The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favor of an independent scientific panel to report on the physical and societal consequences of nuclear war, the first such study in more than three decades.
The resolution’s backers say research into the catastrophic consequences of nuclear conflict needs to be urgently updated and expanded, especially at a time of heightened geopolitical tension and escalating nuclear rhetoric.
The legacy of nuclear testing is still being felt across the Pacific, notably in Micronesia but particularly in Marshall Islands, and also in French Polynesia. Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa and Tonga were all sponsors of the resolution, which was led by New Zealand and Ireland.
The world body’s First Committee on Disarmament on Friday approved the resolution sponsored by 20 nations, by a vote of 144 to 3, with 30 abstentions.
Only the nuclear-armed states of Russia, the United Kingdom and France were opposed, the United States, India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan abstained, while China supported the resolution.
Fiji’s permanent representative to the U.N. Filipo Tarakinikini said it was important people understood the “unprecedented devastation” of nuclear weapons.
“The generations that lived and know the reality of the Second World War are gone,” Tarakinikini told RFA affiliate BenarNews, explaining why his country was an early supporter. “We need to awaken people of the world to the real horrors of a nuclear war.
“Such a clear picture of the extent of devastation in a nuclear war should sensitize people … and hopefully catalyze efforts towards the implementation of treaties against nuclear weapons.”
The resolution called for the creation of an expert panel, consisting of 21 members, to examine the physical effects and societal consequences of a nuclear war at a local, regional and planetary scale. The panel will study the effects on the climate, environment, agriculture, public health and socioeconomic systems.
The last U.N. mandated study on the effects of nuclear war was published in 1988, with a focus on climate change. At the time of its release, France was the only power still testing in the Pacific and detonated a further 29 nuclear devices until 1996.
In September, a report delivered to the U.N. Human Rights Council laid out an array of ongoing challenges to human rights stemming from U.S. nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, a collection of 29 atolls and five isolated islands in the North Pacific Ocean.
The legacy of 67 detonations between 1946 to 1958 include obstacles to health, a clean and sustainable environment, adequate housing and indigenous rights. Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said the testing had left behind “deep scars” in her country.
The Micronesian nation was elected last month to sit on the United Nations Human Rights Council from 2025, with climate change and nuclear justice as its top priorities.
Although it is accepted that hundreds of millions of people would die in an all-out nuclear war, scientists say the true toll on humanity and the environment is unclear because of gaps in research.
This year, the national science academies of the G7 countries issued a statement saying “in the context of the current global instability, it is imperative to highlight the known consequences of nuclear warfare.”
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock this year to 90 seconds to midnight – the hypothetical point of annihilation – due in large part to Russian threats to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine.
While there are far fewer nuclear warheads today than at their peak in 1986, more countries have the weapons in their arsenal and local stockpiles are once again growing.
Nine countries – Russia, the United States, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea – possessed roughly 12,121 warheads as of early-2024, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Nine Pacific island nations represented at the U.N. along with New Zealand and Australia ratified the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty – also known as Rarotonga Treaty – in 1986 to ban the use, testing and possession of nuclear weapons in the region. Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau have not signed but are eligible to join.
The final report of the U.N. panel will be delivered at the General Assembly’s eighty-second session in 2027.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.