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11/13/2025 - At the 2025 Moruroa e Tātou Nuclear Justice and Climate Justice Week conference in Moorea, Māòhi Nui, (French Polynesia), Marshallese Educational Initiative Executive Director Benetick Kabua Maddison called for the full, unredacted release of millions of documents related to American nuclear testing in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Maddison was one of the featured speakers at conference, which included presenters from across the Pacific.
“For the Marshall Islands, we expect the United States to take full responsibility by releasing all the classified documents related to the nuclear testing program before it can officially apologize for its wrongdoings and provide adequate support for victims’ assistance and environmental remediation,” Maddison told some dozens of conference attendees at the Māòhi Protestant Church grounds, where the conference was held in Moorea. Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. conducted 67 nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, on land, underwater and in the air. Marshallese people were forcibly relocated during this time and are still reckoning with the devastating effects today, Maddison said.
“There’s no closure without full disclosure,” Maddison said, adding that in a report submitted to United Nations Human Rights Council, it was revealed the U.S. had some 60 million to 80 million documents related to the Marshall Island nuclear testing program. “We don’t have these documents in our possession, and we’re demanding that the U.S. give this information to us without redaction.”
Maddison’s presentation focused on the ongoing legacy of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, and it proved to be a prescient speech — delivered just a day ahead of President Donald Trump’s remarks about the U.S. restarting nuclear weapons testing.
“The recent announcement by Donald Trump is disappointing, and it’s an outrageous idea to resume nuclear testing considering everything that communities that are directly impacted by nuclear weapons use or testing are still dealing with,” Maddison’s said in a Moruroa e Tātou video, released immediately following Trump’s comments. “Whether that’s the intergenerational health issues or the environmental impact … or the impact nuclear weapons have on our culture.”
In his presentation, Maddison said the truth is that all the money in the world cannot reverse the damage done by nuclear weapons testing.
“It will not bring back the islands that were obliterated or turned into ashes or the loved ones we have lost due to nuclear-related illnesses,” Maddison said. “Justice is not just financial. It is the right to reclaim our land, health, and cultural sovereignty. The experiences of my people illuminate why these weapons of mass destruction must be destroyed and why the idea that nuclear weapons ensure our safety is a fairy tale.”
The people of the Marshall Islands were not the only ones who suffered from the U.S.’s nuclear weapons testing. Maddison recalled for conference attendees the 1954 Castle Bravo test that the U.S. conducted, a powerful test that resulted in widespread radioactive fallout across the world.
“Traces of the fallout reached as far as Sri Lanka, Australia, and Europe, to name a few. And In Japan, 20,000 fishermen were exposed, making the incident a significant case of acute radiation exposure,” he said.
When the U.S. was conducting nuclear weapons testing in RMI, Guam received radioactive debris from fallout, and the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors has long since been advocating for Guam radiation survivors.
Speakers at the conference made it clear the nuclear tests done in the Marshall Islands, Māòhi Nui, and Kiribati were not disasters exclusive to those island nations, and the substantial effects extended across the Pacific and the globe.
Moruroa e Tātou, the anti-nuclear nongovernmental organization based in Māòhi Nui that put together the weeklong conference, included presenters from difference sectors — academics, scientists, government officials, nonprofit organizers, and more — to raise awareness about the devastation of nuclear weapons and climate change and to fight for a nuclear-free future and fight for climate justice.
Among the presenters from Māòhi Nui was Hinamoeura Morgant-Cross, elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia. She was diagnosed with leukemia. She also called for restoration of truth about the archives, contaminated areas, and actual impacts. Morgant-Cross noted that it was important for people to decolonize their minds and spoke of the importance of giving a voice to people to break their silence on the consequences of the French government’s nuclear testing in Māòhi Nui. France conducted 193 nuclear tests in Māòhi Nui between 1966 and 1996.
Rev. Aratibin Mikaere spoke on the nuclear testing the British and American governments conducted in Kiritimati and Malden in Kiribati in the 1950s and 1960s. Mikaere said at the conference that the nuclear testing negatively affected the environment. For Pacific people, their environment is deeply linked to their identity and their heritage, which compounds the damage done by nuclear weapons testing. Nuclear testing impacts extend beyond the individual, Mikaere said.
Meanwhile, the Marshall Islands is currently seeking nuclear justice at the international level through the UN HRC, Maddison said. The HRC unanimously voted in a 2022 resolution to assess and address the ongoing impacts of nuclear testing on Marshallese human rights, inclusive of Indigenous rights, housing, health, and other fundamental rights, Maddison said.
Maddison urged nuclear justice and climate change-related organizations that seek to support these efforts to submit statements to the HRC ahead of a report expected next year. Other organizations across the world have already submitted statements, and the deadline to submit is January
“I believe these efforts by the Marshall Islands at the Human Rights Council can serve as a framework or an example for other nuclear front-line communities seeking nuclear justice,” Maddison said at the Moruroa e Tātou conference. “We are more than victims. We are agents of change.”
Story by Jasmine Stole Weiss, For Marianas Press
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