Fukushima protest in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis
Protesters decried New Zealand's 'convenient' silence on Japan's nuclear waste release at a rally in Auckland on Friday.
Japan yesterday began the decades-long release of over one million tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
Among the crowd was a young Pacific advocate who called on the New Zealand government to oppose the release.
"We're calling for New Zealand to release a statement opposing the dump and then come up with a regional consensus that the leaders' meeting [Pacific Islands Forum Summit] in November can accept," co-director of Te Kuaka New Zealand Alternative, Marco de Jong, said.
At the protest in Auckland on Friday morning, de Jong said New Zealand is taking the easy way out.
He said the government's silence is convenient and leaves Pacific nations to fight on their own.
"The ocean is suffering, climate change is accelerating. And the Pacific is being rendered as a sacrifice zone, a military buffer and climate disaster area," de Jong said.
"Things like the nuclear waste dump compound harms. There are nuclear legacies that have not been addressed. And this is part of a broader story."
Auckland University sociology lecturer Dr. Karly Burch speaks at Fukushima protest in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Lydia Lewis
Aaron Lee, an Aucklander originally from South Korea, said the issue is causing tension back home.
"It should not be happening," Lee said.
He said if it really is 'clean water' and 'clean treated wastewater', why they can't Japan use it in their agricultural lands?
Lee said protesters have been fiercely opposing the release in South Korea.
Auckland University sociology lecturer Karly Burch told the protest: "it's really important to put it in the context of nuclear imperialism and nuclear colonialism."
"It involves targeting indigenous peoples and their lands and waters to sustain the nuclear production process," she said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards are basically legal thresholds or standards, Dr Burch said.
"So they're saying up to this amount, it's legally allowable to pollute, it's legally allowable to have bodies exposed to a certain amount of ionising radiation."
"And so it's really important that when we hear these things, when we hear these approvals, we're thinking of them in legal terms, because that's really what this is all about."
She said the IAEA's legal standards are 'extremely narrow' in their focus.
Aaron Lee, a New Zealand resident from South Korea attends protest at Consulate General of Japan building in Auckland. Photo: RNZ Asia/ Elliott Samuels
The IAEA backs it's standards the UN nuclear watchdog boss told RNZ in July 2023.
Despite assurances, protesters in and around the Pacific Ocean have hit the streets.
In Suva, hundreds of protesters gathered and chanted: "If it's safe, put it in Japan."
"Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations, We are the Pacific, We are angry," protesters chanted.
And at least 16 protesters in Seoul were arrested as they attempted to enter the Japanese embassy.