Paris Issued A Decree For The Implementation Of Compensation For Victims Of Nuclear Tests Soon

Nuclear Engineering Researcher, Ammar al-Mansouri, predicted the issuance of a new decree this year by the French authorities, to enable the Algerians who were victims of the French nuclear tests, to ask for compensation for illnesses as a result of these bombings, which involved nearly 150.000 people, including military personnel and civilians in the Algerian desert.

The writer said, in an article that was published in the latest number of the Army (Al Djaiche) Magazine, entitled “Compensation of victims of French nuclear explosions, the law that did not yet achieve its objectives”, that this coincides with the 57th anniversary of the criminal nuclear bombings in the Algerian Sahara, given the plight of the victims from 1960 to 1996, which still continues since 1960, when the Moran Law was enacted on January,5, 2010. 

However, after seven years of lost time, the question which is still asked is: What are the ways and means, and what is the appropriate action that should be taken with France to obtain the legitimate rights of “recognition, compensation, and providing the medical insurance” to the victims of the French nuclear explosions, and to those with rights? Noting that many of them died; “giving the impression that the more time passes, officials hope to take advantage of forgetfulness”.

He held full responsibility on the French military officials and politicians who are well aware of the risks of the nuclear explosions on humans and the environment and therefore, they are responsible for the horror and misery in the desert and its inhabitants, and the timeless natural and human disaster in the Algerian desert.

In the legal part, Ammar Mansouri returned to talk about Moran’s Law, which was issued in 2010, and which was reviewed in 2013, and the issuance of three decrees in 2010, 2012.2014, asserting that the French authorities are expected to issue another decree in 2017.

“The bout is still on the table of the administrative courts, as several courts, administrative appeal courts in France received requests of the victims, forcing the Ministry of Defense to compensate the number of victims and the courts of appeal in France. Moreover, the State’s Council identified the terms of the application of the compensation system for the victims of diseases that are resulting from the compensation of ionizing radiation due to the nuclear tests. Pushing for Mr. Jean-Paul Teissoniére, the lawyer for victims of Avene and Moruroa and Tatu to emphasize that only fifty victims obtained a positive result, but a lot of them are still asking for compensation and we will not let them …”.

“To achieve this right, the road is still long for a fair settlement and gracious justice to this painful situation, especially for the Algerian victims, as it was proved that the law of January,5, 2010 is not fully adequate to address the situation of the Sahrawi people in the sixties.”

In terms of numbers, over 782 files were deposited on the level of the war veterans’ services in Algeria in 2015, as it is supposed that 32 files are studied, and were rejected on the grounds that the diseases that are mentioned are not included in the list of the illnesses that are recognized in the Moran Law and that the period after 1967 is not included in it.