We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2010
There were two requests for advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice — the first from the World Health Organization (WHO), and the second from the United Nations General Assembly.
1 International Court of Justice, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion of 8 07 1996 Google Scholar (hereinafter referred to as “Opinion”), para. 1.
2 Opinion, para. 105(2)E.
3 Statute of the International Court of Justice (hereinafter referred to as “Statute”), Article 3.
4 Ibid., Article 59.
5 M. Shahabuddeen, Precedent In The World Court, Grotius Publications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, p. 171.
6 Statute, Article 34.
7 Ibid., Article 65.
8 Judge Oda, the lone dissenter on the Court's finding to render the advisory opinion, offers some insightful thoughts on this and related issues.
9 Dissenting Opinion Schwebel, p. 8.
10 See, for example, Statute, Articles 38(1) and 55(1).
11 Opinion, para. 52.
12 Ibid., para. 64.
13 Ibid., para. 67 and 74.
14 Ibid., para. 71.
15 Ibid., para. 73.
16 Ibid., para. 25.
17 Ibid., para. 26.
18 Ibid., para. 33.
19 Ibid., para. 34.
20 Ibid., para. 41.
21 Ibid., para. 105(2)C.
22 Ibid., para. 44.
23 Ibid., para. 54.
24 Ibid., para. 57.
25 Peace Treaties of 10 February 1947; State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria of 15 May 1955; Antarctic Treaty of 1 December 1959; Treaty of 5 August 1963 Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water; Treaty of 27 January 1967 on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies; Treaty of Tlatelolco of 14 February 1967 for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, and its Additional Protocols; Treaty of 1 July 1968 on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; Treaty of 11 February 1971 on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil thereof; Treaty of Rarotonga of 6 August 1985 on the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone of the South Pacific, and its Protocols; Treaty of 12 September 1990 on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany; the Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1995; the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone of 15 December 1995; and the Treaty on the Creation of the Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in Africa of 11 April 1996. The Court also considered UN Security Council Resolutions 255 (1968) and 984 (1995) addressing security assurances given by nuclear-weapon States to the non-nuclear-weapon States.
26 Opinion, para. 60.
27 Ibid., para 62.
28 Ibid., para. 105(2)A.
29 Ibid., para. 105(2)B.
30 Ibid., para. 74.
31 Ibid., para. 77, quoting Article 22 of the 1907 Hague Regulations relating to the laws and customs of war on land.
32 Ibid., para. 78.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid., para. 84.
35 Ibid., para. 89.
36 Ibid., para. 95.
37 Ibid., para. 105(2)D.
38 Ibid., para. 105(2)E.
39 Ibid., para. 99.
40 Ibid., para. 105(2)F.
41 Ibid., para. 46.
42 Ibid., para. 67.
