THE LEGALITY OF THE THREAT OR USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Submitted to: Miss. Mithul Dutta

Submitted by: P.Lavanya

1282057

BBA.LLB (A)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Nuclear weapons………………………………………………………………3

History of Nuclear weapons…………………………………………………...3

The legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons…………………………..6

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….13

Development over the years …………………………………………………..14

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NUCLEAR WEAPONS

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions,

either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of

energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission ("atomic") bomb test released

the same amount of energy as approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The first thermonuclear

("hydrogen") bomb test released the same amount of energy as approximately 10,000,000 tons of

TNT.

HISTORY OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The world's first nuclear weapons explosion on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico, when the United

States tested its first nuclear bomb. Not three weeks later, the world changed.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of

Hiroshima. It killed or wounded nearly 130,000 people. Three days later, the United States

bombed Nagasaki. Of the 286,00 people living there at the time of the blast, 74,000 were killed

and another 75,000 sustained severe injuries. Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender on

August 14, 1945; it also resulted in the end of World War II.

In subsequent years, the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain conducted several

nuclear weapons tests. In 1954, President Jawaharlal Nehru of India called for a ban on nuclear

testing. It was the first large-scale initiative to ban using nuclear technology for mass destruction.

In 1958, nearly 10,000 scientists presented to United Nations Secretary-General Dag

Hammarskjold a petition that begged, “We deem it imperative that immediate action be taken to

effect an international agreement to stop testing of all nuclear weapons.”

France exploded its first nuclear device in 1960 and China entered the "nuclear arms club" in

October 1964 when it conducted its first test.

The United States, Soviet Union and some sixty other countries signed a treaty to seek the ends

of the nuclear arms race and promote disarmament on July 1, 1968. The treaty bars nuclear

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weapons states from propogating weapons to other states and prohibits states without nuclear

weapons to develop or acquire nuclear arsenal. It permits the use of nuclear energy for peaceful

purposes. It entered into force in 1970 and was extended indefinitely and unconditionally on

May 11, 1995.

In 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test: a subterranean explosion of a nuclear device (not

weapon). India declared it to be a "peaceful" test, but it announced to the world that India had the

scientific know-how to build a bomb.

At this time, the five declared nuclear weapons states are the USA, USSR, UK, France and

China.

In December, 1986, The South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone was put into effect.

American and North Korean delegations met in Geneva in autumn 1994 to establish a framework

to resolve nuclear issues in the Korean peninsula. Under the agreement, North Korea would sign

a treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in exchange for U.S. support in building

safe nuclear energy facilities and formal assurance against the threat or use of nuclear weapons

by the U.S. against North Korea. Both sides agreed to take steps towards better political and

economic relations. In subsequent years, South Korea and Japan have invested billions to help

build safe nuclear energy plants in North Korea. By 2003, North Korea has cancelled this and all

other international agreements on non-proliferation.

The United Nations, on December 12, 1995, decreed an immediate ban on all nuclear testing and

urged disarmament with the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. Later that month, ten

Southeast Asian countries signed the Bankok Treaty, establishing the Southeast Asia Nuclear-

Weapon-Free Zone. In Spring 1996, 43 African nations sign the Pelindaba Treaty establishing

the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

On September 10, 1996, the United Nations, in a landslide vote, adopted the Comprehensive Test

Ban Treaty and two weeks later, the United States was the first to sign. (The U.S. Senate,

however, rejected the treaty three years later.)

On May 11, 1998, India shocked the world by exploding three nuclear devices amounting to

about six times the destructive power of the American bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The

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next day, it tested two more nuclear explosions. The world was stunned when Pakistan

responded with six nuclear arsenal tests of its own.

World leaders admonished the two long-time adversaries in breaking the Comprehensive Test

Ban Treaty (put into force in 1970). The U.S. imposed strict economic sanctions against both

countries and lobbied for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other countries to

do the same. The sanctions were lifted in 2001 when the U.S. needed Pakistan and India's

support to fight al Qaeda and other terrorist cells in Afghanistan.

In 1998 North Korea alarmed Japan by test-firing a medium range-missile (without weapons)

over the Japanese mainland. The missile's apparent range, some 1,000 kilometers or 600 miles,

meant that any part of Japan -- and by default any part of South Korea -- was within range of

North Korean weaponry. Japan is the only country ever to have been attacked by nuclear

weapons and anti-nuclear sentiment runs particularly deep.

