Statement to the UN First Committee: The Imperative of Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons

United Nations General Assembly

First Committee on Disarmament and International Security

Civil Society Presentation, 13 October 2022

Dr. John Burroughs, Senior Analyst, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy

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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.

In this circumstance, it is worth underlining some fundamentals of law relating to war and nuclear arms.

Read the full statement here.