The Marshall Islands marked Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on Monday.
In her keynote address, President Hilda Heine noted that the first nuclear tests in the Marshalls took place 80 years ago, in 1946.
The tests continued until 1958.
She described a time when the peaceful Marshall Islands became a testing ground for weapons of unimaginable destruction.
The tests took place when the islands were part of the United Nations Trust Territory.
The trusteeship had pledged to safeguard the life, liberty and general well-being of the Marshallese people.
Heine said the use of the islands to test nuclear weapons was a monumental failure with lasting human rights consequences.
She also said that although “the detonations have fallen silent, the echo of anguish, grief, and frustration continues to resonate, fueled by the remnants that remain on our lands, water and within our bloodlines.”
“Many lives were irreversibly shattered by decisions that were made far beyond our shores, and even further beyond our control, imposed upon us by global political forces and the drive to test the destructive power of nuclear weapons,” Heine said.
Pacific Islands Forum Deputy Secretary General Esala Nayasi attended the commemoration and delivered the special remarks on behalf of the Secretary General.
Nayasi paid tribute to the victims and survivors of nuclear testing and reaffirmed the Forum’s unwavering solidarity with the Marshallese people.
He also highlighted the region’s enduring commitment to a nuclear-free Blue Pacific.