In 2002, American President George W. Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the Axis of

Evil, in part due to U.S. suspicions of those countries having weapons of mass destruction. Later

that year, unofficial reports suggest that North Korea has confirmed the existence of nuclear

arsenals, and intelligence reports indicate that the dictatorial power will have enough plutonium

to build five or six nuclear bombs by May 2003.

On October 9, 2006 North Korea tested a nuclear weapon with the approximated power of the

Hiroshima bomb. North Korea announced to the world that it has become the world's eighth

declared nuclear weapons state. Its missiles have the range to hit targets in South Korea, Japan as

well as U.S., Chinese, and Russian territories.

The United States is the only known country to have missles with range to attack any target on

earth, but over thirty countries have unmanned planes that are undetected by missle defense

systems, and can carry nuclear, biological or other weapons of mass destruction.

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THE LEGALITY OF THE THREAT OR USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

“…the use of nuclear weapons is prohibited not because they are or they are [not] called nuclear

weapons. They fall under the prohibition of the fundamental and mandatory rules of

humanitarian law (which long predates them) by their effects, not because they are nuclear

weapons but because they are indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction.” - Judge Ali-Saab.1

Although the nuclear issue had long been a topic of discussion within United Nations bodies and

the Disarmament Commission in Geneva (later called the Disarmament Conference), it was

avoided in preparatory work for the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian

law, in particular the 1949 Conference that adopted the four Geneva Conventions and the 1974-

1977 Conference that drafted the Protocols additional thereto. As a result, the modern world has

always had to live with the threat of nuclear weapons, that is, nuclear war. That threat loomed

larger during the long years of the Cold War owing to the strategy adopted by the nuclear powers

and their allies; and even now that the Cold War is over it has still not completely disappeared.

In the present circumstances it was public opinio n and the non-nuclear and non-aligned

countries which took the initiative of asking the Court for an opinion, through such international

bodies are the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations General Assembly.

When it comes to war and armed conflict, international law has always sought to balance

military necessity with humanitarian considerations.2 It has done so by constraining state

behaviour through “regulating the conduct of belligerents and…limiting the weapons that may be

used…”3 Since 1945, a major challenge to this balancing process has been the threat of nuclear

weapons.

As the destruction evidenced in Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrate, in a world of proliferation

(horizontal and vertical) and international terrorism, the international security implications

stemming from the existence and use of such weapons is potentially catastrophic.4

1 Warner, D., ‘The Nuclear Weapons Decision by the International Court of Justice: Locating the raison behind the raison d’etat’, Millennium, Volume 27, Number 2, 2000,p. 311. 2 Burroughs, J., ‘The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice and the Statute of the International Criminal Court’, June 15, 1999, Accessed september, 2014, Available at http://www.lcnp.org/wcourt/humlaw.htm, p. 33 Sheldon, J., ‘Nuclear Weapons and the Laws of War: Does Customary International Law Prohibit the Use of Nuclear Weapons in all Circumstances?, Fordham International Law Journal, Volume 24, 1996-1997, p. 182.

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Unfortunately – from an international legal point of view – the politics of Cold War deterrence

prevented the emergence of a specific treaty prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons following

World War Two.5 This, despite the emergence of treaties prohibiting the use of ‘less’ destructive

armaments (e.g. landmines) and other ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (e.g. the Chemical

Weapons Convention) during the same time period (1945-present).

Therefore, in the absence of a specific treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, lawyers must resort to

basing their arguments on “ the principles of customary international law”. These principles are

often referred to as the laws of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law (IHL), and

when applied to nuclear weapons it becomes quite clear that the use of such a weapon would be

illegal.

International law as it relates to warfare exists in two broad categories: jus ad bellum and jus in

bello. Jus ad bellum,6 focuses on the justifications states rely on in order to wage war. Jus in

bello, another term for IHL, however, is the law of war that “governs the conduct of hostilities in

armed conflicts…”7 Furthermore, jus in bello is itself subdivided into two categories: ‘Hague

law’ and ‘Geneva law’. The term Hague law is in reference to the Hague Conventions of 1899,

1907 and the Additional Protocols I of 1977.

