SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, Sept. 12, 2012) – The United States government should provide additional compensation needed to pay Nuclear Claims Tribunal awards and declassify secret reports on the U.S. nuclear test program to end a “legacy of distrust” in the Marshall Islands, said a 19-page report released Tuesday for United Nations Human Rights Council meetings in Geneva.The report, issued by U.N. Special Rapporteur Calin Georgescu following a visit to the Marshall Islands in March and a visit to Washington, D.C. in April, also said the United Nations has an ongoing obligation to “encourage a final and just resolution for the Marshallese people,” and called on U.N. agencies and departments to “stand in international solidarity with the Marshallese people as they face the challenge of overcoming the legacy of nuclear testing.”
The report will be officially reported to and discussed by the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday in Geneva.
Georgescu makes clear that the purpose of the report “is neither to apportion blame (to the U.S. or Marshall Islands governments) 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.”
“The Marshall Islands acknowledges that the recommendations in the report of the special rapporteur will require considerable effort to implement but views those recommendations as a detailed way forward to redefining the modern era for the people of the Marshall Islands,” said a Marshall Islands Foreign Ministry statement responding to the U.N. report.
The Nuclear Claims Tribunal awarded over $2 billion in personal injury and land damage claims from nuclear testing, but did not pay most of this because a $150 million U.S.-provided fund was exhausted.
The Tribunal was established by a U.S.-Marshall Islands agreement to adjudicate all claims from the 67 U.S. nuclear tests conducted at Bikini and Enewetak from 1946 to 1958.
While “the deep fissure in the relationship between the two governments presents significant challenges,” Georgescu took an optimistic view: “The opportunity for reconciliation and progress, for the benefit of all Marshallese, is there to be taken.”
The report ends with three-and-a-half pages of recommendations for the Marshall Islands government, U.S. government and the United Nations
Source: Pacific Islands Report