STATEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS

REGARDING THE TRANSSHIPMENT OF
NUCLEAR WASTE THROUGH THE CARIBBEAN
AND PANAMA CANAL AS OF 23rd JANUARY, 1998

The Bahamas Government has been most alarmed to learn recently, that another shipment, this time of particularly dangerous high level nuclear waste is destined to pass through the Caribbean, including just south of Inagua, and through the Panama Canal, enroute from France to Japan.

The Bahamas categorically and unconditionally opposes and condemns this imminent act which threatens the safety of her citizens, the fragility of her coralline ecosystem and economy of her country. The Bahamas, therefore, calls on the friendly countries concerned to desist forthwith from this planned transshipment through the Caribbean.

Since 1992, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community emphatically stated their position on this issue to be:

One, "that shipments of plutonium and other radioactive or hazardous materials should not traverse the Caribbean Sea;

Two, that the Caribbean should not be used for the testing of nuclear devices; and

Three, that the Caribbean Sea should be declared a nuclear free zone for purposes of shipment, storing or dumping of any radioactive or hazardous substances or toxic waste."

The Bahamas also decries the insensitivity and lack of moral conscience which subjugates the welfare and survival of the peoples of an entire sub-region to the nuclear programmes of a few countries for whom short-term technological and economic gains are more important than an enlightened, preventive hazardous waste management ethic and practice."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Nassau, Bahamas

23 January, 1998

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Contact: Chris Symmonett, Bahamas Information Service, 1-242-328-1345.

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