A number of nongovernmental organizations believe the International Court of Justice should reaffirm its 1996 declaration that nuclear weapons jeopardize "all civilization and the entire ecosystem of the planet," the Inter Press Service reported yesterday (see GSN, May 5).
The International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War are among the groups calling for a reprise of the court's 13-year-old pronouncement that "there exists an obligation [in Article 6 of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control" (see GSN, May 8).
That opinion had a widespread effect on global attitudes toward nuclear weapons, said John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. It convinced many parties that "there is not only a duty to to make best efforts through negotiation, there is a duty to succeed through negotiations in eliminating nuclear arsenals," he said.
The groups advocating a fresh declaration issued a memorandum stating that, "Given the failure to act and ongoing debates about what conduct is legally required for states to meet the good faith negotiation obligation, it is time to return to the court to obtain guidance for the disarmament enterprise and to ensure that the legal obligation is effectively implemented."
The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is the judiciary branch of the United Nations. A request from the U.N. General Assembly would be required for the court to revisit its position.
Some of the groups have proposed that the General Assembly ask the court to clarify whether the "obligation" referenced in the 1996 opinion compels all nuclear states to immediately engage in dialogues that involve schedules for total disarmament; whether nations currently bolstering their arsenals stand afoul of this obligation; and whether nuclear-armed nations outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty -- such as India, Pakistan and Israel -- are bound by this obligation.
"Today the nuclear-weapon states are investing large sums in, and planning for, maintaining nuclear forces for years to come," said Burroughs (Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, May 12).