A Cloak for Proliferators? The Suspicions That Impede a Nuclear Weapons Convention

The idea of a nuclear weapons convention -- a global prohibition treaty banning the development, testing, stock-piling, and use of nuclear weapons -- enjoys legal support in the form of a July 1996 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice. Entitled the "Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons", the advisory opinion declares that states are obligated "to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control". The next few years are likely to be crucial in the realignment of groupings in disarmament forums. People may witness the collapse of the New Agenda Coalition and a splintering of the Non-Aligned Movement along moderate and more fundamentalist lines. This may well be a positive development if the result is that new, cohesive alliances adopt credible disarmament agendas that have more sway over the nuclear-weapon states.