The World Council of Churches shared insights connected to Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day during an event in February.
The World Council of Churches is an ecumenical partner supported by the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund apportionment, which enables United Methodists to share a presence and a voice in the activities of several national and worldwide ecumenical organizations.
The Permanent Mission of the Marshall Islands in Geneva, the World Council of Churches (WCC), and the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation organised a special commemoration under the theme “Unite and Work Collaboratively”at Maison de la Paix in Geneva.
On 1 March 1954, the Castle Bravo nuclear test was conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll. This was the most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested by the US, with an explosion 1,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb, causing displacement, radiation-related illnesses, and environmental devastation.
Each year, the Marshall Islands observes Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on 1 March, honouring those affected by the US nuclear testing program that took place in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958.
The gathering on 28 February brought together ambassadors, permanent mission representatives, UN agencies, and nongovernmental organizations of Geneva for a powerful moment of reflection and commitment, to honour victims and survivors and to call for accountability, justice and the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, praised the government of the Marshall Islands for keeping the memory of the nuclear testing victims and survivors alive, and pursuing accountability and justice - including by bringing the issue to the UN Human Rights Council. He encouraged the Marshall Islands government to continue this leadership by ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The event not only served as a tribute to those who have suffered but also as an urgent call to action. “This year’s annual observance not only commemorates the victims and survivors of the testing programmes of the past”, said Prove. “It also highlights the continuing and ongoing impacts of the nuclear testing legacy, and serves as a warning of the terrible risks entailed in the current headlong rush to nuclear rearmament and confrontation.”
World Council of Churches website
One of seven apportioned giving opportunities of The United Methodist Church, the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund enables United Methodists to share a presence and a voice in the activities of several national and worldwide ecumenical organizations. Please encourage your leaders and congregations to support the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund apportionment at 100 percent.
