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The Republic of the Marshall Islands is suing the nine countries with nuclear weapons at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, arguing they have violated their legal obligation to disarm.
The Marshalls is suing the five `established’ nuclear weapons states recognised in the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) the US, Russia, which inherited the Soviet arsenal, China, France and the UK.
It is also suing three countries outside the NPT who have declared nuclear arsenals, India, Pakistan and North Korea, and the one undeclared nuclear weapons state, Israel.
The Guardian reports that in the unprecedented legal action, the Marshall Islands accuses the nuclear weapons states of a “flagrant denial of human justice”.
It argues it is justified in taking the action because of the harm it suffered as a result of the nuclear arms race.
The Pacific chain of islands, including Bikini Atoll and Enewetak, was the site of 67 nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958, including the ‘Bravo shot’, a 15-megaton device equivalent to a thousand Hiroshima blasts, detonated in 1954.
The Marshallese islanders say they have been suffering serious health and environmental effects ever since.
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