Countermeasures to Ensure Compliance with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Obligations

Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law

“…While coercive measures to ensure compliance include countermeasures by international organizations and by States, 95 below the level of countermeasures States and international organizations may use retorsions, defined in the Commentary to the Articles on State Responsibility, as 'unfriendly' conduct which is not inconsistent with any international obligation of the State engaging in it even though it may be a response to an internationally wrongful act. 96 Such measures may include export or import limitations (unless excluded under treaty law), travel restrictions and enhanced activities of criminal prosecution to ensure compliance with non-proliferation obligations.…”

“…At the L'Aquila summit meeting held in July 2009, the Group of Eight (G8) countries agreed in their L'Aquila Statement on Non-Proliferation to 'implement [the NSG's 'clean text' of 20 November 2008] on a national basis in the next year' 93 (para 8). 95 Horner 2010, p. 45. However, the bringing into force of an Additional Protocol itself was not an absolute condition as, in an effort to accommodate Brazil, the rules allowed the Additional Protocol requirement to be met alternatively by having regional arrangements in place if they could offer similar levels of non-proliferation confidence.…”

“…95 Similarly, the words 'in association' or 'in alliance' with a NWS raise questions regarding the precise degree of involvement needed to allow nuclear retaliation. More particularly, the permissibility of the use or the threat of use of nuclear weapons in case of an attack by a NNWS 'in association or in alliance' with a NWS raises a number of problems.…”

“…Suffice it to say that countermeasures addressing nuclear proliferation and compliance with disarmament obligations would be consistent with preserving these requirements with specific emphasis on the Geneva Conventions, 1949. 95 Adopted at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Human Rights, San José, Costa Rica, 22 November 1969. Essentially, they are seeking to deter, or even eliminate, situations that give rise to activating the protections accorded under these various Conventions.…”