(Photo by Ron Van Oers via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO DEED)
For many Pacific Island nations, the devastating impacts of nuclear testing are not a chapter of history that has been closed. After World War II, at least eight nations worldwide performed nuclear tests to support the development of weapons and test their effects. This history remains an urgent, ongoing injustice, shaping the health, land, and sovereignty of Pacific Island communities today. Between 1946 and 1996, the United States (U.S.), France, and the United Kingdom (UK) conducted more than 300 nuclear tests across Pacific territories such as the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, and Kiribati.
The Marshall Islands alone endured 67 U.S. nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958, which negatively impacted northern atolls—ring-shaped coral islands that surround a central lagoon—particularly Bikini Atolls and Enewetak Atolls. The radiation produced by the tests was 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear attack on Hiroshima in 1945. Beyond the immediate radioactive fallout, nuclear testing left behind lasting effects: forced displacement, long-term health crises, food insecurity, contaminated ecosystems, and cultural dislocation. Pacific communities have carried these burdens often with insufficient international recognition or reparations.
In 2025, Pacific Island nations are no longer willing to accept symbolic gestures. They are demanding structural justice. Pacific Island nations are pushing for justice through coordinated diplomatic actions, survivor testimonies, and regional advocacy.
Between February and June 2025 alone, Pacific leaders brought nuclear legacy demands to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This movement is not just about memory; it is about survival, dignity, and the right of Pacific peoples to raise their voices on the international stage.
A Regional Diplomatic Awakening
The Pacific’s 2025 diplomatic offensive on nuclear justice represents a new level of coordination and determination. Reflecting decades of frustration with international inaction and a growing recognition that Pacific voices must drive the global conversation. The Marshall Islands have long been at the forefront of this struggle.
In March 2025, President Hilda Heine presented a formal petition to the U.S. Congress, seeking to renew and expand compensation programs under the Compact of Free Association. The Compact of Free Association is a financial assistance that the U.S. has committed to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Marshallese leaders emphasized that current programs are inadequate: many survivors lack access to necessary healthcare, and environmental remediation efforts remain incomplete.
The legacy of forced relocation remains particularly painful, as Bikini and Rongelap Atolls, once thriving communities, remain uninhabitable. Many displaced Marshallese now live in urban centers such as Majuro or the U.S., often facing poverty and health inequalities. Kiribati’s diplomatic voice has grown stronger. During recent TPNW and UN Human Rights Council sessions, Kiribati officials called for the recognition of nuclear-affected status under international human rights frameworks.
Nuclear tests conducted by Great Britain on Kiritimati Island in the late 1950s exposed Indigenous i-Kiribati populations and British military personnel to high levels of radiation. Many survivors live with chronic illnesses and face legal barriers to securing compensation or recognition from the British government. Legal claims are often dismissed due to the statute of limitations, despite the long latency periods of radiation-related illnesses. Survivors are also burdened with the near-impossible task of providing a direct link between their illnesses and exposure during the tests despite a lack of access to historical health records or environmental data.
The Push for Advocacy and Coordinated Action
French Polynesia is witnessing a political and cultural awakening. In 2025, Maohi parliamentarians and civil society leaders intensified their demands for a full declassification of French military archives. Polynesian activists are also pushing for the inclusion of nuclear legacy issues within broader decolonization debates. Many argue that France’s nuclear testing program was an extension of colonial power that France imposed without the consent of the Indigenous population.
France’s nuclear testing in French Polynesia, which spanned from 1966 to 1996, has long been condemned as an extension of colonial control. The French government selected remote atolls in the South Pacific as test sites without meaningful consultation with the Indigenous Maori population. Still to this day, the Maori people suffer from illnesses, including intergenerational cancers.
British nuclear tests in Kiribati exposed Fijian military personnel to radiation, prompting Fiji to engage increasingly in regional advocacy. Fijian veterans and civil society groups are demanding that the U.K. government acknowledge and compensate Fijian soldiers who suffered health impacts from radiation exposure.
The Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s primary political body, is amplifying these demands. In 2025, Forum leaders adopted a renewed declaration prioritizing nuclear justice within regional diplomacy. This nuclear justice move reflects a deepening recognition that nuclear issues cannot be addressed solely at the national level: they require coordinated regional action.
Survivor Voices and Community Demands
Survivors remain the heart of the Pacific’s nuclear justice movement, with their testimonies revealing the profound and ongoing human cost of nuclear testing. In May 2025, the Marshallese Islands documented elevated cancer rates and multigenerational radiation impacts. Many survivors described the psychological trauma of forced relocation and the cultural loss associated with the destruction of ancestral lands. Survivors emphasized that healthcare provision remains inadequate.
In French Polynesia, activists are documenting high cancer rates and genetic illnesses linked to French testing. Maohi activists are also exposing France for recruiting Polynesian workers to test site labour without adequate safety protections, leaving many workers and their families vulnerable to radiation exposures. In Kiribati, survivors of British nuclear testing face a double injustice: they are largely invisible in British political debates, and they lack sufficient support from their government. I-Kiribati, native inhabitants of Kiribati, survivors continue to experience stigma and marginalization, as the U.K. government and the global media ignore their demands for justice.
Fijian veterans who served during British nuclear tests on Kiribati Island in the 1950s and 60s have become increasingly outspoken about the long-term impacts of their exposure. At a 2025 parliamentary briefing on promoting multilateral solutions and human rights, Pacific representatives called on the UK government to formally recognize the harms experienced by those impacted by experiments in the 1950s and 60s and their descendants.
Speakers emphasized that these harms, such as radiation-related illnesses, are not historical footnotes but ongoing health crises still affecting families today. Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior voyage in 2025 provided a key platform for survivor voices, calling for independent assessments, land decontamination, and full community involvement in remediation processes. Survivors stressed that justice must centre their lived experiences and address continued impacts, including those on marine ecosystems and food security.
In the Pacific, environmental justice and nuclear justice are deeply intertwined. Contaminated soil, irradiated lagoons, and disrupted food chains have stripped communities of safe drinking water, traditional fishing practices, and agricultural self-sufficiency. The impact on marine ecosystems not only threatens biodiversity but also undermines food security and cultural sovereignty. Survivors emphasize that remediation must go beyond technical cleanup to restore safe access to land and sea, revive biodiversity, and support sustainable livelihoods. It must also respect Indigenous knowledge and ensure communities lead the process.
The Rise of Youth-Led Movements
Pacific youth activists have emerged as powerful voices, reframing nuclear justice as an intergenerational struggle. Across the region, young leaders are leveraging digital storytelling and international advocacy spaces to share survivor testimonies, confront colonial legacies, and demand recognition.
In March 2025, Pacific youth participated in global forums like TPNW discussions, emphasizing the intersection of nuclear injustice and climate vulnerability. These efforts underscore a shift in activism: demanding a transformation in how global institutions address harm, memory, and sovereignty in the Pacific.
Honouring the Past, Shaping a More Just World
The Pacific’s 2025 campaign for nuclear justice is not simply a diplomatic exercise or a legal battle; it is a human call from communities for recognition, accountability, and repair. Survivors and leaders are not passive victims; they are powerful voices on the international stage, declassifying archives and advocating for a place in global discussions on climate and human rights.
What makes this moment significant is not only the resurgence of advocacy but the transformation in its tone and purpose. Pacific leaders and survivors are no longer petitioning for inclusion—they are asserting their right to define the terms of nuclear justice. Their demands are grounded in lived history, intergenerational trauma, and a forward-looking vision that connects nuclear legacy to broader global structures of inequality.
In practical terms, reconciliation means more than recognition; it means repair. Legal recognition under international human rights frameworks would offer Pacific communities a basis for seeking redress. This includes access to healthcare that addresses radiation-linked illnesses, resources for environmental clean-up of atolls still contaminated with plutonium, and legal leverage to compel transparency from former colonial powers.
But even more profoundly, the legal recognition would return agency to communities long denied the right to define their own futures. Sovereign agency is not a rhetorical flourish; it is the foundation of any justice capable of lasting impact.
Edited by Emma Webb
