SYDNEY/MAJURO, MARSHALL ISLANDS, Saturday 1 March 2025 — 71 years since the most powerful nuclear weapons tests ever conducted were unleashed across the Marshall Islands by the United States, Greenpeace calls for the US government to comply with Marshallese demands for nuclear justice.
On 1 March 1954, the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb was detonated on Bikini Atoll — an explosion 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. 150 kilometers on Rongelap Atoll, radioactive fallout rained down with children mistaking it for snow.
Today, communities continue to endure the physical, economic, and cultural fallout of the nuclear tests — compensation from the US has fallen far short of expectations for the Marshallese people, who are yet to receive an apology, and the accelerating impacts of the climate crisis threatens further displacement of communities.
Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “The Marshall Islands bears the deepest scars of a dark legacy — nuclear contamination, forced displacement, and premeditated human experimentation at the hands of the U.S. government. To this day, its people continue to grapple with this injustice, all while standing on the frontlines of the climate crisis — facing yet another wave of displacement and devastation for a catastrophe they did not create
“But the Marshallese people and their government are not just survivors — they are warriors for justice, among the most powerful voices demanding bold action, accountability, and reparations on the global stage. Those who have inflicted unimaginable harm on the Marshallese must be held to account and made to pay for the devastation they caused. Greenpeace stands unwaveringly beside Marshallese communities in their fight for justice. Jimwe im Maron.”
Greenpeace flagship vessel the Rainbow Warrior III will arrive in the Marshall Islands in early March to reaffirm its solidarity with the Marshallese people. A scientific mission led by Greenpeace will undertake much-needed independent research across the country, to support the National Nuclear Commission and Marshallese government in their ongoing legal proceedings with the US and at the UN.
The trip also marks 40 years since Greenpeace’s iconic Rainbow Warrior I evacuated the people of Rongelap after toxic nuclear fallout rendered their ancestral lands uninhabitable. The ship was bombed months later in Auckland harbour.
Ariana Tibon Kilma, Chairperson at Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission, said: “The immediate effects of the Bravo bomb on March 1 were harrowing. Hours after exposure, many people fell ill — skin peeling off, burning sensation in their eyes, their stomachs were churning in pain. Mothers watched as their children’s hair fell to the ground and blisters devoured their bodies overnight.”
“Without their consent, the United States government enrolled them as ‘test subjects’ in a top secret medical study on the effects of radiation on human beings — a study that continued for 40 years. Today on Remembrance Day the trauma of Bravo continues for the remaining survivors and their descendents — this is a legacy not only of suffering, loss, and frustration, but also of strength, unity, and unwavering commitment to justice, truth and accountability.”
Members of the Greenpeace Australia Pacific team will be on board the Rainbow Warrior, expected to arrive in Majuro, Marshall Islands on March 11.
—ENDS—
Archival footage and images from the evacuation that Greenpeace conducted in 1985 is available here
Archival footage and images from the US nuclear weapons testing collected here
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
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