AUKUS threatens Pacific trust, Greenpeace warns

It has been almost a century since the United States detonated the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb on Bikini Atoll but the people of the Marshall Islands are still living with its consequences.

Shiva Gounden, Greenpeace’s Head of Pacific, says despite the scale of the nuclear tests, much of the world remains unaware of the full extent of the damage.

“We weren't taught about the nuclear testing that was done on Marshall Islands in Fiji, when I was schooling as well,” Gounden says.

“So, it's not surprising the world doesn't know what actually happened 71 years ago and the continued effects and impacts on the Marshallese community since then.”

On March 1, 1954, the US Military detonated the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb on Bikini Atoll, just over 800km from the Marshall Islands’ capital, Majuro.

The explosion was 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

Gounden, who’s currently in the Marshall Islands, says while the radioactive fallout from that explosion settled on the atolls decades ago, its effects are still felt today.

“The health impacts that people go through in terms of the rates of cancer, the non- communicable diseases, they've had to change their whole diet patterns.

“They used to eat taro, breadfruit, plants that were suited to the environment of the Marshall Islands, but now they have to eat processed food, canned food, and that has resulted in high rates of non communicable diseases, diabetes as well.”

The purpose Operation Crossroads (pictured) was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on warships. Photo/US Army Photographic Signal Corps

He points out the relocation of Marshallese people due to the nuclear impacts which results in the loss of culture and language.

“These are the things that you see when you are in Majuro. You can clearly see the intergenerational impact that the nuclear legacy has left beyond just the radiation levels in the atmosphere.”

The US has yet to acknowledge the full extent of their nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.

While a Compact of Free Association (COFA) agreement provides the Marshall Islands with $150 million in assistance, Gounden says it falls far short of what is needed.

“They've never apologised for what they did. They have made many presentations during the remembrance days in Marshallese waters and Marshallese land, but they've never actually apologised for the testing they did.”

He argues the agreement has been structured in a way that legally binds the Marshallese to limited compensation, despite the billions of dollars in damages they have endured.

Shiva Gounden, head of Greenpeace Pacific. Photo/Greenpeace Australia

“The 150 million, they have tied the Marshall Islands Government to this agreement where legally they [the US] are so equipped with all the lawyers to counter any type of Marshallese push for even more reparations.

“The Marshallese Government and the communities are depending on independent science to be able to push for a change of that circumstance by putting a petition to the US Government to say that this is not enough - what we are receiving for the activities that you conducted on our lands and the consequences we've had to face.”

He says despite the change of government, every US administration has failed to address the nuclear testing.

“The new Trump Government also stated they want to pull out aid funding from the Pacific region through USAID. That has created a lot of anxiety for the Marshallese people.”

Heightened anxiety around Trump’s immigration policies persist among Marshall Islands residents.

Last year, Deputy PM, Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters led a delegation to Micronesia which included the Marshall Islands. He is pictured here with Marshall Islands President, Hilda Heine. Photo/PMN News/Ala Vailala

Despite not having US citizenship, Marshallese people have a special legal status under the COFA.

This agreement allows Marshallese citizens to live, work, and study in the US without a visa, but they are not granted US citizenship or automatic permanent residency.

“There was this tightening of immigration elements of their policy, a lot of people in Marshall Islands were confused.

“What does it mean for them to be able to go to the mainland of the US and be able to pretty much live their life because that's their right under that agreement.”

Despite the concerns, Gounden says the Government has been clear not much is impacted by the new policies.

Preliminary data from the Marshall Islands census revelead the population sits at 39,262 which has declined from 2011 census findings of 53,158. Photo/Ala Vailala

Greenpeace returns to the Marshall Islands

To support the Marshallese Government’s ongoing legal battle for reparations, Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior is conducting independent scientific research on the long-term environmental and health impacts of the nuclear tests.

The mission aims to collect data from affected atolls, measuring radiation levels and assessing the impact on local ecosystems.

Gounden notes much of the existing research in the Marshall Islands has been conducted or funded by the US, leaving communities with little trust in the findings.

“Right now, there's not enough trust in the US scientific studies. So the Marshallese just want independent data, independent samples to make decisions on the living conditions of the future generations and themselves as well.

“Can they return back home or can’t they, for many more generations. These are the answers they're looking for and we hope to assist in some way or some form.

Watch the VICE News documentary 'How US Nuclear Testing Continues to Haunt the Marshall Islands'.

“Hopefully it also helps in the change of circumstances petition they want to put to the US Government.”

The legacy of the nuclear tests has new threats.

“Regarding climate change and nuclear injustice in the Marshall Islands, you just have to go to the Runit Dome in Enewetak Atoll.

“This is where the US Government shoved the nuclear waste from the ground.”

The Atoll is one of the ground zero communities where 47 known bombs were detonated. Waste from the bombs is stored in the Runit Dome, a concrete structure which has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean due to rising sea levels.

Watch as the Rainbow Warrior's Rongelap voyage leaves strong activism legacy.

Growing regional tensions and the AUKUS dilemma

AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom with a focus on strategic defence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Part of the pact includes plans to introduce nuclear-powered submarines into the region.

Although Aotearoa New Zealand is yet to confirm joining the partnership, Gounden says many Pacific leaders remain wary, given the region’s painful history with nuclear weapons.

“It questions a lot of the relationships and it's both Australia and New Zealand.

Runit Dome: From 1977 to 1980, loose waste and topsoil from six different islands in the Enewetak Atoll was transported to the site and mixed with concrete to seal the nuclear blast crater created by the Cactus test. Photo/US Defense Special Weapons Agency

“They are still part of the Pacific family, because they're part of the Pacific Islands Forum.

“The Pacific have seen them as big brother, big sister, they're still part of that family.”

Despite not receiving an invite to join AUKUS, declassified documents reveal officials deliberately frame New Zealand’s involvement as "non-nuclear" to maintain the country’s anti-nuclear stance.

Former Defence Minister, Andrew Little, said in March 2023 the Labour Government had indicated it was “willing to explore” joining AUKUS as an associate, through what is called pillar two.

Watch International Relations Expert Robert Patman discuss growing tensions in the Pacific and why the AUKUS security pact is so controversial for Pacific Island nations.

Pillar two, involves the sharing of advanced technologies such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons.

Gounden warns New Zealand doing so could damage trust between its Pacific neighbors.

“A lot of relationships that were already built to improve the Australia, New Zealand relationship with the Pacific will be questioned by its leaders.

“But it's not just Pacific leaders, the Pacific civil society, the Pacific community will because they also are some of the products of the inter-generational trauma and injustice caused by the nuclear legacy.”

Pacific leaders during the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Retreat in Vava'u Tonga. Photo/PIF