The tiny Marshall Islands in Micronesia is taking on the world’s nuclear powers with an unprecedented legal case that is being heard at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The islanders say their lives were ruined by dozens of nuclear tests in the 12 years to 1958 along their territory. Generations past and present have suffered the effects. “I can just go down the list of my wife’s family. You don’t even have to go that far and almost every Marshall Islander out here can do this. My wife’s mother died of cancer of the uterus; my wife’s uncle died of thyroid cancer,” Jack Niedenthal, trust liaison from Bikinian People, said.
To begin with, they have brought a case against the three nuclear powers which recognise the ICC – the UK, India and Pakistan – on the argument that they have breached a legal duty to disarm. Similar logic is being used against six other nations including the US, Russia and China.
Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee reports.
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The case was brought at the International Court of Justice NOT the International Criminal Court