The tiny Pacific nation state of Marshall Islands with a population of a little over 68,000 people is challenging the world’s nine nuclear powers before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in a lawsuit.
The ICJ in 1996 held unanimously that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations on nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control. The Marshall Islands nearly 18 years after will put to the test the claims of the nine states possessing nuclear arsenals that they are in compliance with international law regarding nuclear disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date. The lawsuit contends that all nine nuclear-armed nations are still violating customary international law.
The suit also says the five original nuclear weapon states (P5) are continuously breaching their legal obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Article VI of the NPT requires states to pursue negotiations in good faith on cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and nuclear disarmament.
Far from dismantling their weapons, the nuclear weapons states are accused of planning to spend over one trillion dollars on modernising their arsenals in the next decade. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “We must ask why these leaders continue to break their promises and put their citizens and the world at risk of horrific devastation.”
Tony de Brum, the foreign minister of Marshall Islands, was quoted as saying, “Our people have suffered the catastrophic and irreparable damage of these weapons, and we vow to fight so that no one else on earth will ever again experience these atrocities.” The continued existence of nuclear weapons and the terrible risk they pose to the world threaten us all, he added.
The ICJ in 1996 held unanimously that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations on nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control. The Marshall Islands nearly 18 years after will put to the test the claims of the nine states possessing nuclear arsenals that they are in compliance with international law regarding nuclear disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date. The lawsuit contends that all nine nuclear-armed nations are still violating customary international law.
The suit also says the five original nuclear weapon states (P5) are continuously breaching their legal obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Article VI of the NPT requires states to pursue negotiations in good faith on cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and nuclear disarmament.
Far from dismantling their weapons, the nuclear weapons states are accused of planning to spend over one trillion dollars on modernising their arsenals in the next decade. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “We must ask why these leaders continue to break their promises and put their citizens and the world at risk of horrific devastation.”
Tony de Brum, the foreign minister of Marshall Islands, was quoted as saying, “Our people have suffered the catastrophic and irreparable damage of these weapons, and we vow to fight so that no one else on earth will ever again experience these atrocities.” The continued existence of nuclear weapons and the terrible risk they pose to the world threaten us all, he added.
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