Essentially, Hague law is the branch of IHL that sets limits on the means and methods of

warfare which may legitimately be used in armed conflict (e.g. prohibiting certain types of

weapons).Geneva law is in reference to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and is focused on

protecting the “victims of armed conflict and to ameliorate their conditions”.

At one level, this subdivision of IHL is rather artificial as “both sets of norms rest ultimately

upon a fundamental principle of proscription concerning the infliction of militarily ‘unnecessary

suffering’. However, given the importance of customary international law in contributing to the

4 For an overview of the effects of a nuclear weapon detonation- the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s ‘The Effects of Nuclear Weapons’ webpage. Available at http://www.cnduk.org/index.php/information/info-sheets/the-effects-of-nuclear-weapons.html 5 McCoubrey, H., and White, N., International Law And Armed Conflict, Dartmouth Publishing Company, 1992, p. 249; Meyrowitz, E.L., ‘The Opinions of Legal Scholars on the Legal Status of Nuclear Weapons’, Stanford Journal of International Law, Volume 24, 1987-1988, p. 1146 Morris, J., ‘Law, Politics, and the Use of Force’, in Baylis, J., Wirtz, J., and Gray, C (eds.), Strategy In The Contemporary World, Oxford University Press,2010, p. 1117 McCoubrey and White, p. 189

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development of the principles and rules underpinning IHL a brief overview is required before

proceeding onto further analysis.

The whole of international law can be divided into two types: customary law and treaty law. The

principles derived from customary international law come from state practice (what the majority

of states do) and opinion juris (what states say). Customary law, in the case of IHL, includes all

the rules and principles that regulate the conduct of warfare. Customary law is seen as running in

parallel to treaty law unless an international treaty includes an article that strictly overrides a

principal of customary law. In the case of IHL, none of the treaties discussed above override any

of the customary principles. Instead, each treaty expands and codifies the principles as they are.

IHL is now regarded by many scholars as having achieved the status of jus cogens and, as such,

can now be considered to be permanently binding on every state.

IHL “has consistently evolved in response to changes in man’s military capabilities with a view

toward limiting human suffering and restraining wanton destruction”.8 As such, the customary

legal roots of humanitarian law go as far back as 1646 when Hugo Grotius made an attempt to

codify the laws of war and peace for an international community that was evolving with ever

increasing complexity. By the 1860s the application of the latest advanced weaponry on the

battlefield had produced such horrendous results that a number of states came together to issue

what is now regarded as the first international agreement codifying a prohibition on the use of a

specific weapon in armed conflict, the St. Petersburg Declaration. Issued in 1868, as a response

to the invention of the exploding bullet, the Declaration proclaimed that certain humanitarian

principles apply to warfare, specifically that “the right of a nation-state to injure a belligerent is

not unlimited.”9 This statement led to the adoption of more general principles which have had a

lasting effect upon the development of the laws of war, chief of which is the principle that a state

cannot use a weapon that that would uselessly aggravate the suffering of disabled men or render

their deaths inevitable. These principles of limiting state conduct in war and prohibiting

unnecessary suffering were eventually incorporated into Articles 22 and 23(e) of the 1907 Hague

Convention and remain binding on all states to this day.10

8 Bleimaier, J., ‘Nuclear Weapons and Crimes Against Humanity Under International Law’, Catholic Lawyer, Volume 33, Number 2,1990, p. 162. 9 Meyrowitz, E.L., ‘The Laws of War and Nuclear Weapons’, Brooklyn Journal of International Law, Volume 9, Number 2, 1983, p. 234.

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The next major step in the evolution of IHL was the Hague Convention of 1907. This treaty,

written in light of the carnage of the Boer and Russo-Japanese wars, was the first major

multilateral approach to codifying the laws of war. The relevant contributions of this treaty to

IHL are found in Article 25 which prohibits the bombing of undefended cities; Article 27 –

which ensures the protection of “buildings devoted to cultural and medical purposes”.

