The European Commission of Human Rights has formally requested the European Court of Human Rights to revise its judgement of June 1998 in which it rejected the radiation compensation claims of two British Nuclear Tests veterans against the UK by a narrow vote of 5 to 4.

The original claims arose from nuclear tests conducted at Christmas Island in the late 1950s which resulted in the death or suffering from radiation induced problems in British, Fijian and New Zealand servicemen who were dispatched to observe the tests. The applications to the court cited violations by the UK of various articles of the European Convention of Human Rights.

In November 1996, the commission, in an unanimous decision of 26 international commissioners, found the UK to have violated the rights of the two nuclear test veterans, and recommended the payment of compensation. The UK refused to honour the commission's findings, and as a result the commission referred the case to the court.