Fiji NGOs oppose Japan's plan to dump nuke wastewater into Pacific Ocean

SUVA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan's proposed action to dump radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean is a violation of the human rights of all people of the Pacific, said the Fiji Non-government organization (NGO) Coalition on Human Rights in a recent statement.

"Despite this nuclear waste dumping being deemed safe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the magnitude of the threat is massive to humans and marine life and the livelihood of millions of Asia and Pacific people who depend so much on our ocean resources, and with consequences for the global food system," the coalition stated.

Calling the report from IAEA "highly-politicized," the statement said it's "not an adequately independent assessment of the Fukushima plan."

The NGOs called on Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and development institutions and all Pacific people to exercise all international legal means possible to stop "this massive ecological injustice."

The coalition stands in solidarity with all other organizations and social movements calling for an immediate end to the Japanese dumping plan that directly violates the Rarotonga Treaty declaring the South Pacific as a nuclear-free zone, the statement said.

It added that the dumping plan also contradicts Japan's own obligation under the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea, directly violating Articles 192 and 195 and nearly all the articles in Part 12 which addresses the protection and preservation of the marine environment.

"We must make a stand and demand for redress by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea," the coalition said.

The NGOs also appealed to their Pacific neighbours to stand with them, urged the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to listen to their plight, and called on the support of other countries to demand an urgent UNGA resolution at the next General Assembly to stop this errant plan.

"This is the time for firm national and regional stances of Pacific governments, including our own in Fiji and on behalf of our people, to stop Japan from dumping Fukushima nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean," the Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights said.

According to media reports, Japan is considering discharging Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea in late August or early September.