Nominated for Nobel peace award

HAGATNA – Former Marshall Islands foreign Minister Tony de Brum has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The Oslo-based International Peace Bureau has nominated de Brum and the republic’s legal team for their “courageous step” in filing lawsuits against the world’s nine nuclear powers.

Under de Brum’s leadership, the republic sued the states for failing to comply with their obligations under international law seeking the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Tony de Brum was one of the four winners of last year’s Right Livelihood Award, also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. The people of the Marshall Islands were joint recipients.

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) is dedicated to the vision of a World Without War.

The IPB, in its nomination papers, says:

“On April 24, 2014, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) filed landmark lawsuits against the nine nuclear-armed nations for failing to comply with their obligations under international law to pursue negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons.

“As the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation underlines: ‘The Republic of the Marshall Islands acts for the 7 billion of us who live on this planet to end the nuclear weapons threat hanging over all humanity. Everyone has a stake in this’.

“The RMI has made a courageous step in challenging nine of the world’s most powerful states at the International Court of Justice.

“The tiny Pacific nation has launched a parallel court case against the USA at the Federal District Court.

“RMI argues that the nuclear-weapons-possessing countries have breached their obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and customary international law by continuing to modernise their arsenals and by failing to pursue negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament.

“The Marshall Islands were used by the United States as testing ground for nearly 70 nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958.

“These tests gave rise to lasting health and environmental problems for the Marshall Islanders.

“Their firsthand experience of nuclear devastation and personal suffering gives legitimacy to their action and makes it especially difficult to dismiss.

“The Marshall Islands are presently working hard on the court cases. Hearings on preliminary issues in the International Court of Justice will take place in March 2016, and an appellate hearing in the case in the US court will take place in 2016 or possibly 2017.

“The award of the Nobel Peace Prize would do much to draw public attention to this extremely important initiative and to help ensure a successful outcome.”

- Marianas Variety