Marshall Islands decided to sue 9 countries: Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the US and the ICJ only admitted 3 cases — against Britain, India & Pakistan as they recognise its authority
8 of the 9 countries originally targeted in the lawsuits have officially admitted to possessing a nuclear weapon.
Israel has never acknowledged having one, but observers believe it is the sole nuclear-armed nation in the Middle East.
Marshall Islands, which has a population of less than 70,000 people, says that the world's 9 Nuclear Weapons States have violated various obligations to negotiate in good faith to dismantle their nuclear arsenals.
Three of them - India, Pakistan and Britain - are bound by previous commitments to respond to cases brought at the International Court of Justice. India was the first to be heard, on Monday March 07,2016, followed during the week by Pakistan and Britain.
They say the claim is beyond the jurisdiction of the court in The Hague.
Nobody expects the Marshall Islands to force the three powers to disarm, but the archipelago's dogged campaign highlights the growing scope for political minnows to get a hearing through global tribunals.
The island republic, a US protectorate until 1986, was the site of 67 nuclear tests by 1958, the health impacts of which linger to this day.
"Several islands in my country were vapourised and others are estimated to remain uninhabitable for thousands of years," said Marshallese Minister Tony deBrum, describing seeing the sky "aflame" from a test 200 miles distant as a nine-year-old boy.
"Many died, suffered birth defects never before seen and battled cancer from the contamination," he added.
The other nuclear powers - including declared powers China, France, Russia and the United States and undeclared nuclear states Israel and North Korea have not responded to the suit the islands filed last year.
The Government based in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro said by not stopping the nuclear arms race, the countries continued to breach their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- even if the treaty has not been by signed by countries such as India and Pakistan
Note
The Marshall Islands are a sprawling chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in the central Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and the Philippines
Between 1946 and 1958 the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands
On March 1, 1954, US exploded a hydrogen bomb — 1,000 times stronger than the device dropped on Hiroshima.
In March 2014 the Marshall Islands marked 60 years since the devastating hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll that laid waste the island and exposed thousands in the surrounding area to radioactive fallout
The 15-megatonne test on 1 March, 1954 was part of the intense cold war nuclear arms race and 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Bikini Islanders have lived in exile since they were moved for the first weapons tests in 1946.
When US government scientists declared Bikini safe for resettlement some residents were allowed to return in the early 1970s. But they were removed again in 1978 after ingesting high levels of radiation from eating local foods grown on the former test site.
The Marshall Islands nuclear claims tribunal had awarded more than US$2bn in personal injury and land damage claims arising form the nuclear tests, but stopped paying after a US$150m US compensation fund was exhausted.
The international court of justice – founded in 1945 to rule on legal disputes between nations – announced late on Friday dates for separate hearings for the three cases between March 7 and March 16,2016
In the cases brought against India and Pakistan, the court will examine whether the tribunal based in The Hague is competent to hear the lawsuits.
The hearing involving Britain will be devoted to “preliminary objections” raised by London.
A decision will be made at a later date as to whether the cases can proceed.
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