Governments at NPT Prep Com urged to replace nuclear deterrence with common security.
Parliamentarians, youth and other civil society representatives addressed the States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on Wednesday last week (April 30), with a number of them urging the governments to reduce the risks of nuclear war and advance global nuclear disarmament by replacing nuclear deterrence with common security. In particular, they called upon governments to enhance the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to resolve international conflicts and help provide security through law not war.
“Enhancing the use of common security mechanisms, such as the United Nations and the ICJ, to bolster national and regional security can enable states to gradually phase out reliance on nuclear deterrence and military defense and redirect resources toward climate protection and sustainable development,” said Hon Ms Rabea Abouras, Member of Parliament from Libya, a country which relinquished its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and has resolved a number of its international disputes through the International Court of Justice.
“The International Court of Justice has demonstrated in numerous contentious cases and advisory opinions that it can successfully address aggression including the threat or use of nuclear weapons, territorial conflicts and other threats to the peace,” said Ms Sophie Rigg, Strategy Advisor for the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy.
“Despite its lack of direct enforcement powers, compliance with ICJ decisions is very robust. In 2023, for example, ICJ President Joan Donoghue told the UN Security Council that there has been compliance with the vast majority of cases decided by the International Court of Justice to date,” reported Ms Rigg. “Increased use of the court – and broader acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICJ – would build confidence in the capacity of common security to replace nuclear deterrence.”
“This point was made strongly in the civil society statement Common Security v. Nuclear Weapons: How to replace the current reliance on nuclear deterrence with sustainable security for all, endorsed by 170 organizations from 39 countries (mostly from nuclear-armed and allied countries) and which was presented to the 2023 NPT Prep Com in Vienna,” said Ms Rigg. “The analysis and recommendations from that statement remain relevant to the NPT Prep Com today.”
“The ICJ has proven its value in resolving nearly 200 cases, with all parties to the disputes accepting the court’s decisions in most cases,” said high-school student Mr Rehan Mahmood on behalf of Youth Fusion. “But many disputes don’t reach the court for resolution because less than half of UN Member states accept its compulsory jurisdiction. We therefore support the declaration made by Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and 23 other countries calling on all countries to accept ICJ jurisdiction.”
Ms Abouras, presented an appeal on behalf of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament to the States Parties to the NPT calling on them to, amongst other things, accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ if they have not already done so, strengthen the security assurances provided to states that relinquish nuclear weapons either unilaterally (like Libya and Ukraine) or as part of nuclear-weapon-free zones, and responding positively to the upcoming ICJ advisory opinion on climate change, including initiating negotiations for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty modeled after the NPT, to end fossil fuel extraction and emissions and accelerate the transition to a global green economy.
Ms Rigg highlighted nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament commitments agreed by governments in the Pact for the Future adopted at the 2024 Summit of the Future, and called for implementation of these by “phasing out the reliance on nuclear deterrence and commencing negotiations on a mutual, verifiable framework for eliminating nuclear weapons globally no later than 2045, the 75th anniversary of the NPT and the 100th anniversary of the United Nations.”
See full statements to the NPT Plenary of Rabea Abouras, Sophie Rigg and Rehan Mahmood
Side events on the ICJ and common security
The ideas and proposals on common security, the ICJ and nuclear disarmament presented to the NPT plenary meeting were followed up in side-events on May 1 on The International Court of Justice and the Climate-Nuclear Nexus and Common security and nuclear deterrence in a turbulent world.
The climate-nuclear nexus event explored the impact of the 1996 ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, its relevance to the pending ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, what we can expect the ICJ to deliver in the climate case and how to maximise its impact. This could possibly include follow-up contentious cases in the ICJ on climate change to challenge specific states that continue violating their obligations to protect the climate for current and future generations.
The second event explored common security alternatives to nuclear deterrence, including enhanced use of the ICJ and good offices for peace and mediation (such as those of the UN Secretary-General and Switzerland), and how to encourage governments reliant on nuclear deterrence to replace this with common security.
In general, the statements and side events held that in our increasingly inter-connected and globalized world, Common Security mechanisms including the ICJ have the relevance and potential to meet current and emerging security issues, reduce tensions, resolve international conflicts, build accountability for climate protection and ensure sustainable peace.