Click here to register 
Download the event flyer
Concept
On July 8, 1996, the ICJ delivered an historic Advisory Opinion (AO) on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, in which it affirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally contrary to international law, and that there is a universal and unconditional obligation to pursue, and bring to a conclusion, negotiations on nuclear disarmament in all its aspects.
The AO has helped consolidate a norm of non-use of nuclear weapons, possibly preventing such use. It has also contributed to the development of law protecting future generations, and has provided inspiration for subsequent advisory opinions on critical global issues, including the recent ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States with Respect to Climate Change.
However, the AO remains only partially implemented. Nuclear Weapon States and their allies have not relinquished nuclear deterrence policies (the general threat to use nuclear weapons). Nor have they concluded negotiations on comprehensive nuclear disarmament. This event will consider the legal implications and political impact of the nuclear weapons opinion, and what more must be done to ensure its full implementation.
The event will also consider the lessons from the AO on nuclear weapons for the more recent Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States with respect to Climate Change, and its full implementation. This includes possibilities of follow-up legal action in domestic, regional and international courts, including potential contentious cases in the International Court of Justice.
In addition, the event will consider the AO process in general, with respect to aggression and other critical global issues, including the proposed AO on the Legal Limits to the use of the Security Council veto, with a special screening of The Veto.
This is one of a number of events planned around the world to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, including the Horizon 2045 Lex Mundi Nova webinar series and Mayors for Peace Flag Day.
Photos and videos from this event are uploaded to the event Linked-In page and the event facebook page.
Program
Wednesday July 8
Venue: Asser Institute - Centre for European and International Law, R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22, Den Haag 2517 JN
Short bios of the speakers and moderators
10:30 Registration
11:00 Opening Session: The Roles of the ICJ and its Advisory Opinions: Introduction to the ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons
Moderator:
- Dr. Deepshikha Kumari Vijh (USA), Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. Director, UN office for IALANA
Welcoming comments:
- Prof. Dr. Machiko Kanetake (Netherlands). Academic Director, Asser Institute.
- Peter Kievoet (Netherlands). Director of the International Affairs Department, Municipality of The Hague.
Speakers:
- Philippe Couvreur (Belgium), Judge ad hoc (2019– ), former Registrar (2000–2019) and former Principal Legal Secretary (1995–2000) of the International Court of Justice. Former Judge ad hoc of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (2023–2026) and ICSID Arbitrator (2021–2025). Member of the Institut de droit international and Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of Spain;
- Phon van den Biesen (Netherlands), Co-President, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. Co-Agent of the Marshall Islands in the ICJ case agains Nuclear Weapon States.
12:20 Lunch
13:20 Panel 1. Further reflections on the ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons
Moderator:
- Jacqueline Cabasso (USA). Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation. North America Coordinator, Mayors for Peace. Coordinating Committee Member, Abolition 2000 global network to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Speakers:
- Prof. Nico Schrijver (Netherlands). Emeritus Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University. Former State Councillor. Former Senator, Former Judge Ad Hoc International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
- Amela Skiljan (Germany), LL.M.Eur. (University of Bremen). Co-Chair, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) Germany.
- John Burroughs (USA), Senior Analyst, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy;
- Charles Moxley (USA), Adjunct Professor of Law, Fordham Law School. Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators (online).
15:10: Coffee break
15:30 Panel 2. The ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change
Moderator:
- Neshan Gunasekera (Sri Lanka/Germany), CEO, World Future Council. Deputy Chair, Ethics Specialist Group, International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Speakers:
- Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh (Netherlands), Associate Professor of Sustainability Law, University of Amsterdam. Member of the Vanuatu legal team for the ICJ AO on Climate Change.
- Prof. Cristiane Derani (Brazil), Director of Programs, Academic Relations, Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty. Professor of Public International Law and International Economic Law at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Group Chair, Ethics Specialist Group, International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
- Julius Kruse (Germany/Netherlands), Student, Leiden University. Volunteer, Strategic Support to the World Future Council;
- Alexandre Chao Viso (Belgium). European Front Campaigner and Brussels Chapter Lead, World's Youth for Climate Justice.
17:00 Concluding comments for Day 1 and announcements
- Phon van den Biesen (Netherlands), Co-President, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. Co-Agent of the Marshall Islands in the ICJ case agains Nuclear Weapon States.
19:00 Conference dinner: Vinostra Restaurant, Aert van der Goesstraat 40
Dinner discussion moderated by Rebecca Shoot, Co-convenor, ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions. Co-founder, LAW not War. Chair Washington Working Group on the ICC
Dinner Speakers:
- Judge Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, Member of the International Court of Justice
- Dr. Arthur Eyffinger, Head Librarian of the International Court of Justice (1988-2003)
Note: A dinner ticket is required to attend.
Thursday July 9
Venue: Asser Institute - Centre for European and International Law, R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22, Den Haag 2517 JN
9:oo Registration and Coffee
9:15 Special Session: Lex Mundi Nova webinar series: 30th anniversary of the nuclear weapons ICJ AO
Moderator:
- Jan Hoekema (Netherlands). Chair, Netherlands Section of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Member of Parliament (1994-2003). Mayor of Wassenar (2007-2017).
Speaker:
- Kathleen Lawand (Switzerland), Senior adviser, Horizon 2045 and Co-director, Lex Mundi Nova initiative
9:45 Panel 3. Nuclear weapons and international human rights law
Moderator:
- Natia Ninoshvili (Georgia/Czech Republic). Under-graduate student in International Relations with a concentration in international law, Anglo-American University. Program Officer, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament. Core Team Member, Youth Fusion.
Speakers
- Daniel Rietiker (Switzerland), Lecturer in public international law, University of Lausanne. Senior lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights. President, Association of Swiss Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. Co-President, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (online).
- Ayleen Roy (Austria), Core Team Member, Youth Fusion. Program Officer, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
10:30 Coffee break. (Mayors for Peace Flag Day will be commemorated during the coffee break)
10:45 Panel 4. Legal Alternatives to War (LAW not War): Advancing the ICJ’s universality and effectiveness to constrain nuclear weapons, implement the 1996 Advisory Opinion, and advance common security.
Moderator:
- Alyn Ware (New Zealand/Czech Republic), Program Director, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy. International Representative, Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace. Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
Speakers
- Dr. Deepshikha Kumari Vijh (USA), Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. Director, UN office for IALANA;
- Dr Hedy Fry MP (Canada). Member of the House of Commons. Head of the Canadian Parliament Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. OSCE PA Special Representative on Gender Issues.
- Neshan Gunasekera (Sri Lanka/Germany), CEO, World Future Council. Co-founder, LAW not War. Co-convener, ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions.
- Astrid Reisinger Coracini (Austria). Senior Scientist. Department of Legal Theory, International and European Law,University of Salzburg.
12:10 Panel 5: The ICJ and the Legal Limits to the Veto
Screening of the documentary The Veto (short version)
Speakers
- Rebecca Shoot (USA), Co-convenor, ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions. Co-founder, LAW not War. Chair Washington Working Group on the ICC;
- Prof. Jennifer Trahan (USA). Clinical Professor, NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. Author, Existing Legal Limits to Security Council Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes (video message);
- Tim Slade (Australia). Director/Producer, The Veto documentary.
13:20 Final Plenary and closing comments
13:40: Lunch (optional, self-pay). Gember Restaurant. Stadhouderslaan 43 (10 minutes-walk from Asser Institute).
Post event optional activity:
15:30-17:00 Tour of Hague international peace sites and 3D Nuke Missile social media action. Tour led by Martin Born, Directorate for International Affairs, Municipality of The Hague. 3D Nuke Missile action led by Alyn Ware and the World Future Council.
