Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

French Polynesian test veterans dismayed at Tahiti court decision

Posted at 03:18 on 26 June, 2009 UTC

French Polynesia’s Nuclear Workers’ Association Moruroa E Tatou is dismayed that the Papeete labour court has thrown out compensation claim cases by eight former test site workers.

This morning, the court found that under local law the complaints cannot be ruled on.

However, the court found that the Atomic Energy Commissariat had failed in its obligation as an employer to provide security and awarded 11,000 US dollars to each of the three children of a deceased local veteran.

The head of Moruroa E Tatou, Roland Oldham, says the ruling is incomprehensible.

“Today it is confirmation that the justice that we have here in Tahiti is no more or less than colonial justice. I may even say there is some kind of racism because I cannot understand why the Polynesian people and the French people of France don’t have equal treatment.”

Roland Oldham