PRESS RELEASE : UN Human Rights Council 57 – Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on Nuclear Legacy in the Marshall Islands [October 2024]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 4 October 2024.

UK statement for the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on Nuclear Legacy in the Marshall Islands.

Thank you, Mr Vice-President,

Let me start by thanking Her Excellency, President Hilde Heine of the Marshall Islands for her address of this Council and the Permanent Mission of the Marshall Islands for their moving side event on this issue last week.

The UK fully recognises the seriousness and sensitivity of the challenges faced by people of the Marshall Islands, following nuclear testing between 1946 and 1958.

We commend the constructive and positive spirit with which the core group of the report’s mandating resolution approached its task.

The UK notes the report of the OHCHR and has previously set out its concerns that the OHCHR is not the appropriate body to advise the National Nuclear Commission on these matters.

We commend efforts made by the United States of America and the Republic of the Marshall Islands to address the historic legacy and welcome the remediation efforts that have taken place.

The UK supports that bilateral cooperation between the Marshall Islands and the United States. We hope that the OHCHR takes due account of those efforts and we trust that the historic ties of friendship between the Marshall Islands and the United States remain steadfast.

Thank you.