Legal Aspects of Nuclear Weapons: A Bird's-Eye View of International Law and Nuclear Weapons V. 1

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1 Gro Nystuen, Legal Aspects of Nuclear Weapons: A Bird's-Eye View of International Law and Nuclear Weapons 1 (2015)

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LPI

Introduction

The reality today is that nuclear weapons are
being produced, maintained, and stockpiled in
many parts of the world. In spite of this fact, a rel-
atively high level of what might be called nuclear
weapons complacency still manifests itself in dis-
cussions on global security policy. The doctrine
of nuclear deterrence, which essentially holds
that certain states must have nuclear weapons in
order to ensure that they will never be used, has
been dominant. It has been matched by a percep-
tion among some policy makers that the awful-
ness of the humanitarian consequences of use of
nuclear weapons adds to the safety and sustain-
ability of nuclear deterrence, because those who
have them will do whatever needs to be done to
avoid nuclear weapon use and its impacts. (The

third paper in this series explores some problems
with these perceptions. )2
Meanwhile, the legality of nuclear weapons has
been subject to sometimes heated debate for dec-
ades. This paper offers a humanitarian approach
in looking at how international law is important
with regard to nuclear weapons. It takes the per-
spective of those who would be impacted by their
use-both the direct short- and long-term con-
sequences (such as health issues), and the more
indirect short- and long-term consequences (such
as environmental damage). The actual protection
under international law against being subject to
nuclear weapons detonations is fundamental to
this discussion.

Dr Gro Nystuen is a senior partner at the International Law and Policy Institute.

)UNIDIR