REMARKS: Secretary General Baron Divavesi Waqa, at Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day Commemoration Event

The People and Community in Fiji of the Republic of the Marshall Islands,
The President and Members of the Marshall Islands Student Association,
Your Excellency Ambassador Junior Aini,
Distinguished Guests, Students, Friends, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

•    Bula Vinaka and a special Iakwe and greetings to you all. I thank you for the invitation to mark this important day.

•    It is an honour to join you today as we gather in Suva to commemorate Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day. Although this day is observed in the Marshall Islands each year on 1 March, your commitment and leadership, including from the Marshall Islands Students Association to this annual event held here at the University of the South Pacific demonstrates something powerful: remembrance is shared across our Blue Pacific, across our communities, and across generations.

•    This year’s theme, “Ain Jitbon Mar: Spiritual Calling from Our Islands,” speaks to the deep cultural and spiritual ties we hold with our islands and oceans. It is a call to honour the voices of survivors whose courage continues to guide our region’s pursuit of truth, justice, action and peace.

•    As you all know, more than 300 nuclear tests were conducted across the Pacific. Their impacts, on the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Kiribati and others, remain with us today. These are not distant historical events; they are lived realities that continue to shape families, ecosystems, and identities today.

•    This is why the Forum is supporting efforts, such as the upcoming preliminary independent study on nuclear contamination across the Pacific, including at the Runit Dome site, to ensure that our region has credible, science based assessments of environmental and human health risks that continue to affect our people every day.

•    This work is essential to strengthening regional advocacy, informing global discussions, and ensuring that Pacific peoples have access to the truth. It also reinforces a core principle: that those affected deserve transparency, accountability, and meaningful action.

•    Our Forum Leaders have long championed a nuclear-free region through the Rarotonga Treaty, reaffirmed in our Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration. This time last year, we welcomed Marshall Islands signing the Rarotonga Treaty, an important moment of profound regional significance.

•    As global nuclear tensions rise, the Pacific’s voice is more important than ever. The upcoming 11th Review Conference of the State Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the NPT, in April will be another critical opportunity to ensure that the lived realities of Pacific peoples remain central to global disarmament and justice efforts.

•    Since the beginning of my tenure as Secretary General, I have been deeply privileged to support this annual commemoration here at USP. And each year, I am moved by an ever-deepening sense of humility and reflection.

•    I want to acknowledge the Marshall Islands Students Association. Since 2019, your leadership in spearheading this annual event has ensured that this story is kept alive, bringing communities together, and elevating survivors’ voices.

•    Your work shows that remembrance is not only about history, but also about empowering the next generation to safeguard our future.

•    Today’s gathering embodies the unity and shared stewardship that define our region. Through collective commitment, we honour those affected and strengthen our resolve to protect our islands and our people.

•    Ladies and gentlemen, as we mark this solemn day, let us recommit to standing with survivors, elevating their stories, and ensuring transparency and accountability. Let us continue to build a peaceful, secure, and resilient Blue Pacific where nuclear harm has no place.

•    Alongside our Leaders, I renew my full commitment to supporting all efforts to ensure that nuclear testing never happens again in our beautiful and bountiful Pacific.  

•    May God bless the Marshall Islands, and may God bless our beloved Blue Pacific continent.

•    Kommol Tata. Thank you.