1996 Nuke judgement (4)

A: Yes, yes. Incidentally, I was once a visiting professor at Tokyo University, and I did a book on human rights in Japan. I studied that very closely. And I think your system of civil liberties commissioners, in Japan, should be followed by the whole world. I’ve even written a newspaper column on human rights in Japan.

Q: OK, Dr. Weeramantry, as for the last word, do you have anything to add to the ’96 ICJ advisory opinion?

A: Well, I think I have said the main things, which is this was a historic occasion, and the judgment of the court did help, but would have helped in a much bigger way if we could have had a total declaration of illegality. We came close to that but not fully.

But if we had done so and closed the loophole, then I think a nuclear weapon could not have been retained or could not have been manufactured by the new nuclear countries, and there would be a lot of pressure to indict as a violation of international law.

So, speaking for myself, I would have liked to have a judgment saying that it was totally illegal, but we didn’t achieve that, but we went some part of the way.

But there is room to put the judgment to good use if that last clause is implemented.

So, there is room for still achieving total prohibition if the last clause of the judgment, which is a unanimous judgment of all the judges of the court, is followed meticulously, which is that there is an obligation on all the nuclear powers in good faith to take steps towards ending their nuclear arsenals.

That can still be done, and if that is done, it will change the face of the human future.

Q: So you mean that the 1996 ICJ advisory opinion still has big importance?

A: It still is of great importance. Especially the last part of it, which lays down ...

Q: Point F?

A: Yeah. Which lays down the obligation of all nuclear powers in good faith to take meaningful steps to end their arsenals.

Q: What would you expect Japan to do?

A: I would expect Japan, as the only country that has been the victim of actual nuclear bombs, to tell the whole world as strongly as it can the terrible effects of the nuclear bomb that was dropped twice on their country, and to try to persuade the population of the world that nuclear weapons are weapons that cannot, for a moment, be contemplated in human society.

Q: You visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2001 and 2004.

A: Oh, I felt terribly and deeply saddened that such a thing should have ever have happened. And when you met the hibakusha and hear their stories individually, it makes you wonder how such a thing could ever have happened. And it also makes you think that every person holding power in the world should visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and see for themselves the terrible effects of a nuclear weapon, and hear the stories of the actual victims.

You know, people, they talk about the nuclear bomb in abstract, so to speak, without knowing the full realities of it. That is vital.

Q: What would you, yourself, like to do for that purpose?

A: Well, I am doing the best I can to spread my awareness of the sufferings of the victims and the dangers of the bomb and the illegality of the whole thing. I am doing it as best I can.

But it needs public opinion to be built up. It also needs an educational process in the schools about international law and humanitarian law. And I think that all schools in the world should have some element of teaching, firstly about international law, which is very simple and can be easily put to students as far as general teachings are concerned, and also to try to break down the barriers between countries due to a lack of understanding of the civilizations of other countries.

You are born into a sort of box of your own civilization and know nothing about the other civilizations of the world. I think modern education has to break this down, especially because the children of today are going to be the global citizens of tomorrow. So we have to give them an inter-cultural understanding that this is very important, and governments all over the world are failing in doing this.

I would expect that a government of Japan would play a leadership role in this, and I see that they have played a leadership role, in many areas, but this is one area which urgently demands their attention.

Q: Thank you very much, Dr. Weeramantry.

A: I hope that will get communicated to the “powers that be.”