Unfortunately, during World War II both Axis and Allied states invoked arguments of ‘military

necessity’ in order to forego restraint in their pursuance (with the exception of chemical

weapons) of ‘strategic bombing’ policies against civilian populations (e.g. Dresden, Tokyo,

Coventry, Nagasaki). In the aftermath of that war another push was made to codify and expand

IHL, this time with the view of protecting certain classes of people from unnecessary suffering.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions were the product of this move. Constituting four separate

documents, they expanded IHL to include a prohibition on the use of force against hospitals,

prisoner of war camps, churches, and the sick and wounded (both on land and shipwrecked).

However, it was in recognising civilians as a separate group to be protected that the Geneva

Conventions truly made a mark. A follow-up to the 1949 Conventions, the 1977 Additional

Protocol-I codified the protection of civilians from all the effects of war and was seen by many

international bodies as a repudiation of World War Two strategic bombing. Still, nuclear

weapons were intentionally bypassed in both the 1949 and 1977 conventions with the nuclear

weapons states (of whom the US, France, India, Pakistan, Israel have not ratified the treaty)

declaring that IHL “had no effect on use of nuclear weapons and neither regulated nor prohibited

their use”.11

However, this view is legally incorrect. This is due to the fact that in customary IHL there is a

rule, known as the ‘Martens Clause’, that permits the application of IHL in instances where this

is no specific prohibiting treaty.

Originally found in the preambles of both the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions, the Martens

Clause (named after a Russian Foreign Minister) in effect states that “if a particular rule is not to

10 Art.22: “the right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited.” Art. 23(e): prohibits the use of “arms, projectiles or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering. 11 Fujita, H., ‘The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of nuclear weapons’, International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 26, 1997, Available at http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jnfn.htm, p. 2

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be found in treaty law, belligerents remain under the protection and authority of customary

international law, the principles of humanity, and the dictates of the public conscious”.12 Since

1907 the Clause has been codified into Art 1(2) of the Additional Protocol 1 of 1977 and reads as

follows: In cases not covered by the Protocol or by other international agreements, civilians and

combatants remain under the protection and authority of the principle of international law

derived from established custom, from the principles of humanity and from the dictates of public

conscience.

The ICJ affirmed the relevance and continued existence of this Clause in their 1996 Advisory

Opinion on nuclear weapons declaring that it has proved to be an effective means of addressing

the rapid evolution of military technology. For the case at hand, this means that humanitarian

law, despite what nuclear weapons states may say, applies to any would-be use of a nuclear

weapon. As such, it does not matter whether or not there is no express treaty provision on

prohibiting (or for that matter permitting) the use of nuclear weapons. In other words, “…the

novelty of a new weapon does not exempt it from the laws of war”.13

In rendering their decision in the 1996 ‘Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of

Nuclear Weapons’ the International Court of Justice (ICJ), after having reviewed the customary

law and treaties that make-up IHL, concluded that in IHL there exists four cardinal rules.

1. The first is the requirement that in war states distinguish combatants from non-

combatants. Codified in Article 48 of Protocol 1 the aim of this principle is the

prohibiting of states directly targeting civilians. Nuclear weapons do not meet this

requirement. As Meyrowitz writes, “it is hard to think of a nuclear weapon that would

not [when used] produce extensive destruction of areas populated by civilians…”

Hospitals, the sick and wounded, prisoner of war camps, places of worship and civilian

populations in general would be affected – if not by direct impact than by radioactive

fallout.

2. The second rule is the prohibition on the use of indiscriminate weapons. With its roots

dating back to the St. Petersburg Declaration and the 1907 Hague Convention, the ICJ, in

12 Doswald- Beck, L., ‘International humanitarian law and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons’, International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 316, 1997, Available at http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jnfm.htm, pp. 7-8. 13 Meyrowitz, 1987-1988, p. 116

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its 1996 Advisory Opinion, wrote that “States must never make civilians the object of

attack and must consequently never use weapons that are capable of distinguishing

between civilians and military targets”.14 Writing in the Advisory Opinion, Judge

Guillaume argued that “…customary international law contains only one absolute

prohibition: that concerning the use of so-called ‘blind’ weapons which cannot

distinguish between civilians and military targets”.

