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Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2018

Melina Lito
Melina Lito*
Affiliation:
Melina Lito, Esq. is a public international law attorney with experience in international security and human rights issues. She is the founder of a boutique international law advisory and mediation firm advising the UN community on these matters including on disarmament. This article is written in a neutral and informative capacity and does not constitute legal advice.
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Extract

Those who have been following international headlines for the past year can observe the increased prevalence of discussions on nuclear weapons, including between the United States and North Korea. In the margins of the discussions, the law and policy discussions around nuclear non-proliferation become very relevant. After all, the devastating humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons are very clear. “Studies have shown that the detonation of nuclear weapons would cause widespread death, injury and damage, especially if it occurred in or near a populated area.” There would be extensive casualties from severe burns and blunt force trauma that would occur in the moments after the detonation, as a result of blast effects and the release of thermal radiation. As such, most communities would not necessarily have the capacity to enact appropriate response mechanisms. “[A]ssessments undertaken by the ICRC have highlighted that there is a lack of capacity in most countries and at the international level to adequately respond to a nuclear detonation, and to provide assistance that would benefit a substantial portion of survivors in the aftermath.” Amid these considerations, the first-ever nuclear ban treaty, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Treaty), was negotiated in the halls of the UN headquarters in New York. Before analyzing the Treaty itself, a word on how it came about and the legal framework that preceded it.

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 347 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 Lou Maresca & Eleanor Mitchell, The Human Costs and Legal Consequences of Nuclear Weapons Under International Humanitarian Law, Int'l Rev. Red Cross (July 5, 2016), at https://www.icrc.org/en/international-review/article/human-costs-and-legal-consequences-nuclear-weapons-under-international, p. 624.

2 Id.

3 Id. at 625.

4 Id.

5 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, July 7, 2017, 729 UNTS 161 [hereinafter Nuclear Ban Treaty].

6 John Burroughs, A Transformational Moment in Nuclear & International Affairs, Inter Press Service (Apr. 3, 2017), at http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/04/a-transformational-moment-in-nuclear-international-affairs/; see also, Reaching Critical Will, Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Oslo 2013, Nayarit 2014 and Vienna 2014, available at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/disarmament-fora/hinw.

7 Report of the Open-Ended Working Group Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations, UN Doc. A/71/371, ¶ 67 (Sept. 1, 2016), available at https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/276/39/PDF/N1627639.pdf?OpenElement.

8 Ellen Policinski, Majority of Governments Vote for Negotiations to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Int'l Rev. Red Cross (Aug. 29, 2016), at http://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2016/08/29/negotiations-nuclear-weapons-ban-treaty/.

9 GA Res. 71/258, ¶¶ 6, 8 (Dec. 23, 2016).

10 Id. ¶ 10.

11 Melina Lito, A Global Ban on Nuclear Weapons: Are We There Yet?, Humanitarian Law & Pol'y (May 30, 2017), at https://medium.com/law-and-policy/a-global-ban-on-nuclear-weapons-are-we-there-yet-b9dce9327882.

12 John Burroughs, The Nuclear Ban Treaty, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (Aug. 2017), available at http://myemail.constantcontact.com/LCNP-eNews-The-Nuclear-Ban-Treaty.html?soid=1114995572407&aid=rb54dnpxZko.

13 iCAN, Signature/ratification Status of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, at http://www.icanw.org/status-of-the-treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons/.

14 See UNODA, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, available at https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/ctbt/; see also Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, UN Doc. A/RES/50/245 (Sept. 17, 1996).

15 Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, 1996 ICJ Rep. 226 (July 8), p. 44.

16 Id.

17 Id.

18 Id.

19 Nuclear Ban Treaty, supra note 3, preambular ¶¶ 4, 8, 15.

20 Id. operative ¶¶ 17–20.

21 Nuclear Ban Treaty, supra note 5, operative ¶¶ 17-20.

22 UNODA, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, available at https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/ctbt/. See also Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, UN Doc. A/RES/50/245 (Sept. 17, 1996).