Peace Prize winners back Marshall Islands suits claiming violation of nuclear treaty
Corrected: Two Nobel Peace Prize winners are among 68 activists voicing support for two lawsuits filed by the Marshall Islands that claim violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
One of the suits, filed in a federal court in California, seeks a court order requiring the United States to begin negotiations on nuclear disarmament within a year, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The other, filed in the International Court of Justice, targets all nine nuclear nations. Newsweek covered the suits this summer.
The San Francisco Chronicle says the U.S. suit “appears to be a longshot.” A motion to dismiss (PDF) by the United States says the courts have no authority to decide the issue.
Among those signing the open letter praising the Marshall Islands are two Peace Prize winners: South African cleric Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguir, who worked for peace in Northern Island. “You, and any governments that choose to join you, are acting on behalf of all the 7 billion people who now live on earth and on behalf of the generations yet unborn who could never be born if nuclear weapons are ever used in large numbers,” the letter said.
President Obama also won the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2009, for his work on behalf of nonproliferation and for negotiating a nuclear arms-reduction treaty with Russia. More recently, however, Obama has pursued an upgrade of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
A former U.S. territory, the Marshall Islands was the site of U.S. atomic tests in 1940s and 1950s. Its residents are receiving financial compensation for the nuclear contamination.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
Wrong word in lede corrected at 9:35 a.m.
