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Excellency,
1have the honor to submit the following statement for consideration
in the advisory opinion requested in the United Nations General Assembly
reso!ution 15-75 K on the question:
"1sthe threat or use of nuclear weapois in an circumstance permitted
under international la~v?"
It is withgreat regrets that this statemc.nt is submitted late and though
5is in no way indicates a lack of concem from the Warshall Islands on this
verv important and critical topic,7 wish to convey my profuse apology,
ili&ed, for this late submission and hope that Your Excellency will see fit in
tiie consideration oi the question confronting not oniy the Court but the
ip.ternationa1 community as a whole as weli.
1extend, Excellency, my persona1 and warmest regards.
Permanent ~e~resentasve
'.Ir. bloiiammed Recijaoiii
rresident of the hitema:innal Court of Justice
Peace Palace
2517 Kj, The Hague
S?thzriands international Court of Tustice Advisorv hinion on the Threat or
1Ise of Nuclear Wea~ons
1. Introduction
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is the easternmost group of islands in
Micronesia, loçated approximately 1500 miles south southwest of the
Hawaiian Islands inthe Central Pacific between 4" and 14" N. latitude and
160"E. longitude. Though the 34 low-lying atoils and 1225islands and islets
totaled70 sq. miles of land area; its ocean areaspans some-two (2) million
square kilometers.
The history of the Marshd Islands is one that is marred by foreign
domination. The first contact with European occurred between 1529 and 1568
when Spanish navigator Alvaro Saavedra sighted them. in 1878 Germany
signed a commercial treaty with the Chiefs and in 1885Marshall Islands were .
declared a German protectorate and remained so until 1914.In 1914 the
Marshall Islands were seized by the Japanese and, in 1919,dong with other
islands in the region, the group became a League of Nations Mandate
administered by Japan. The post World War II era ushered in a new
"administration" when the Marshall Islands became a part of the United
Nations Tmst Territory of the Pacific Islands administered by the United
States of America.
It was during the last administration that the two of the northwest most atolls
in the Marshall Islands were used as a testing ground for at least sixty six
nuclear bombs. ïhe residents of these atolls were informed of this decision
three months after it was made by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington,
DC. When objection was raised later on the decision by the American public
and media, one of the US Presidential Advisors quipped: "ïhere are only
90,000 people out there ..Who gives a damn?"
Some of these explosions were up to a thousand tirnes greater than the
nuclear bombs detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, one of the
biggest hydrogen bomb ever tested in the world, code name Bravo, was
detonated on March 1954. ïhis testing had significant effects on the health
and environment of the islands. As such, not only did this very issue catapult
the islands into the internationalarena, but it gives the Marshallese people a
special interest in the question of the legality of the threat or use of nuclear
weapons.
2. The threat of nuclear weauonsThe Repubiic of the Marshaii Islands,as one having first hand experience of
the devastating impacts of nudear weapons, believes that the threat of use of
nudear weapons continues. Despite the end of th e old War nuclear weapon
States have yet to relinquish their poiiaes of first use,andethreat of use of
nudear weapons. fiese issues are very central to not only the basis of
Marshail Island fsreign poiicy, but are the very comerstone by which the
United Nations objective for World Peace can be adueved.
The Marshall Islands believes the intemational community must address this
issue now.
3. Nuclear Testing
ïhe devastating impact of nudear testing in the Paafic from1946 to1992 has
contaminated numerous islands and large areas of ocean with radiation. In
the Marshail Islands alone, several islands were vaporized and others have
been declared unihabitable for thousands of years. The United States Atomic
Energy Commission has called the Marshaii Island "sy far one of the most
contarninated areas in the world." Health related problems, such as
miscarriages, still births, cancers, birth deformities and other radiogenic
diseases have increased by up to 10 times pre-testing levels in areas closest to
the testing."
A description of some of these effects is given Ms. Lijon Eknilang from
Rongelap Atoll:
"1was seven years old at the time of the Bravo test on Bikini. 1remember that
it wasearly in the momirig that 1woke up with a bright iight in my eyes. 1
thought someone was buming the house. Soon after we heard a big loud
noise, just likehunder and the earth started to move .ïhen came the fallout.
