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BU Legal Expert Answers Commons Questions on Nuclear Weapons

8 February 2007

BU Law Professor Nick Grief has provided expert testimony before the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

Professor Grief joined a prestigious panel of experts at the Committee session on January 30th.

He was there to express his concerns on the legal aspects of the UK Government’s decision to retain and renew the Trident nuclear missile system.

The session is part of the Committee’s wider inquiry into the Government’s White Paper on the future of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent.

Professor Grief told the Committee that even to maintain the [nuclear] deterrent raises issues under Article 6 of the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The Treaty requires the UK to negotiate in good faith towards nuclear disarmament - an obligation emphasised by the International Court of Justice.

“The Article 6 obligation is elaborated upon by agreements reached at the end of the 2000 NPT review conference when the states parties agreed on a number of practical steps, one of which commits them to a decreasing reliance upon nuclear weapons in their security policies”, he continued.

Later in the proceedings, Professor Grief was asked specifically whether he agreed that the replacement of the submarines, as such, could not be considered an illegal act, to which he replied:

“I agree that the replacement of the submarines, as such, would not be considered illegal. My problem is the maintenance of the [nuclear] deterrent.

I do not see in the White Paper sufficient evidence of movement on the part of the Government in the direction of nuclear disarmament and, therefore, in the direction of fulfilling the obligations of Article 6.”

The Defence Committee is examining the Government’s analysis of deterrent options, solutions and costs and considering the respective merits of land-based, air-based, ship-based and submarine-based options.

It is also considering the international treaty implications of the Government’s decision to retain and renew the deterrent and the possible impact of the decision on the UK’s non-proliferation efforts.

The other experts joining Professor Grief in the House of Commons were Professor Christopher Greenwood QC (London School of Economics), Professor Steven Haines (Royal Holloway College, University of London) and Professor Philippe Sands QC (University College London).

Professor Grief is the Steele Raymond LLP Professor of Law at Bournemouth University and a practising barrister – an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers, London.

He specialises in international law, human rights and EU law. He has been speaking and writing on the legal status of nuclear weapons since the early 1980s.

Over the last 20 years he has appeared in several cases concerning the legality of Trident or related matters, such as legal challenges to military expenditure, mostly as an expert witness.

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