Today in History

1973 World court condemns French nuclear tests

The International Court of Justice's ruling was part of New Zealand's long campaign against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. While the French ignored the court's interim injunction to cease testing, ongoing protests soon forced them to abandon atmospheric tests in favour of underground tests.

New Zealand had actively opposed French nuclear testing from the mid-1960s when France first began testing nuclear weapons in its Polynesian territories. Mururoa (or Moruroa) Atoll became the focal point for both the tests and opposition to them, and Greenpeace vessels sailed into the test site in 1972.

The following year the New Zealand and Australian governments took France to the International Court of Justice in an attempt to ban tests. France ignored the court's ruling that they cease testing, but mounting international pressure forced them to switch to underground tests the following year.

Image: French nuclear bomb test at Mururoa (Moruroa) Atoll, 1970