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CNMI House honors late Nobel nominee de Brum
Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) reads his House resolution that honors the late Tony A. de Brum. He is joined on the House floor by de Brum’s family and members of the House of Representatives. (Erwin Encinares)
The House of Representatives on Tuesday honored the late Tony A. de Brum, a Marshallese politician that advocated for nuclear disarmament and environmental conservation, in a resolution presented to his family.
Resolution 20-13 extended the CNMI House of Representatives’ sincere condolences and sympathies to the family of de Brum, all while honoring his significant victories after filing the landmark “Nuclear Zero” lawsuits in 2014 at the International Court of Justice against nine nuclear weapon states, along with a separate case in U.S. courts seeking to compel the U.S. to negotiate toward nuclear disarmament.
Born in 1945 on the island of Likiep, de Brum witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought by the use of nuclear weapons. At the age of 9, de Brum witnessed the “Bravo Shot,” the largest U.S. nuclear test at the Bikini Atoll that produced an explosion 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima.
De Brum was one of the first Marshallese to attend university, making him a leading participant in negotiations securing the nation’s Compact of Free Association with the U.S.
Besides being an advocate of the environment and anti-nuclear warheads, de Brum was a former minister-in-assistance to the president of the Marshall Islands and a former minister of foreign affairs from 2012 to 2016.
In 2012 de Brum was a recipient of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Distinguished Peace Leader award. Recipients of this award include the 14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond tutu, Jordan’s King Hussein, and Captain Jacques Cousteau.
De Brum was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and was also voted as the Arms Control Person of the Year.
De Brum passed away last Aug. 23, at the age of 72 in Majuro.
