UN urges more US action on Marshall Islands nuclear legacy

By Emma Farge

GENEVA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - ‌The United States ​needs ​to take additional steps to remedy the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands by providing healthcare and releasing secret archives, according to a ‌UN report presented to its human rights body on Thursday.

• The ⁠US, which administered the Pacific islands after World War Two, conducted 67 nuclear weapons tests in the ‌Marshall Islands from 1946 to ‌1958, including "Castle Bravo" at Bikini Atoll in 1954

• The human cost of these tests has been "severe and lasting", the UN human rights office report said, adding ​that there has not yet been a just settlement of the claims

• "The damage needs to be repaired," Awa Dabo, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, told ⁠the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

• The UN cited examples of the ongoing impact, such as elevated levels ​of cancer, displacement from contaminated areas and lasting social stigmas affecting exposed persons who are referred to as "poison people"

• The report ​called for the US to provide remedy in ‌the form of healthcare and to declassify all information pertaining to the nuclear legacy

• The US State Department said it had already ⁠reached a full and final settlement of all claims with the Marshall Islands in 1986 and said it continues to provide medical and cancer assistance and environmental monitoring programmes for ⁠those affected

• "The United States has recognised the effects of its nuclear testing program and has accepted ​and acted on its responsibility to the citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands," the State Department said.

• Marshallese residents, including Alson Kelen who was displaced from Bikini and lost both parents ‌to cancer, addressed the council and called for a meaningful resolution to the legacy

• The Marshall Islands' representative, Senator David Anitok, ‌told the UN body: "The continued denial of an effective remedy has forced us to come ⁠before this Council to ask for ‌help"

• Washington disengaged from the ​UN Human Rights Council last year, alleging an anti-Israel bias, and its seat was left empty on Thursday

(Reporting by Emma FargeEditing by ‌Gareth Jones)

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