Seventy years after first UK atom bomb, time to right this ‘criminal wrong’, says NFLA
Posted: 10th July 2022
Nuclear Free Local Authorities UK/Ireland media release, 6 July 2022
As the international community and civil society marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons tomorrow (7 July), the Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to the Prime Minister and Minister for Veterans Affairs calling for urgent recognition and compensation for Britain’s atom and nuclear bomb test veterans.
On 3 October 1952, Britain tested its first atom bomb at the Montebello Islands, North West Australia. From 1952 to 1991, 45 UK atomic and nuclear bomb tests were carried out in Australia, in the Pacific, and latterly in Nevada. Over 22,000 British armed services personnel, merchant navy sailors and scientists participated in these tests, some involuntarily.
From 1952 until 1965, tests were atmospheric, exposing thousands of these participants to radiation. Subsequently, many veterans have had lowered life expectancy or suffered chronic ill-health, whilst children fathered by veterans have sadly been born with physical deformities or appalling congenital conditions.
For seven decades, veterans, their partners and families have been denied recognition of their service and compensation for their suffering. Now finally, in recent weeks, representatives from the nuclear test veteran community have met with both ministers following a request from Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey, and the NFLA has written to the government seeking urgent action.
The Chair of the NFLA, Councillor David Blackburn said:
‘The NFLA believe the time for action to right this criminal injustice against Britain’s test veterans who faithfully served this country and faced an ‘invisible radioactive enemy’ is long past for the average age of veterans is now well over 80.
‘In my letter, I have urged the Prime Minister and Minister for Veteran Affairs not to waste a single further moment before immediately awarding these veterans a bespoke service medal and a belated financial compensation package for their suffering. We also wish to see local government properly funded so can proper support local veterans and their families.’
The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered international law in January 2021, includes Article VI which commits signatory states to provide ‘victim assistance’ to nuclear bomb test veterans. Although 66 nation states, including those which were the involuntary locations for previous bomb tests, have become signatories to the treaty, the NFLA regrets that the UK and other nuclear weapon testing nations have so far failed to engage with it.
For more information, please contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email on [email protected] or mobile 07583097793
This media release can also be found on the NFLA website at https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/seventy-years-after-first-uk-atom-bomb-time-to-right-this-criminal-wrong-says-nfla/
Ends://…
Notes to Editors
The letter sent to the Prime Minister and Minister reads:
The Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP,
Prime Minister
The Hon. Leo Doherty MP,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
(Minister for Defence People and Veterans)
[email protected] 5 July 2022
Recognition and Compensation for Britain’s atomic and nuclear test veterans
Dear Prime Minister and Minister,
On 3 October 2022, we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb test conducted by the United Kingdom in the Montebello Islands in North-West Australia.
From 1952 until 1991, the United Kingdom conducted 45 atomic and nuclear weapons tests in Australia, in the Pacific and in the United States; the last test being conducted in Nevada as late as 26 November 1991.
From 1952 until 1956, testing was of various atomic bombs, but from 1957 the UK acquired the much more powerful thermonuclear hydrogen bomb.
Most of the tests occurred between 1952 and 1965, when the atmospheric test ban treaty entered into force.
During this time, over 22,000 British personnel from the armed services and the merchant navy, as well as civilian scientists and technicians, took part both in preparing for the blasts but also in the subsequent clean-up operations. The participation of some was involuntary.
Many of these participants were exposed to radiation. This exposure has impacted their lives, and those of their partners and family members, with many suffering an early death or serious ill-health, or having seen their children born with physical deformities or appalling congenital conditions.
Only around 3,000 veterans remain alive and the majority are now aged over 80.
After the passage of almost seven decades, these veterans and their families still await recognition for their service and compensation for their suffering, marginalisation, and neglect, and this recognition and compensation is now long overdue.
In other nuclear weapon armed states, recognition and compensation has been awarded for such veterans, for example, in the United States.
Prime Minister and Minister, I commend you for acceding to a request from Rebecca Long-Bailey MP to meet recently with veterans and for allowing veterans’ representatives to meet with officials from the Veterans Affairs Department.
The time for action to right this criminal wrong against the veterans who faithfully served this country and faced an ‘invisible radioactive enemy’ is long past.
As Chair of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities, a coalition of local authorities that has amongst its concerns the welfare of our atomic and nuclear test veterans and their dependents, I would urge you to waste not a single further moment before immediately awarding these veterans a bespoke service medal and a belated financial compensation package for their suffering.
I would also urge you to ensure that the needs of this overlooked group when met by local authorities are fully funded by central government and that local councils are encouraged to revisit their Armed Forces Covenants to ensure atomic and nuclear test veterans are recognised.
It such provision is right for the atomic and nuclear veterans of the United States, it is only right for our British veterans too.
Thank you for considering this letter and our appeal. Please direct any replies to the NFLA Secretary, Richard Outram, by email to [email protected].
Yours sincerely,
Councillor David Blackburn,
Chair of the NFLA Steering Committee
The wording of Article VI, Part 1 of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Article 6 – Victim assistance and environmental remediation 1. Each State Party shall, with respect to individuals under its jurisdiction who are affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons, in accordance with applicable international humanitarian and human rights law, adequately provide age and gender-sensitive assistance, without discrimination, including medical care, rehabilitation and psychological support, as well as provide for their social and economic inclusion.