Moorea Declaration

Adopted at the Abolition 2000 Conference,
Moorea, Te Ao Maohi (French Occupied Polynesia),
25 January 1997

This conference reaffirms the commitments and the vision of the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement initiated in 1995 - the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - to work for the definite and unconditional abolition of nuclear weapons, and redress the environmental degradation and human suffering that is the legacy of fifty two years of nuclear weapons usage, testing and production.

However, this meeting, held in Te Ao Maohi a year after the end of French nuclear testing, has highlighted the particular suffering of indigenous and colonised peoples as a result of the production and testing of nuclear weapons. The anger and tears of colonised peoples arise from the fact that there was no consultation, no consent, no involvement in the decision when their lands, air and waters were taken for the nuclear build-up, from the very start of the nuclear era.

Colonised and indigenous peoples have, in the large part, borne the brunt of this nuclear devastation - from the mining of uranium and the testing of nuclear weapons on indigenous peoples land, to the dumping, storage and transport of plutonium and nuclear wastes, and the theft of land for nuclear infrastructure.

The founding statement of Abolition 2000 states that "the participation of citizens and NGO's in planning and monitoring the abolition of nuclear weapons is vital ". We reaffirm this, in spirit and action, but also state that indigenous and colonised peoples must be central to this process. This can only happen if and when they are able to participate in decisions relating to the nuclear weapons cycle - and especially in the abolition of nuclear weapons in all aspects. The inalienable right to self-determination, sovereignty and independence is crucial in allowing all peoples of the world to join in the common struggle to rid the planet forever of nuclear weapons.

Therefore this conference agrees that this Moorea Declaration becomes a supplement to the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement.