The Marshall Islands accepted a US$150 million settlement in the 1980s for nuclear-test impacts, but it did not cover future generations or environmental damage. (AFP pic)

GENEVA: The UN rights office on Thursday urged Washington to ensure full and effective reparations for people affected by US nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, a tiny Pacific nation.

Home to approximately 37,000 inhabitants, the Marshall Islands were the site of 67 US nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958 – the environmental and health impacts of which are still being felt today.

"For the Marshallese, this history is not past," said deputy UN rights chief Awa Dabo.

"It lives on in bodies and families. In lands poisoned and communities displaced, and it lives in the demands, across generations, for recognition and justice," she told the UN Human Rights Council.