Commentary

LCNP Board member Elizabeth Shafer explores the persistent impact of racism on the nuclear field as well as the legacy of racism in nuclear weapons development and testing programs:

“Racism has been deeply embedded for decades in nuclear issues, as in all areas, in the U.S. and internationally. This issue must be addressed and attitudes toward it—often subtle but always crucial—must be confronted to resolve this dilemma.”

Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy invited esteemed colleagues for an informative discussion offering an overview the NIF's fusion achievement alongside an historical look at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab and its relevance to the US nuclear weapons program, an exploration of how this development implicates international law, and a critique of the relevance of the NIF to the development of nuclear fusion-driven energy.

Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, jointly with Western States Legal Foundation and IALANA Germany, made a submission in April 2023 to the United Nations Human Rights Council addressing the Russian Federation’s nuclear weapons policy and practice in advance of its upcoming Universal Periodic Review.

In response to the call for civil society organizations to share priorities and recommendations for a "New Agenda for Peace" ("the Agenda"), Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy offers the following comments, addressing in particular the commitments to (1) promote peace and prevent conflicts; and (2) abide by international law and ensure justice.

NEW YORK (IDN) — The recent US allegation of Russian noncompliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) cannot be adequately understood outside of the context of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

The Russian invasion, initiated nearly one year ago, was marked early on by insistent and illegal threats of nuclear use, intended to dissuade Western nuclear and nuclear-allied states from "interference" in Ukraine.

In January 2023, the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice hosted LCNP Executive Director Ariana Smith, LCNP Board Member and ICAN UN Liaison Seth Shelden, and former LCNP Intern and Center for International Policy Junior Fellow Hadeel Abu Ktaish for a dynamic conversation about law and nuclear weapons in the context of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. This event explored in particular the role of the TPNW and identified action items for all to engage disarmament advocacy.

The Biden Administration, at the end of last month, released its unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy (NDS) and Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

Once again, the world is grappling with the specter of nuclear warfare, this time with threatened use of nuclear arms serving as a shield for conventional military operations. That particular function has long been implicit and sometimes explicit in the doctrines, statements, and actions of at least the two most powerful nuclear-armed governments or elements within them. Never before, however, has this type of nuclear threat been so blatant. To compound the wrongfulness, the threat is in service of a clearcut war of aggression.

Creating a WMDFZ in the Middle East has been a key international priority for decades. Though the zone issue has long enjoyed broad regional and international support, it remains an unfulfilled obligation of the NPT’s indefinite extension in 1995. States have blamed one another for the elusive progress on the zone, disagreeing on the terms and sequence of events that would lead to its concretization. Nonetheless, ongoing dialogue and steps taken since 2018 have revived momentum and brought us closer to a zone than ever before.

The rising risk of conflict between nuclear weapon-possessing states turning nuclear and thus annihilative is undeniable today, in Ukraine and potentially in Taiwan and elsewhere. What deserves more attention is that this risk is exacerbated by emerging technology. However difficult in present circumstances, now more than ever nuclear powers must pursue effective arms control.