must be taken as a wake-up call to everyone.”

Georgescu makes clear in the introduction that the purpose of the report “is neither to apportion blame nor attempt to make a legal pronouncement on the nuclear testing program”.
The goal of the report is “to stimulate constructive and forward-looking dialogue between the parties in the spirit of understanding, respect and reconciliation for the benefit of the Marshallese people.”

Landmark report
This is a landmark report for reasons other than its unbiased perspective. The United Nations, despite having endorsed US nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, has never taken a role in evaluating the impacts of the 67 tests at Bikini and Enewetak, or taking responsibility for the paradox of its endorsement of the tests in the face of UN provisions requiring the US to “protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources”, as well as their health.

Muller, in his testimony, emphasized the point of the United Nations’ support of the testing program.
“Two UN resolutions on nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands remain the only instances in which the UN ever explicitly authorized the testing of nuclear weapons,” he said.

“Adopted in 1954 and 1956 in rejection of our petitions to halt the testing, those resolutions made specific assurances of fairness, justice and respect for human rights which have never been met. This continued denial of justice to our people is completely unacceptable.”
The Special Rapporteur’s report presents US and Marshall Islands sides of various nuclear test issues in a dispassionate manner and emphasizes the human rights view of the situation, not the legal or scientific, which are the usual points of reference.
  
Full funding and reparation
‘In recommending “full funding for the Nuclear Claims Tribunal to award adequate compensation for past and future claims”, he also urged the US to explore other types of reparation.
He quoted from the President-appointed US Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments in the 1990s that recommended the US government to deliver “a personal, individualized apology and provide financial compensation to the subjects or their next of kin of human radiation experiments in which efforts were made by the US government to keep information secret from these individuals or their families, or from the public, for the purpose of avoiding embarrassment or potential legal liability or both, and where this secrecy has had the effect of denying individuals the opportunity to pursue potential grievances”.

His number one recommendation for the Marshall Islands is to “carry out an independent, comprehensive radiological survey of the entire territory” and ask UN agencies “to undertake a study similar to the one conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency on testing sites in other countries”.
  
Legacy of distrust
From interviewing nuclear test survivors during his March visit to Majuro, he reported that “nuclear testing and the experiments have left a legacy of distrust in the hearts and minds of the Marshallese”. But while “the deep fissure in the relationship between the two governments presents significant challenges”, Georgescu took an optimistic tone in looking to the future: “The opportunity for reconciliation and progress for the benefit of all Marshallese, is there to be taken.”
Among key points highlighted:

• The report said it is not attempting to make legal pronouncements related to nuclear testing. But in connection with US-Marshall Islands disagreement over interpretation of provisions of the Compact of Free Association related to additional nuclear test compensation, “interpretations of statutes should advance the course of justice,” it said.
• There is dispute between US government scientists and Marshallese officials over the effects of radiation. “Regardless of the scientific debate on the link between exposure to low levels of radiation and cancer, (the Special Rapporteur) believes that a precautionary approach that emphasizes the likelihood of risk over conclusive proof may prove more prudent and protective of rights.”
• The report expressed concern that scientific uncertainty about health effects of radioactive fallout “may have the effect of shifting the burden of providing those affected by the nuclear fallout with health services from the United States of America to the Marshall Islands.”
Georgescu expressed some optimism on this matter based on commitments made by US officials “to greater and meaningful discussions with the Marshallese on how the health dimensions may be addressed.”
• Compelling testimony was provided by nuclear test survivors about “their psychological trauma from witnessing the explosions and their effect. Psychological stress and anxiety are recognized as a legitimate and serious health concern in populations where nuclear testing has been concluded. Although these health concerns are of a different nature to cancer, the fear of radiation itself is no less real.” This problem “should not be underestimated,” the report added.

“The Special Rapporteur’s mission tells the world the Marshall Islands is entitled to know the truth, to be treated with dignity, and to have all those human rights which should never have been lost,” Muller commented, adding the Marshall Islands welcomed the recommendations and “we urge the United States and the international community to do likewise, and we look forward to doing our part to ensure their implementation.”

http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=20336/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl

October 16, 2012 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized