english.almayadeen.net Open in urlscan Pro
2606:4700:20::681a:f4  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET /search

<form action="/search" method="get" target="_self" class="navbar-search">
  <div class="search-field">
    <input type="text" name="q" class="navbar-search-field" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" placeholder="Search">
    <button class="navbar-search-btn" type="button">
      <i class="fa fa-search"></i>
    </button>
  </div>
  <a href="#" class="navbar-search-close"><i class="fa fa-times"></i></a>
</form>

Text Content

AL MAYADEEN ENGLISH

 * Ar
 * Es

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Slogan

 * News
   * Politics
   * Economy
   * Sports
   * Arts&Culture
   * Health
   * Miscellaneous
   * Technology
   * Environment
 * Articles
   * Opinion
   * Analysis
   * Blog
   * Features
 * Videos
   * NewsFeed
   * Video Features
   * Explainers
   * TV
   * Digital Series
 * Infographs
 * In Pictures

• LIVE

News
 * Politics
 * Economy
 * Sports
 * Arts&Culture
 * Health
 * Miscellaneous
 * Technology
 * Environment

Articles
 * Opinion
 * Analysis
 * Blog
 * Features

Videos
 * NewsFeed
 * Video Features
 * Explainers
 * TV
 * Digital Series

Infographs
In Pictures
 * Africa
 * Asia
 * Asia-Pacific
 * Europe
 * Latin America
 * MENA
 * Palestine
 * US & Canada

BREAKING
Mazloum Abdi: Our goal is a ceasefire in all Syrian territories and enter into a
political process for the future of the country.
Mazloum Abdi: Manbij Military Council fighters will be removed from the area as
soon as possible.
Commander of the "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF) Mazloum Abdi: We reached a
ceasefire agreement in Manbij with US mediation to preserve the safety of
civilians.
Haaretz: The IOF estimates 80% of the Syrian army's capabilities have been
destroyed and says it is preparing for a long stay in the "buffer zone".
Occupied Palestine: A series of raids and artillery shelling by the occupation
targets areas in Beit Lahia, the Beit Lahia project, and Jabalia camp, north of
the Gaza Strip.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: IOF blow up several houses in Beit Lahia, north of
the Gaza Strip.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: IOF artillery shelling, coinciding with the
launching of illumination bombs in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, north
of the Gaza Strip.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: IOF destroys a house in which 30 people,
including women and children, are present, in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan
Hospital, north of the Gaza Strip.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: Artillery shelling and heavy gunfire by the
occupation towards the Saftawi and Al-Karama areas northwest of Gaza City
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: 7 martyrs and several wounded and missing
after IOF aircraft bombed a house west of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza
Strip.




US NUCLEAR TESTS STILL IMPACT MARSHALL ISLANDS, OHCHR FINDS

 * By Al Mayadeen English
 * Source: Agencies
 * 4 Mar 2024 21:36
 * 3 Shares

7 Min Read

The Marshall Islands were under UN trusteeship from 1946 until 1958, and the US
conducted 67 known nuclear tests there.

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

The “Baker” explosion, a nuclear weapon test by the United States military, at
Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, on July 25, 1946. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Specialists from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) revealed Monday that the negative impact of US nuclear testing in
the Pacific Ocean between 1946 to 1958 is still visible until this very day on
the health of those living in the Marshall Islands and the latter's environment.

The US Government Accountability Office admitted in January that nuclear tests
conducted in the 1950s and 1960s contaminated Greenland, Spain, and the Marshall
Islands.

OHCHR experts stated that not only did the testing create "impairments for the
people who were exposed to nuclear radiation and waste at the time, with a
disproportionate impact on women and girls, but continues to negatively impact
the human rights of present and future generations."

The Marshall Islands were under UN trusteeship from 1946 until 1958, and the US
conducted 67 known nuclear tests there, according to experts.

The environmental and health consequences of the experiments in question
continue to violate the local population's rights to a clean, healthy, and
sustainable environment, as well as life, health, sustenance, water, shelter,
and cultural rights, according to the statement.

The statement detailed that international standards, as well as the Basic
Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, make it
necessary that guarantees of non-repetition should be invoked, "as well as
mechanisms for truth, accountability, and reparation for the legacy of human
rights violations that remain unaddressed."

March commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb
test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and March 5 is recognized as
International Day for Disarmament and Nonproliferation Awareness.

Back in September 2022, the Marshall Islands suspended major discussions with
the US over longstanding concerns, stretching back 70 years, pertaining to
nuclear testing on the atolls in the middle of the Pacific.

The Marshall Islands have refused to continue discussions unless Washington
addresses the persistent health, environmental, and economic difficulties caused
by US nuclear testing on the picturesque atolls from 1946 to 1958.


US DELAYED FUNDS PUTTING RELATIONS WITH PACIFIC NATIONS AT RISK

The president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, warned that
ties with the US are "gradually being destroyed by party politics" over
Congress' delays for the approval of crucial funding for the country, saying
that doing so opens a door for China to "influence" the region.

Heine is referring to the funding packages agreed on back in 2023 with the
Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) as part of
the Compacts of Free Association (Cofa) agreements in which the US provides
visa-free residential and employment rights, economic assistance and other
support to the three nations, in exchange for military access to large and
strategic areas of the Pacific.

In emails to The Guardian, Heine said, “Members of the Congress have to
understand that the funds that the US has agreed to provide … did not come
because of the generosity of the US government and its citizens, but rather
because of hard negotiations between the parties."

Some in the Pacific view Cofa as a test of the US commitment to the region,
which was first completed in the 1980s. Under the deal, renewed back in October,
the US agreed to supply the Marshall Islands with $2.3 billion over 20 years.


RELATED NEWS


US ELECTIONS; BEHIND THE SCENES: BILLIONAIRES, TECH-GIANTS AND FILMMAKERS


US CONGRESS ALLOCATES $7.1BLN TO RENEW PACIFIC MILITARY PRESENCE

That being said, the delay has impacted funding for health, education, and other
services in the Marshall Islands while seeming as though American support for
the region is waning. 

“Both parties had something to bring to the table, otherwise there would have
been no negotiations and no new compact,” Heine said, noting that Cofa nations
have often shown support for the US at the United Nations, as they are “the tip
of the spear of US defence in the Pacific and are its


'NOT LOOKING GOOD FOR THE US'

Earlier, a group of 48 bipartisan representatives argued that failure to ratify
Cofa would be “the most self-destructive gift the United States could give to
[China]," since, in the agreement, the US secures “vital defence rights in
strategically critical areas of the Pacific,” in addition to rights to
establishing bases, operational control, and the right to deny military access
by a third nation to an area of the western Pacific as large as the continental
US.

For example, the US Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense test site, located
in the Marshall Islands, is described as a “premier … test range for the
Department of Defence” and provides “tests of all missile classes and intercept
scenarios as well as space operations."

In another instant and another letter, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr.
reportedly sent a warning that the delay serves to benefit China and politicians
in Palau who are open to Chinese economic incentives to shift diplomatic
recognition of Taiwan to Beijing.

“Every day it is not approved plays into the hands of the [Chinese Communist
party] and the leaders here,” Whipps penned. The Marshall Islands and Palau are
two of the twelve countries that have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Heine added that the US funding delay is not a direct threat to the Marshall
Islands’ commitment to diplomatic relations with Taiwan, as she called the ties
“dynamic” and “one of mutual respect and understanding, rooted in our common
belief that democracy is the key to peace and security within and outside our
region.”

“The bedrock of our relationship is our shared commitment to democracy and the
rule of law... China has neither.”

Heine said the needs of the four atolls in the country, recognized as most
affected, “as well as the trauma and impacts from the American nuclear weapons
testing program, are far from being addressed."

The $700 million in the Cofa package assigned to the nuclear issue is “a step in
the right direction” but “does not absolve the legacy of pain and suffering,"
she expressed. 

A resident of the Marshall Islands and consultant for the people of Bikini, Jack
Niedenthal, stated that many people want an “acknowledgment and an apology” from
the US since funding delays affect government services and make the US “appear
as if they don’t care."

“It is not a good look for the US in this region.”


US PACIFIC H-BOMB TESTS LEAVE BEHIND HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT PERILS TRAIL

US Presidential Envoy Joseph Yun stated in July last year that the US  maintains
a moral obligation to support health care, clean-up efforts, and environmental
restoration in the Central Pacific islands. These islands were the site of over
67 nuclear tests carried out by the US after World War II, lasting until the
late 1950s.

Yun acknowledged that radiation and damages from the tests still persist,
leading to lingering health effects. He believes that the US also bears legal
responsibility for its actions during that period.

"Radiation, I believe, is still there. Damages, I believe, are still there. And
I believe there are lingering health effects too. I also believe we have a legal
responsibility as well for what we did," he said.

Currently, discussions are underway to negotiate US compensation for the health
problems and environmental damage caused by these nuclear tests as part of the
ongoing compact talks with the Marshall Islands. The tests, which took place
between 1946 and 1958, included numerous powerful thermonuclear explosions in
places like Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll. The radioactive fallout from these
tests affected the entire island chain in the Central Pacific region.

 * United States
 * Marshall Islands
 * Nuclear Test
 * nuclear testing
 * Pacific Ocean




MOST READ


'TARGET IS DAMASCUS,' ERDOGAN HOPES 'SMOOTH MARCH' ON SYRIA'S CAPITAL

 * Politics
 * 6 Dec 2024


ISRAELI TANKS ADVANCE TO DAMASCUS COUNTRYSIDE AS STRIKES CONTINUE

 * Politics
 * 10 Dec 2024


SYRIA ARMY REDEPLOYS IN DARAA, SWEIDA, REGAINING CONTROL IN HOMS, HAMA

 * MENA
 * 7 Dec 2024


MILITANTS ENTER DAMASCUS, PM SAYS READY FOR TURNOVER PROCESS

 * Politics
 * 8 Dec 2024


COVERAGE

All



READ NEXT

All
MENA


WE DEMAND GENERAL AMNESTY, RETURN OF DISPLACED: ALAWITE SECT IN SYRIA

Politics


TURKIYE DEFINES NEW PRIORITIES FOR SYRIA POLICY, BACKS NEW REGIME

Politics


SYRIAN NEW GOV FORCES ANNOUNCE CONTROL OF MANBIJ, NORTHEAST OF ALEPPO

MENA


TEHRAN ESTABLISHES CHANNELS TO COMMUNICATE WITH SYRIAN GROUPS: REUTERS



Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

 * Privacy Policy
 * About Us
 * Contact Us
 * Authors





✖
Accept Using Cookies More Info cookie script