event
Lex Mundi Nova webinar series
Wednesday
27
May
ICJ

The obligation to pursue good faith negotiations leading to the total elimination of nuclear weapons, thirty years after the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion

Hans Kristensen, Nick Ritchie, John Burroughs, Professor Scott Sagan
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Online

The Lex Mundi Nova Webinar Series is convened by Horizon 2045, in partnership with the Geneva Graduate Institute, the University of Johannesburg, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy (LCNP) and International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) 

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Webinar 4: The obligation to pursue good faith negotiations leading to the total elimination of nuclear weapons, thirty years after the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion

 

It has been said that, as a result of the Court’s ambiguous response to the question of the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, the ICJ AO “is likely to become all things to all States and fail to influence State conduct”. Yet beyond its response to the question put to it, the Court made a unanimous finding that States have an obligation to pursue and conclude negotiations in good faith “leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control”. How has the conduct of States, in particular nuclear-armed States, been influenced, if at all, by this part of the ICJ’s AO? How is the fulfilment of this obligation to be appraised, notably “good faith” efforts?

 

Speakers

  • The state of play of nuclear disarmament negotiations, 30 years after the ICJ AO – Hans Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists
  • Making sense of nuclear disarmament in the polycrisis age – Nick Ritchie, University of York
  • Assessing fulfillment of the obligation to negotiate nuclear disarmament in good faith – John Burroughs, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) and International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA)
  • Good faith negotiations leading to the total elimination of nuclear weapons – Professor Scott Sagan, Caroline S. G. Munro Memorial Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

The Lex Mundi Nova webinar series explores the legacy of the landmark 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons. By examining the ruling itself, the shifts in international law and new science in the last three decades, and emerging technological and geopolitical risks—from nuclear testing, to AI, to warfare in space—the series will ultimately consider whether the ruling’s ambiguities and gaps can and should be resolved in light of today’s legal and evidentiary realities. 

With partners and expert panelists from around the world, the series will examine key developments in international law since 1996 relevant to the legality of nuclear weapons including international humanitarian law (IHL), international human rights law (IHRL), international environmental law (IEL), and the rights of future generations, against the backdrop of significant new scientific evidence of the humanitarian, environmental, and socio-economic consequences of nuclear weapons. 

The series will consider the progress and setbacks in fulfilling the Court’s unanimous ruling that States are under an obligation to pursue in good faith and conclude negotiations to achieve nuclear disarmament in all its aspects. It will also probe the Court’s controversial decision to leave a critical question unresolved: whether the threat or use of nuclear weapons would be lawful or unlawful in an extreme circumstance of self-defense where a State’s survival is at stake. 

Finally, the series will consider the legal obligations that may be triggered by emerging and complex risks, such as artificial intelligence in nuclear command, control and communications systems, and the placement of nuclear weapons in outer space.

Click HERE for more information on Lex Mundi Nova and the entire webinar series

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