Pugwash Conference – Nobel Peace Prize winner
Noble Peace Prize Laureate Joseph Rotblat introduces himself, the Pugwash Conference and discusses the winning of the Noble Prize. Professor Rotblat then considers international security in the pre- and post- nuclear age, during the Cold War, and after.
Professor Rotblat considers the role of international law as it relates to nuclear weapons and the relevance of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Use or Threat of Use of Nuclear Weapons.
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Lisa Tabassi, Legal Officer in the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) located in the Hague, speaks of the history of the banning of chemical weapons through to the establishment of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Ms. Tabassi, introduces the function of the OPCW, and goes on to explain the obligations of States Party to incoporate the CWC within their domestic legal system. Ms. Tabassi then goes on to explain what a chemical weapon is, their possible use by non-State actors, and a day in the life of a Legal Officer at the OPCW.
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization
Peter Hulsroj, Legal Advisor to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organizations (CTBTO) speaks about his Organization and his role as the legal advisor in an organization dedicated to non-proliferation.
Mr. Hulsroj considers the role of an inter-governmental organization which has been established before its treaty has come into force; the obligations this creates on States which have signed (but not ratified) the treaty and the relationship between the CTBTO and its arms-length relationship with the United Nations.
Links
United Nations and Disarmament
IUse of Threat of Use of Nuclear Weapons Adivsory Opinion
Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organizations
Pugwash Conference and the 1955 Russell–Einstein Manifesto