THE HAGUE: The United Nations’ (UN) highest court on Wednesday narrowly threw out landmark cases brought by the tiny Marshall Islands against Pakistan, Britain and India for allegedly failing to halt the nuclear arms race.
In majority and sharply divided decisions, a 16-judge bench at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled there was no evidence that Majuro had a prior dispute with any of the three nuclear giants or had sought negotiations on the issue.
“The court upholds the objection to jurisdiction” raised by each of the countries, presiding judge Ronny Abraham said in separate rulings, and therefore the tribunal “cannot proceed to the merits of the case”.
The Pacific island nation, with a population of 55,000, was ground zero for a string of devastating nuclear tests on its pristine atolls between 1946-58, carried out by the US, as the Cold War arms race gathered pace.
After the hearings, the Marshalls said it will now “study the ruling” which is final and without appeal.
“Obviously it’s very disappointing,” Marshall Islands lawyer Phon van den Biesen told reporters.
“It’s a dispute that is clear to all of the world except for the judges here,” he said, outside the courtroom in the ICJ’s historic headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague.
Initially in 2014, Majuro had accused nine countries of failing to comply with the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which seeks to inhibit the spread of atomic bombs.
But the ICJ refused to take up cases against the other countries – China, France, Israel, North Korea, Russia and the United States – as they have not recognised the court’s jurisdiction. The Marshall Islands argued that by not stopping the nuclear arms race, Pakistan, Britain and India had breached obligations under the treaty – even if New Delhi and Islamabad have not signed it.
At a poignant March hearing, Majuro’s lawyers painted a vivid picture of the horrors caused by 67 nuclear tests were carried out on the Bikini and Enewetak atolls.
“Several islands in my country were vaporised and others are estimated to remain uninhabitable for thousands of years,” Tony deBrum, a former Marshall Islands foreign minister, told the court.
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