Legal Aspects of the French Nuclear Tests

Even at the level of scholarly or diplomatic argumentation it is important to inquire into the competing interests and legal factors involved in the atmospheric tests. This is true not only because differing political expectations or even measures might depend on the consensus as to the legality or illegality of the French tests, but also because the precedential value of the tests will be of greater or less force depending upon whether there is agreement at the time of the tests that France was or was not acting within her international legal rights. Tags: French nuclear tests, Nuclear tests, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 [pg66]** The question of the legality of France's nuclear test series, commenced on July 2, 1966, in French Polynesia, will probably stop short of any definitive third-party determination and be subjected only to general community appraisal. Yet even at the level of scholarly or diplomatic argumentation it is important to inquire into the competing interests and legal factors involved in the atmospheric tests. This is true not only because differing political expectations or even measures might depend on the consensus as to the legality or illegality of the French tests, but also because the precedential value of the tests will be of greater or less force depending upon whether there is agreement at the time of the tests that France was or was not acting within her international legal rights. French Polynesia consists of 130 small islands, of which Tahiti is the largest and most famous, located approximately 2,400 miles south of Hawaii, 4,200 miles east of Australia, and 5,000 miles west of Chile. The islands comprise a land area of 1,544 square miles and support an intra-migrant population of approximately 90,000 "Polynesians," a unified racial stock descendant of the Maori. The main French test base is located on Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, one of five major archipelagos. Other facilities include a jet airport on Hao Island and two subsidiary airstrips on the Anaa Atoll. Housing and facilities for French personnel, currently numbering over 13,500, are located primarily on Tahiti in the Society Islands Archipelago 750 miles northwest of Mururoa. In order to make room for the ever increasing number of French scientists, technicians, and military personnel, a company working with French capital has been buying, under threat of expropriation, many of the largest and best residential properties in Tahiti. In the twelve months prior to July, 1966, rent on Tahiti increased 18 percent and the general price index rose 15 percent. In the 1840's, France had established protectorates over most of the small autonomous kingdoms on the various islands in Polynesia or "Oceania," and by mid-1880 France was treating the entire cluster of islands as a colony. The actual administration of the area as a single entity dates from 1903. After the second world war French Polynesia was denoted a "French Overseas Territory" under the French Union of 1946 and has retained that status under the new French Community of the Fifth Republic as a result of the referendum of September 28, 1958. Several nations, including Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Peru have lodged diplomatic protests with France concerning the proposed nuclear [pg67] tests. In addition, Chile has suspended commercial relations with France. Several other countries, including the United