LCNP eNews May 2023

May 2023

Dear Friend,

Since our last eNews, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy made a new submission to the UN Human Rights Council in advance of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Russian Federation. We also joined in IALANA Germany's submission to Germany's UPR. Each of these submissions analyzed its subject's nuclear weapon policy and practice for non/compliance with international human rights law. You can read an excerpt from our submission on Russia below. Previously, we have made submissions to the Council on the United States as well as similar submissions to the UN Human Rights Committee, the governing body of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on Russia, France, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Looking toward multilateral venues where disarmament progress may still be made this year, the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as well as the Working Group on further strengthening the review process of the NPT, will meet mid-summer in Vienna. We are preparing contributions to these meetings now. The upcoming PrepCom has its work cut out for it following on the heels of the 10th NPT Review Conference last August, which could not produce an agreed-upon outcome document amidst Russia's hostilities in Ukraine and the deteriorating diplomatic disarmament environment. Later this fall, both the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security session and the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons take place in New York City. Keep up with our work among these forums and more in between our eNews editions via social media, linked just below this letter, and the LCNP website.

This month, LCNP also welcomed its newest intern, Lauren Ehlers. Lauren traveled to New York from Germany for this opportunity and will be supporting LCNP's research and advocacy efforts this summer—meet her below!

Kind regards,

Ariana Smith

Executive Director

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Introducing: Lauren Ehlers

We're very happy to welcome Lauren Ehlers as LCNP's newest summer intern!

Lauren Elaine Ehlers is a law school graduate from Germany. She studied German Law with a focus on legal drafting and dispute resolution and participated in the Foreign Law and Language Program focusing on Common Law at the University of Münster. In 2018, she was an exchange student at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain. Lauren has been an intern at the legal department of a public university and law firms in Germany and the United States. She previously worked as a legal research assistant in the litigation and dispute resolution department at Clifford Chance in Germany before starting her internship at Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy in New York City this summer.

When asked what she is most looking forward to this summer, Lauren says:

"As someone being interested in international law, international relations, and politics, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and look forward to contributing to its mission while gaining invaluable experience in the area of nuclear disarmament as an integral part of creating a safer and more secure environment."

Welcome, Lauren!

Submission to the UN Human Rights Council:

Universal Periodic Review | Russian Federation

This fall, both Russia and Germany will have their Universal Periodic Review by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UPR process evaluates all UN member states on a cyclical basis, every four years, reviewing their human rights records and offering each state an opportunity to identify recent steps taken to fulfill human rights obligations and to improve the human rights situations in their countries. In advance of the UPR, civil society organizations are also invited to make submissions in review of the relevant member states.

Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy drafted a submission to the Council focusing on Russia's recent actions in violation of international human rights law, particularly as applied to its numerous disturbing and unlawful nuclear threats issued since the beginning of the Russian Federation's aggressive invasion of Ukraine.

Below is an excerpt of our submission:

Russian policy, doctrine, and practice regarding threat or use of nuclear weapons stands in violation of the ICCPR right to life as interpreted by the Human Rights Committee, in particular its finding that threat or use of nuclear weapons is incompatible with respect for the right to life.

The official military strategy of the Russian Federation, published in December 2014 and revised in 2021, states that the Russian Federation “shall reserve for itself the right to employ nuclear weapons in response to the use against it and/or its allies of nuclear and other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, as well as in the case of aggression against the Russian Federation with use of conventional weapons when the state’s very existence has been threatened.” Analysts have commented that statements made by Russian military officials and articles in Russian military journals envisage use of nuclear arms in circumstances going beyond those identified in the military strategy, for example first use of nuclear arms in a regional conflict.

On the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 24 February 2022, President Vladimir Putin said: “[F]or those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside, ... they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.” This is a legally cognizable threat, both credible and specific in form. It expresses a readiness to resort to force should addressee states "interfere” in Russian military operations in Ukraine. Moreover, especially when combined with invocations at other times of Russia’s nuclear weapons capabilities, "consequences ... such as you have never seen" is meant to be understood as a reference to use of nuclear weapons.

Threats made by President Putin and other Russian officials are violations of the right to life as codified in the ICCPR, because, as the Human Rights Committee found: "threat or use of ... nuclear weapons, which are indiscriminate in effect and are of a nature to cause destruction of human life on a catastrophic scale, is incompatible with respect for the right to life and may amount to a crime under international law." Such threats are also illegal under international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter...

Find the full submission here.

LCNP also joined in IALANA Germany's submission to the Council, which focused on the illegality of German "nuclear sharing"—the deployment of US nuclear weapons in Germany with procedures for German delivery of the weapons in a time of war.

Nuclear Fusion "Breakthrough"?

Save the date for panel discussion: June 8, 2 PM ET

Keep an eye out for a forthcoming email invitation to join us for a virtual panel discussion about the National Ignition Facility's fusion ignition "breakthrough" in December 2022. We will discuss the history of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, what this development actually means, and its relevance to the US nuclear weapons program.

Featured speakers:

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Livermore

John Burroughs, Senior Analyst, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy

M.V. Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security, University of British Columbia

Ariana Smith, Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy