UN Office
International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
eNews, September 2018
  
Amid current disruptions to global order, LCNP has two overarching concerns: the marked erosion of international law, and the increased danger of nuclear conflict. On the latter point, in a compelling recent talk at the Harvard Club of New York City, LCNP President Guy Quinlan examined how risks are rising partly due to changes in technology (AI, cyber hacking, faster delivery systems). Entitled "Self-Assured Destruction: U.S. Defense Policy in the Nuclear Era," the talk took off from Daniel Ellsberg's recent book, The Doomsday Machine. On the positive side, in May we joined other groups in Geneva in putting forward a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons based on respect for human rights and safeguarding the interests of future generations.
 
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Sincerely,
 
 
 
 
 
John Burroughs 
Executive Director 
 
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Nuclear - and Climate - Crossroads  

US and Russian plans for new nuclear weapons mark no less than the beginning of a new nuclear arms race, and blatantly disregard the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which declares the "intention to achieve at the earliest possible date the cessation of the nuclear arms race." See Nuclear Crossroads, an IALANA analysis, and an in-depth Truthdig piece, U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Racing: Still Crazy After All These Years, by Andrew Lichterman of IALANA affiliate Western States Legal Foundation and LCNP's John Burroughs.

Whether this summer's Helsinki Summit will change things for the better is most uncertain. In the US, that meeting has been discussed almost entirely in terms of Trump's alignment with Putin rather than US intelligence agencies regarding Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Certainly there is justifiable cause for concern, even alarm, regarding Trump's behavior. But it is also true that US-Russian relations are not only about the two leaders; they are about two governments and two societies, and given the nuclear arsenals of the two countries, they are about the entire world. So the two governments should press forward on extension of New START, which will expire in 2021, and more.
 
It is not only US-Russian relations that are at grave risk of further deterioration. Global governance since World War II has been structured through international law. While obviously imperfect, this "rules-based international order," to use a current formulation, has been essential to the avoidance of global war and nuclear conflict and to the achievement of a host of other objectives, economic, environmental, and more. That order is now under assault.
No Nukes, No Wars, No Walls, No Warming section (on right) of street mural, Rise for Climate, Jobs & Justice march.
The US withdrawal, effective in 2020, from the Paris climate accord is one highly disturbing element of the assault. So we were very happy to co-sponsor the inspiring participation of an anti-nuclear contingent, organized primarily by Western States Legal Foundation, in the large march Rise for Climate, Jobs & Justice in San Francisco on September 8. WSLF Executive Director Jackie Cabasso, a member of the LCNP Consultative Council, wrote an excellent mission statement for the contingent, echoing themes well laid out in the 2016 World Future Council publication Climate-Nuclear Nexus to which LCNP contributed.
 
In the nuclear sphere, the most flagrant element of the assault is the US violation of the multilateral agreement with Iran limiting its nuclear program, the Joint Common Plan of Action (JCPOA), and of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses and integrates the JCPOA. For in-depth analysis of political and legal aspects of the US action, see Nuclear Crossroads; see also this opinion piece in The Hill by Jonathan Granoff, President of Global Security Institute and LCNP Board member. As we have been advocating at the UN, the other parties to the JCPOA - Iran, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Germany, and European Union - must work to ensure the continued implementation of the JCPOA and Resolution 2231.
 
On yet another front, with the exchange of threats between North Korea and the United States in 2017, the world probably was the closest it has been to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The apparent, if fragile, resolution of the crisis is therefore most welcome. Key elements are the North Korean suspension of nuclear and missile testing, the suspension of US-South Korean military exercises, and the determined efforts of the South Korean government to change the paradigm. Talks now should aim for both a peace regime and the eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Safeguarding the Interests of Future Generations
 
IALANA co-sponsored a fascinating and important discussion on human rights, future generations and nuclear weapons held May 1 at an NPT PrepCom side-event in Geneva. Panelists delved into legal and moral responsibilities to future generations and the application to nuclear weapons of human rights law and international humanitarian law, reinforced by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Dr. Andreas Nidecker of the Basel Peace Office and Swiss IPPNW stated the case strongly: "In general, current law fails to safeguard the rights of future generations. But that doesn't make failure defensible, sustainable, or in accord with legal principles. Evolution of this area of law is necessary and inevitable." Other speakers were IALANA
Alyn Ware, Daniel Rietiker, Andreas Nidecker, Emilie Gaillard, Marzhan Nurzhan.
  board members Prof. Emilie Gaillard and Dr. Daniel Rietiker, and Alyn War e and Marzhan N urzhan of Basel Peace Office. See the report written by LCNP  consultant Seth Shelden and view the video.

World Peace Through Law!

Ved Nanda, member of the LCNP Consultative Council, has a recent op-ed in the Denver Post, For humanity's sake, it's time to abolish nuclear weapons. Last spring the International Law Section of the American Bar Association awarded Professor Nanda the Louis B. Sohn Award for Public International Law. John Burroughs and Jackie Cabasso joined him on a workshop panel on nuclear weapons issues organized by the World Peace Through Law section of the Arizona State Bar Association at the association's annual conference in Phoenix in June.
 
Also well worth your attention: LCNP Board member James Ranney's book World Peace Through Law: Replacing War with the Global Rule of Law, published this year by Routledge. It's highly informative and insightful - and unusually for books in this genre, very readable.