It was whiie and to us kids we thought it was white soap powder. The kids
were plaving in the powder and having fun, but later on everyone was sick
and we couldn't do anything ..My cousin died of tumor cancer in 1960. In1972
1had another cousin die of leukemia. Two of my sisters have had thyroïd
surgery. Ihave had seven rniscarriages and stili births. There are eight other
women on the island who have given birth to babies that look like blobs of
jelly. Some of these thgs we carry for eight months, nine months. There
are no legs, no arms, no head, no nothing. Other children are bom who will
never reco,gize this world or their own parents.They justlie there with
crooked arms and legs and never speak. Already we have seven such
children ..."
When such problems were substantiated, the residents of the atolls believed
to have been affected were relocated; these include Bikini, Enewetak,
Rongelap and Utirik. The people of Bikini remain nomads to this very day
residing several hundreds miles on a much smaller island than Bikin Aitoll itself. Landisconsidered security in the Marshall lslands customs and mores;
in faa, a common saying: 'Without land a Marshallese isnobody-it is land
thatmakes a person Marshallese" suggests the Bikinians and Ronglapese are
nobody as long as their lands are un-inhabitable. The severity ofthisassertion
can only be understood by the Bikinians particularly asseveral of their islands
were vaporized during the tests.
With a total of only170 square kilometers of land, Marshall Islands views this
loss of landsas a severe renting of their cultural fabncThis willnever be
compensated for by those responsible for their destruction. Mindful of this
land constraint of land for settlement, Ronglapese and Bikinians have been
forced to resideinthe two urban centers as well. This in ~LUIIhas cause a
major concem as Ebeye, on of these urban centers, a 66 acre island, housed a
population of 9500. This isa major increase from its original population of 16
persons.
Other social problems associated with the overcrowding in the urban centers
are major hurdles to overcome today.
4. Marshall Islands interest in nuclear disarmament
Given its extensive first hand experience with adverse impacts of nuclear
weapons, Marshall Islands decision to ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty this year is understandable. This objective of the treaty of "the
cessation of the manufacture of nuclear weapons, the liquidation of all their
existing stockpiles, and the elimination from national arsenals of nuclear
weapons" is wholly consistent with Marshall Islands' foreign policy of
peaceful CO-existenceas well as with the overarching goal of the international
comrnunity to achieve global peace.
1 5. The need for a Court Ouinion .
Given the legal and moral implications attached to the use or threat of use of
nuclear weapons, and owing to the international comrnunity's goal for
achieving global peace, this issue presses on the need to consider iin legal
terms to achieve total consistency with other legally binding agreements
which cal1 on the international cornrnunity to a common undertaking.
On this very issue, Marshall islands is of the view that the use or threat of use
of nuclear weapons is not perrnitted under international law. It has been
clearly documented in the Marshall Islands and elsewhere where nuclear
testing has been conducted that the severity such tests have on health and the
environment are enormous.
Additionally, anv use of nuclear weapons violate laws of war including the
Geneva and ~a&e Conventions and the United Nations Charter. Such lawsprohibit the use of poisonous substances, the use of indiscriminate weapons,
the causing of unnecessary or aggravated suffering, the causing of long-term
damage to the environment and the violation of neutral temtory.
The threat to use nudear weapons is also prohibited under the United
Nations Charter (Article 2 (4))which prohibits the threa or use of force,and
the Nuremberg Principles, which prohibit the planning and preparation of a
war crime. Furthemore, there isa general principle of law that the threat to
use udawful force isitself unlawful. Any acts cornmitted in contravention to
these intemationally legaiiy binding conventions require equal legal
corrective measures.
6.Conclusion
As a victirn of nuclear weapons that Marshall Islands has witnessed first hand
the unprecedented and awesome destructiveness of such weapons. The
Marshall Islands kindly requests the Court to confinn the commonly held .
view that the threat and use of nuclear weapons is both inhumane and
illegal.
Letter dated 22 June 1995 from the Permanent Representative of the Marshall Islands to the United Nations, together with Written Statement of the Government of the Marshall Islands