However, this meeting, held in Te Ao Maohi a year after the end of French
nuclear testing, has highlighted the particular suffering of indigenous and
colonised peoples as a result of the production and testing of nuclear
weapons. The anger and tears of colonised peoples arise from the fact that
there was no consultation, no consent, no involvement in the decision when
their lands, air and waters were taken for the nuclear build-up, from the
very start of the nuclear era.
Colonised and indigenous peoples have, in the large part, borne the brunt of
this nuclear devastation - from the mining of uranium and the testing of
nuclear weapons on indigenous peoples land, to the dumping, storage and
transport of plutonium and nuclear wastes, and the theft of land for nuclear
infrastructure.
The founding statement of Abolition 2000 states that "the participation of citizens and NGO's in planning and monitoring the abolition of nuclear weapons is vital ". We reaffirm this, in spirit and action, but also state that indigenous and colonised peoples must be central to this process. This can only happen if and when they are able to participate in decisions relating to the nuclear weapons cycle - and especially in the abolition of nuclear weapons in all aspects. The inalienable right to self-determination, sovereignty and independence is crucial in allowing all peoples of the world to join in the common struggle to rid the planet forever of nuclear weapons.
Therefore this conference agrees that this Moorea Declaration becomes a
supplement to the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement.