WCC support for Nuclear victims

PACIFIC people are often marginalised in discussions on nuclear testing.

World Council of Churches representative, Jennifer Philpot-Nissen told a parliamentary standing committee in Fiji that the survivors of nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II were often the focus of discussions on the issue.

“The victims of nuclear testing in the Pacific are often marginalized, and the consequences of the testing in the region have largely remained invisible and unaddressed by the wider world,” Philpot-Nissen said

“Victims and their descendants continue to suffer from the impacts upon their health, the degradation of their environment and pollution of their waters. Very few people have received compensation or adequate assistance for the consequences they have suffered.”

A WCC delegation accompanied by the Pacific Conference of Churches was to have visited Kiritimati Island in Kiribati this month to speak to survivors of the 1957-58 nuclear tests conducted by the United Kingdom.

The visit was cancelled due to Kiribati’s travel restrictions linked to the corona virus (COVID-19).

”The purpose of the visit was and we hope will still be, to raise awareness – particularly in the UK – of the on-going impacts of the nuclear testing coupled with the effects of climate change, and to demonstrate solidarity with the citizens of Kiribati. We hope to lift up related situations in the region – in particular the Marshall Islands and in Maohi Nui/French Polynesia – through similar visits later on,” Philpot-Nissen said.

“We continue to support the voices of our partners in the Pacific as they call for justice for violation of these commitments.”

“We support the engagement of churches around the world with the mechanisms of the UN, particularly the human rights system, and we encourage churches and their partners to ensure that the full range of voices of their constituents are heard, right down to the smallest child.”

Statement by the World Council of Churches to the to the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Parliament of Fiji in Support of Fiji’s Ratification of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

“Honourable Chair and members of the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Parliament of Fiji:

I thank you for the invitation to address this distinguished body, and I bring you warm ecumenical greetings from the World Council of Churches. We are a global organisation, established at the end of the Second World War which brings together churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, currently representing over half a billion Christians. The WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs which met last month in Brisbane, advises the Council and advocates on a wide range of issues of international concern. We support the engagement of churches around the world with the mechanisms of the UN, particularly the human rights system, and we encourage churches and their partners to ensure that the full range of voices of their constituents are heard, right down to the smallest child.

We have advocated for a ban on the development, production, testing and use of nuclear weapons since the first weapons were used over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. We are working with civil society partners and with governments to move nuclear weapons from being viewed simply as a military and security issue, to a cross-cutting issue that engages commitments to environmental protection, health, and human rights. We continue to support the voices of our partners in the Pacific as they call for justice for violation of these commitments, as outlined by Reverend Bhagwan in his presentation.

As I speak, I should have been nearing the end of a week long visit to Kiritimati island, with a small ecumenical delegation including church leaders and partners from the UK. The disruption caused by the Coronavirus regrettably meant that this was not possible at this time. Our ambitions – which we still hope to fulfil at a later date – were to meet survivors of nuclear testing and their descendants, and to visit the test sites and to have a better understanding of the realities that the island continues to face as a consequence of nuclear weapons tests carried out in their territory by the UK and the US.

While the hibakushaof Japan – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagaski – are often at the center of the moral discourse about nuclear weapons, the victims of nuclear testing in the Pacific are often marginalized, and the consequences of the testing in the region have largely remained invisible and unaddressed by the wider world. As Reverend Bhagwan has outlined, victims and their descendants continue to suffer from the impacts upon their health, the degradation of their environment and pollution of their waters. Very few people have received compensation or adequate assistance for the consequences they have suffered.

The purpose of the visit was and we hope will still be, to raise awareness – particularly in the UK – of the on-going impacts of the nuclear testing coupled with the effects of climate change, and to demonstrate solidarity with the citizens of Kiribati. We hope to lift up related situations in the region – in particular the Marshall Islands and in Maohi Nui/French Polynesia – through similar visits later on.

We have seen the strong leadership which Fiji has demonstrated in the region and at the international level regarding the climate emergency. We look to Fiji to also provide leadership in the region and at the global level for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Five states in the region have now ratified the Treaty – including Kiribati – and we very much welcome the stated intention of the Government of Fiji and the Parliament of Fiji to ratify the Treaty. As well as bringing the Treaty one step closer to the 50 ratifications needed for it to enter into force, the ratification by Fiji would send a strong message of encouragement to the other States in the region, some of which have also signed but not yet ratified, of the importance of taking this critical step.

At the international level, working through the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons we have – since 2017 – ensured that for every State coming before the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review mechanism, a short stakeholder report is submitted encouraging that State to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This strategy has resulted in 16 States receiving such a recommendation from disarmament-seeking States in the Human Rights Council, and even where the recommendation has been rejected by the States under review, this rejection is often questioned by some of their own Parliaments. In Switzerland, for example, the Parliament continues to call upon its Government to ratify the Treaty.

We would therefore, in addition to playing a regional leadership role, invite Fiji to also use its voice in the United Nations system to call upon other States to take the necessary measures towards a total global ban on nuclear weapons, and to make the world a safer place for all of us.

Vinaka vakalevu.”