In other words, if a state uses an indiscriminate weapon such as a nuclear weapon, than

this equates to a deliberate attack on civilians (this is a similar position taken by the

Landmine Convention). A similar conclusion was reached in 1962 by a Japanese

domestic court in the Shimoda case, which saw survivors of Hiroshima sue the

government of Japan for compensation for their injuries.15

Writing as obiter dicta the court ruled that the nuclear attacks on Japan were illegal under

IHL as such actions constituted a form of indiscriminate bombing.16

3. The third rule of IHL is in regard to proportionality in the use of force. Essentially, this

rule means that if military action leads to expected collateral casualties exceeding the

value of the military objective than it is unlawful. The only way civilian casualties can be

incurred is if weapon used is lawful to begin with and if the target chosen for attack is a

military objective within the meaning of IHL.However, the nature of a nuclear weapon

(i.e. its indiscriminate effects) would render its users unable to rely on this exception.

4. Lastly, the final rule is the prohibition on the use of weapons that cause unnecessary

suffering, something which the ICJ calls the ‘cardinal principle’ of IHL. Dating back to

the St. Petersburg Declaration, the reasoning behind this rule is straightforward:

“weapons that render death inevitable are excessive to the needs of war” and are thereby

illegal. In writing his dissenting report to the Advisory Opinion, Judge Weeramantry

14 International Court of Justice, Advisory Opinion (Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons), 1996 15 The 1952 American-Japanese peace agreement prevents Japanese citizens from suing the US government for injuries and damages inflicted during the course of the war. 16 Tanaka, Y., and Falk, R., ‘The Atomic Bombing, The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal and the Shimoda Case: Lessons for Anti-Nuclear Legal Movements’, JapanFocus, 2011, Available at http://japanfocus.org/articles/print_articles/3245, p. 2; Interestingly enough, in the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals charges relating to indiscriminate bombing during World War Two were intentionally avoided – the implication being that Allied nations would be also liable for such a charge.

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concluded that “the facts…are more than sufficient to establish that nuclear weapons

cause unnecessary suffering going far beyond the purposes of war.”17

British international legal writers McCoubrey and White make a similar statement saying

that, “the strong argument of unnecessary suffering, coupled with the inevitable

escalatory effect of any use of nuclear weapons, tends to support at least a broad

conclusion of use proscription.

CONCLUSION

Nuclear weapons are illegal under international humanitarian law. Article 1 of the Geneva

Conventions, of which all nuclear states are a party too, states that the “High Contracting Parties

undertake to respect and ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances”.

As such, IHL is binding on all states and, due to the Martens Clause, can, by default, prohibit

specific weapons systems. This reasoning was also reached by the ICJ in their Advisory Opinion,

17 Weeramantry, J., ‘Dissenting Opinion: Advisory Opinion (Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons), International Court of Justice,1996.

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when the Court concluded that prima facie the use of nuclear weapons would be a violation of

IHL.

Despite reaching that conclusion, the Court also went on to say that a state could still use

nuclear weapons in the event of extreme situations of self-defence.

However, the existence of such a caveat discounts the entire body of IHL which tries to ensure

international security by limiting the amounts of suffering states can inflict on one another.

Nevertheless, it can still be said that when nuclear weapons are subjected to the corpus of IHL

there clearly exists a legal imperative to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

DEVELOPMENT OVER THE YEARS

2005: On 11 October, during the thematic debate in the First Committee (Disarmament and

International Security) India submitted a draft resolution calling for the CD to begin negotiations

on a convention banning the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. The preambular language

suggested that this would be an important step towards achieving "an international convention

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prohibiting the development, production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons, leading to their

ultimate destruction."

2006: During the meeting of the UN General Assembly in December, 125 State Parties,

including China, India, and Pakistan, called for "commencing multilateral negotiations leading to

an early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention prohibiting the development, production,

testing, deployment, stockpiling, transfer, threat or use of nuclear weapons and providing for

their elimination."

2007: An updated model Nuclear Weapons Convention was created by the International

Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). In May, Costa Rica submitted the model

Convention to the NPT PrepCom in Vienna (NPT/CONF.2010/PC.I/WP.17).

In early December, the governments of Costa Rica and Malaysia submitted the model NWC to

the UN General Assembly, which was then circulated as an official document (UN Doc

A/62/650) on 18 January 2008. On 5 December, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution

on the "Follow-up on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of

the Threat or Use of nuclear Weapons."

