Atomic Testing on the Marshall Islands: A Legacy

Whereas, in the Old Testament the Lord spoke to Moses saying: “Tell the Israelites: When a man or a woman commits any sin against anyone else, thus breaking faith with the Lord, that person becomes guilty. Such persons will confess the sin they have done. Each will make payment for his guilt, add one-fifth more, and give it to the injured party” (Numbers 5:5-7). And in the New Testament Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much” (Luke 19:8).

Whereas, evidence from declassified US government reports and studies shows that many more Marshall Islanders were exposed to nuclear fallout from the 67 US atomic and nuclear tests, which were detonated between 1946 and 1962, than American negotiators admitted when the compensation package in the compact was negotiated in the early 1980s; and

Whereas, the Marshall Islands government has indicated that information on the health of its people exposed to radiation from atomic and nuclear testing by the United States in the Marshalls requires more just compensation and expansion of medical care than the $150 million trust fund provided in the Compact of Free Association; and

Whereas, declassified documents show that the United States knew the anticipated power of the explosion of “Castle Bravo,” which at 15 megatons was 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 (See Newsweek article “Marshall Islands Nuclear Lawsuit Reopens Old Wounds”); and

Whereas, many questions are arising about the accuracy of medical research done by US government labs on Marshall Islanders who were exposed to fallout from atomic and nuclear testing; and

Whereas, although the US government provided full compensation to American citizens living in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, downwind of the Nevada Test Site, not one of the more than 2,000 Marshall Islanders, who received awards from the Nuclear Claims Tribunal were paid 100 percent of their compensation; and

Whereas, the US government provided full compensation to American citizens living in a significantly larger area compared to the Marshall Islands, despite the fact that the total tonnage of US tests in the Marshall Islands was almost 100 times greater than the yield of tests at the Nevada test site; and

Whereas, more than one-third of the total number of Marshall Islands recipients of nuclear test awards has died without receiving full compensation; and

Whereas, documents now show that the people of Ailuk and other nearby atolls and islands were exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation, yet purposely were not evacuated despite information that prevailing wind would blow fallout over a number of inhabited islands; and

Whereas, the Marshall Islanders are increasingly becoming aware that islanders were not evacuated because they were likely being used as “guinea pigs” in radiation studies; and

Whereas, the March 1, 1954, “Castle Bravo” hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll was detonated despite weather reports the previous day that winds were blowing to the east toward the inhabited atolls of Rongelap, Utrik, Ailuk and others; and

Whereas, US government representatives deceived the people of Bikini Atoll by telling them that their island would be used “for the benefit of mankind” and evoking other Christian parables; and

Whereas, the atomic testing and nuclear fallout has caused high levels of cancer, genetic defects, radiation burns, and thyroid disorders among the Marshallese peoples and many have not been awarded personal injury compensation; and

Whereas, while the negative adverse health impacts of “Castle Bravo” and other nuclear bombs have great significance, the destruction of the cultural, environmental, and emotional well-being of the Marshallese peoples is critical, which includes forced resettlement and uninhabitable land; and

Whereas, the US government has not yet apologized to the Marshallese people for the death of Marshallese citizens and for the damage done to their homeland, waters and people; and

Whereas, the economic provisions of a Compact of Free Association implemented in 1986 expired in 2001 and prohibited Marshall Islanders from “seeking future redress in US courts” (See Newsweek article cited previously); and

Whereas, the $150 million trust fund provided in a Compact of Free Association with the Marshall Islands is woefully inadequate, and not just compensation for the health injuries and deaths caused by US nuclear testing to the population, and the loss of the use of 20 atolls and single islands because of radiation contamination; and

Whereas, US funding for medical surveillance and treatment programs is inadequate to meet the needs of the exposed population in the Marshall Islands; and

Whereas, the Republic of the Marshall Islands filed a series of lawsuits in the International Court of Justice on April 24, 2014, against the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea with the claim that these nuclear powers have violated their nuclear-disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and customary international law applying to all states (See the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy November 2014 statement, The Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Cases in the World Court: Background and Current Status); and

Whereas, only “three of the nine states possessing nuclear arsenals—the UK, India, and Pakistan—have accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court when the opposing state has done so, as the Marshall Islands has,”

Therefore, be it resolved, that this General Conference call upon The United Methodist Church through the General Board of Church and Society and the General Board of Global Ministries to work closely with the Marshallese people and our ecumenical partners, to bring about an official apology and full redress, including all necessary funding from the US government as well as urge the US government to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and perform their obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to disarm and pursue the cessation of the nuclear arms race; and

Be it further resolved, that copies of this resolution be sent to the US Attorney General, the Secretary of the Department of Energy, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, with copies to the Republic of the Marshall Islands Embassy Office in Washington, DC, and to the people in the Marshall Islands.

ADOPTED 2000
READOPTED 2008 AMENDED AND READOPTED 2016
RESOLUTION #6066, 2012 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #6050, 2008 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #288, 2004 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #267, 2000 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS

See Social Principles, ¶ 165B.