Abstract
Nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and security need to be pursued and implemented through international cooperation. This volume looks into global and regional challenges, indigenous and environmental concerns. It examines various social and technological tasks, to increase and to improve a common understanding of the security and safety issues involved in this important area requiring attention on an international and coordinated level. Emerging norms and future development of this branch of international law are discussed from different positions and perspectives highlighting concerns and presenting suggestions for good practice.
Jonathan L. Black-Branch, Chair of the ILA Committee on Nuclear Weapons, Non-Proliferation and Contemporary International Law and President and CEO of ISLAND The Foundation for International Society of Law and Nuclear Disarmament.
Dieter Fleck, Dr. iur. (Cologne), Former Director International Agreements & Policy, Federal Ministry of Defence, Germany; Member of the Advisory Board of the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL); Rapporteur of the ILA Committee on Nuclear Weapons, Non-Proliferation and Contemporary International Law; Honorary President, International Society for Military Law and the Law of War.
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Notes
- 1.
SC Res 1540 (2004) has obligated UN Member States to adopt and enforce ‘appropriate effective measures’ to account for, secure and protect nuclear material; there are, however, no international standards for compliance, neither is compliance internationally controlled.
- 2.
Henry A. Kissinger, George P. Schultz, William J. Perry, and Sam Nunn, ‘Toward a Nuclear-Free World’, The Wall Street Journal (15 January 2008), https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120036422673589947. See also WMDC Report 2006 and Commentary Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security? U.S. Weapons of Terror, the Global Proliferation Crisis, and Paths to Peace (May 2007), http://wmdreport.org/pages/nucleardisorder-announce.htm (‘So long as any State has such weapons—especially nuclear arms—others will want them. So long as any such weapons remain in any State’s arsenal, there is a high risk that they will one day be used, by design or accident. Any such use would be catastrophic.’); Open Letter (21 September 2020), written by past leaders, foreign ministers and defence ministers of Albania, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey in Support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, www.ccnr.org/TPNW_Open_Letter_2020.pdf. See also Black-Branch 2021.
- 3.
- 4.
Fleck 2020.
- 5.
Black-Branch and Fleck 2020.
- 6.
Crawford 2018.
- 7.
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons—NPT—(1 July 1968), 729 UNTS 161.
- 8.
This Tenth NPT Review Conference had to be postponed due to COVID 19 pandemics. It was tentatively envisioned to be held in the period 2–27 August 2021, https://www.un.org/en/conferences/npt2020. That date has, however, not been confirmed as yet.
- 9.
ILC (2018) Draft Conclusions on Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice in Relation to the Interpretation of Treaties, with Commentaries, adopted by the International Law Commission at its Seventieth Session, in 2018, and submitted to the General Assembly as a Part of the Commission’s Report on the Work of that Session (A/73/10), https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/commentaries/1_11_2018.pdf.
- 10.
International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Terrorism (13 April 2005), 2445 UNTS 89.
- 11.
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (29 September 1997), IAEA Document GOV/INF/821-GC(41)/INF/12, INFCIRC/546.
- 12.
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, UN Doc A/CONF.229/2017/8 (7 July 2017); UNGA Res 72/31 (11 December 2017), entered into force on 22 January 2021, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26. For a recent and more comprehensive assessment, see Hill 2021.
- 13.
See also: Black-Branch 2021.
- 14.
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (10 September 1996), adopted by General Assembly Resolution 50/245 (10 September 1996), 35 ILM 1439, http://www.ctbto.org/fileadmin/content/treaty/treaty_text.pdf, see SC Res 2310 (2016).
References
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Black-Branch, J.L., Fleck, D. (2021). Nuclear Non-proliferation, Disarmament and Security: Prevailing Legal Challenges. In: Black-Branch, J.L., Fleck, D. (eds) Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law - Volume VI. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-463-1_1
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