The 2007 model NWC takes into account relevant changes that have occurred since the drafting

of the 1997 NWC. These include the proliferation of nuclear weapons to countries such as India,

Pakistan and North Korea, technological developments in verification, new Nuclear Weapon

Free Zones in Mongolia and Central Asia, and the criminal controls established through UNSC

Resolution 1540.

2008: On 24 October, UN secretary-general Ban Ki- moon addressed the East-West Institute at

UN Headquarters in New York with a speech entitled "The United Nations and security in a

nuclear-weapon-free world." In this speech the Secretary-General proposed a five-point plan for

nuclear disarmament and urged "the nuclear-weapon States, to fulfill their obligation under the

[Nuclear Non-Proliferation] Treaty to undertake negotiations on effective measures leading to

nuclear disarmament....They could pursue this goal by...negotiating a nuclear-weapons

convention, backed by a strong system of verification, as has long been proposed at the United

Nations."

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Also on 24 October, the East-West Institute co-sponsored a workshop on "Seizing the Moment:

A One-Day Consultation on Breakthrough Measures to Build a New East West Consensus on

Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disarmament" with the Center for Nonproliferation Studies,

the British-American Security Information Council, the Global Security Institute and the NGO

Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security. This strategy session focused on stimulating

negotiations on a NWC, primarily addressing the questions of whether to adopt a "Big Bang" or

an incremental approach to the negotiation of a NWC, as well as where and how this negotiation

should occur.

2009: On 5 April, President Barack Obama outlined a vision of "a world without nuclear

weapons" in a speech delivered in Prague, Czech Republic. He also declared that the United

States, as the only State to have used nuclear weapons, has a "moral responsibility" to lead the

way.

At the NPT PrepCom, the first set of draft recommendations released on 7 May included

examining "ways and means to commence negotiations, in accordance with article VI, on a

convention or framework of agreements to achieve global nuclear disarmament." This proposal

gained little traction with the NWS and was absent from subsequent drafts.

On 29 May, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) adopted a program of work for the first time

in a decade. The program of work establishes a working group entitled "Cessation of the nuclear

arms race and nuclear disarmament" that is tasked with exchanging "views and information on

practical steps for progressive and systematic efforts to reduce nuclear weapons with the ultimate

goal of their elimination, including on approaches toward potential future work of multilateral

character."

On 24 September, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 1887. This

Resolution, drafted by the United States, calls on all States Parties belonging to the NPT to

"pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to nuclear arms reduction and

disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective

international control." The Resolution also welcomes the nuclear arms reduction and

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disarmament efforts undertaken by the nuclear-weapon States, but underlines the "need to pursue

further efforts in the sphere of nuclear disarmament."

In October, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the U.N. General

Assembly adopted resolutions entitled "Nuclear Disarmament" (A/RES/ 64/53) and "Towards a

Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Accelerating the Implementation of Nuclear Disarmament

Commitments" (A/RES/64/57) Both resolutions advocated the global and complete abolition of

nuclear weapons and supported the negotiation of an NWC.

2010: On 28 May, the state parties to NPT adopted the Final Document of the 2010 NPT Review

Conference. The document takes note of the proposal of the U.N. Secretary General to consider

starting negotiations on an NWC. This was the first time an NPT Review Conference outcome

document referred to a nuclear weapons convention.

In June, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) released a report

reviewing the progress made towards a NWC at the 2010 NPT Review Conference. Called

"Towards Nuclear Abolition," the document provides a detailed account of the deliberations on a

NWC during the conference and lays out how the convention could work.

On 24 September, a high-level meeting on "Revitalizing the Conference on Disarmament and

taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations" was held at the United Nations in New

York. A number of participants urged the CD to commence negotiations on an NWC.

In October, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the UN General

Assembly adopted resolutions entitled "Nuclear Disarmament" (A/RES/65/56) and "Towards a

nuclear-weapon-free world: Accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament

commitments" (A/RES/65/59). Both resolutions advocated the global and complete abolition of

nuclear weapons and supported the negotiation of an NWC.

In November, ICAN released a reported entitled "The Case against Nuclear Weapons." The

document provides an update on the campaign's initiatives towards, and continued rationale for,

an NWC.

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2011: On 24 January-1 August, the first session of the Conference on Disarmament discussed a

NWC in the context of greater nuclear disarmament. Though many states expressed support for a

NWC, debate on the issues was limited.

On 6 August, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the Hiroshima Peace

Memorial Ceremony and reiterated his desire to move towards a world without nuclear weapons.

On 3 November, at The Peoples Forum in Mali, the participants issued the Niono Appeal. The

statement calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and is against nuclear power in Africa.

On 3 December, at the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

(CELAC), the Heads of State expressed their strong commitment to working towards an

international convention on the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

2012: On 12 January, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock, an indicator

showing how capable mankind is of destroying itself, a minute closer to midnight. The group

cited the failure to disarm the world of nuclear weapons as one of the contributing factors.

On 16 January, ICAN released a study entitled “Towards a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons.”

The document states that 146 nations have declared willingness to negotiate a new global

disarmament pact. Four nuclear weapons states - China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea – were

included in the group of 146.

On 26 January, many prominent Australians signed a statement calling on Australian Prime

Minister Julia Gillard to play a prominent role in an effort to abolish nuclear weapons. The

Chairman’s Summary at the 2012 NPT PrepCom reiterated States parties’ call for the negotiation

of a nuclear weapons convention.

On 2 June, people worldwide gathered in the streets on Nuclear Abolition Day to demand the

immediate start of negotiations to ban nuclear weapons.

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On 22 October, 34 States provided a joint statement to the United Nations First Committee in

New York on the humanitarian dimension of nuclear weapons. The statement highlighted the

growing dialogue on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and pointed to previous

statements outlining their devastating effects. On behalf of the 34 states, Switzerland noted the

ICRC's conclusion that international organizations would be unable to provide the necessary

emergency relief if a nuclear attack were to occur and that universal effects of radiation would

affect agriculture and the environment.

2013: On 4 and 5 March Norway hosted an international Conference on the Humanitarian Impact

of Nuclear Weapons. The Conference established three main points: 1) "It is unlikely that any

state or international body could address the immediate humanitarian emergency caused by a

nuclear weapon detonation in an adequate manner and provide sufficient assistance to those

affected"; 2) Despite changes in the political world, the destructive potential of nuclear weapons

remains; 3) A detonated nuclear weapon will not be constrained by national borders and will be

an international issue. Mexico announced it will hold a follow-up conference.

On 18 April U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced HR-1650, the "Nuclear

Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act," which calls on the U.S.

government to dismantle and eliminate all nuclear weapons, in every country, by 2020 through a

multilateral treaty.

On 24 April during the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review

Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

Ambassador Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa read out the names of 74 States that signed a

statement on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and comprise the newly-formed

Humanitarian Initiative. The joint statement builds upon that given by 35 States in New York on

22 October 2012. The declaration notes nuclear weapons should not be used under "any

circumstances" and is building upon the 2010 NPT Review Conference where the phrase "deep

concern at the catastrophic humanitarian of any use of nuclear weapons" was first used.

The Chairman’s Summary at the 2013 NPT PrepCom reiterated States parties’ call for the

negotiation of a nuclear weapons convention.

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On 21 October, Ambassador Dell Higgie spoke on behalf of 125 States on the catastrophic

humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. The statement called for the total elimination of

nuclear weapons.

On 19 November, ICAN announced that the Red Cross and Red Crescent reconfirmed its

commitment to a nuclear ban. The movement’s highest governing body met in Sydney, Australia

and adopted a four-year action plan towards the elimination of nuclear weapons.

2014: On 13-14 February, Mexico hosted the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of

Nuclear Weapons. The Conference discussed the transnational and socioeconomic impacts of

nuclear weapons, highlighted the danger of nuclear accidents or abuse, and declared Austria as

the host of the Third Conference taking place next year. In addition, about 20 delegations, as

well as the Chair Summary, expressed their support for the elimination of nuclear weapons

through an official ban, diverging from the nuclear weapons states’ (NWS) policy of “step-by-

step” disarmament.

On 20 March, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which represents 164 parliaments, approved a

resolution supporting a “nuclear weapons convention or package of agreements” and urging

countries to initiate negotiations as soon as possible.

On 28 April-9 May, non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS) took an aggressive stance on nuclear

weapons in their statements at the 2014 Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference

of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Chile, Ireland, Cuba,

and the Holy See were part of the group of delegations calling for a global ban of nuclear

weapons, as opposed to a step-by-step disarmament method.

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