Marshall Islands sues nine nuclear states over disarmament failure

The tiny Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands is taking on the United States and the world’s eight other nuclear-armed nations with an unprecedented lawsuit demanding that they meet their obligations toward disarmament and accusing them of “flagrant violations” of international law.

The island group that was used for dozens of US nuclear tests after the Second World War was filing suit yesterday against each of the nine countries in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. It also was filing a federal lawsuit against the United States in San Francisco, naming President Barack Obama, the departments and secretaries of defense and energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The Marshall Islands claims the nine countries are modernising their nuclear arsenals instead of negotiating disarmament, and it estimates that they will spend $1 trillion (€723bn) on those arsenals over the next decade.