70 years after the first nuclear test in the Pacific, the victims are still suffering

On occasion of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) recalls the first nuclear tests in the Pacific – carried out by the United States (70 years ago) and by France (50 years ago) – demanding more help for the victims and their descendants. “The nuclear powers have abandoned the Pacific, leaving behind gigantic nuclear waste dumps. The indigenous people of the Pacific Islands will have to cope with the radiating heritage for generations to come,” the STP criticized. Now, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the medical and environmental consequences of the nuclear tests, to provide better care for the nuclear test victims, and to pay sufficient compensations. “The nuclear powers are paying compensations for their own soldiers who served during the tests, but many of the affected indigenous people are still waiting in vain,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s expert on the Pacific region.

On June 30, 1946, the United States carried out the first nuclear bomb test on the Bikini Atoll. The atoll is part of the Marshall Islands in Micronesia. On March 1, 1946, the preparations for the controversial test series started off with the forced displacement of the indigenous inhabitants of the atoll. They are still suffering from the catastrophic consequences of the nuclear weapons tests. Their cancer rate is among the world’s highest. The US military purposefully used the people of the Marshall Islands as a “guinea pig” to examine the consequences of nuclear weapons.

Because of the 67 nuclear tests carried out by the US in the period of 1946 to 1958, many islands are now radioactively contaminated. To date, the US authorities claim that only four islands were affected. In July 2016, classified film material was made public, showing that the US military were surprised by the atomic destruction. To date, the United States have not apologized for the enormous suffering caused by the tests on the Marshall Islands.

On July 2, 1966, the first atomic bomb exploded on the Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia. 20 years ago, in 1996, the tests were finally stopped – but there is an ongoing struggle about adequate compensation for the nuclear test victims among the indigenous people of the Maohi. In July 2016, the former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe admitted that the tests were not as “clean” as had been said, but that there were serious health- and environment-related consequences. In August 2016, the Synod of the Evangelical Church of French Polynesia decided to bring France before the International Criminal Court because of the nuclear tests.

Header Photo: EH Dome via Flickr