Banning Nuclear Weapons

Human Rights advocate Alyn Ware shares behind the scenes story of how he and his legal team achieved and won the 1996 case against nuclear weapons in the International Court of Justice and the impact this has had on policy and practice. Mr. Ware explains why they chose to take the case to the International Court of Justice – regarding the US/NZ dispute over us banning nuclear warships; how they got to the court – beating the nuclear weapon states and their allies at the UN; how they won the case – despite a majority of judges from nuclear armed and allied states; and, how the opinion’s impact then and now.

Mr. Ware is a peace educator and international peace and disarmament campaigner. He is Co-founder and Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (USA), Peace and Disarmament Programs Director for the World Future Council (Germany), Director of the Basel Peace Office (Switzerland) and International Representative for Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace (the New Zealand affiliate of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms). He previously served as Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy(USA). He has won severalpeace awards including the Right Livelihood Award(Sweden), Alliance for Nuclear Accountability Award (USA), World Peace Award (Canada), United Nations International Year for Peace Award(NZ) and Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Award(NZ), and has been nominated a number of times for the Nobel Peace Prize.