Event cosponsors
Abolition 2000, Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, Basel Peace Office, Disarmament and Security Centre, Earth Trusteeship Working Group, Global Security Institute, Horizon 2045, ImPACT Coalition on Strengthening the International Judicial Institutions, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Jonge Europese Federalisten Nederland (Young European Federalists, Netherlands Section), Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Pacific Island Stdents Fighting Climate Change, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, Peace and Disarmament Collective Aotearoa, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Prevention of Nuclear War (PSR/IPPNW Switzerland), Pugwash Netherlands, Quaker Peace and Service Aotearoa-New Zealand, United Nations Association of New Zealand, Vereniging voor de Verenigde Naties (United Nations Association of the Netherlands), Wereld Federalisten Beweging Nederland, Western States Legal Foundation, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy, World Future Council, World's Youth for Clmiate Justice and Youth Fusion.
We thank Basel Peace Office, Horizon 2045, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Pugwash Netherlands, Wereld Federalisten Beweging Nederland, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and World Future Council for their financial support to make this event possible.
Background reading/viewing
ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons:
A tribute to leaders of the World Court Projject on Nuclear Weapons and International Law, 6 minute video message from Dr Kate Dewes and Commander Robert Green (Royal Navy, retired) to the 2026 Hague event commemorating the 30th anniversary of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Leglaity of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons.
Remembering Christchurch’s role in achieving landmark peace ruling, The Press, Christchurch, July 7, 2026. An article commemorating the 30th anniversary of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons and the role played by peace movement leaders from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Nukes on Trial, by John Burroughs and Jacqueline Cabasso, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 1996
The People v the Bomb: Judgement at the Hague, 26 minute documentary produced in 1996 by Kevin Sanders, War and Peace Foundation, on the historic ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons, including video footage of the oral hearings and short interviews with (statements from) key actors in the case, including Joseph Rotblat, Kate Dewes, Peter Weiss, Alyn Ware, Cora Weiss, Maj-Brit Theorin and Daniel Ellsberg.
How a civil society movement took the nuclear armed States to the World Court - and won, 10 minute video and slide show presentation by Alyn Ware, who served as Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Head of Advocacy at the United Nations for the World Court Project on Nuclear Weapons and International Law. July 2021.
Looking Back: The 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, John Burroughs, Arms Control Today, July/August 2016
- Aotearoa/New Zealand at the World Court (PDF), by Kate Dewes and Robert Green. Foreword by the Rt Hon David Lange. Chronicles the campaign to take the issue of the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons to the ICJ, how it succeeded and the outcome.
- Video: 25th anniversary of the ICJ AO on nuclear weapons: Part 1. Looking Back: General Discussion of the ICJ Advisory Opinion. Presentations by Phon van den Biesen, Paolo Palchetti, Peter Weiss, Christine Chinkin, and Takeya Sasaki. An analysis of the ICJ Advisory Opinion and what this means under international law.
- Video: 25th anniversary of the ICJ AO on nuclear weapons: Part 2. Looking Ahead: Current and Future Trends. Moderated by John Burroughs. Presentations by Alyn Ware, Daniel Rietiker, Manfred Mohr and Amela Skiljan. The opening presentation provides an overview of the origins of the campaign for an ICJ AO on nuclear weapons, how the campaign succeeded in getting the case to the court, the resulting decision from the ICJ, and its impact and follow-up. This is followed by presentations on implementing the ICJ opinion.
- The Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons: A Guide to the Historic Opinion of the International Court of Justice, by John Burroughs. Foreword by Phon van den Biesen. An excellent analysis of the decision of the court and what it means legally.
- Can Common Security replace Nuclear Deterrence. 5 minute video presentation by Dr Deepshikha Kumari Vijh, Lawyers Committee Nuclear Policy. Dr Kumari Vijh speaks about the role of law and legal mechanisms, in particular the International Court of Justice, to assist the peaceful resolution of international disputes (LAW not War) and contribute to common security as an effective alternative to nuclear deterrence.
- Why the Nuclear Danger grows Day by Day, by Judge C.G. Weeramantry, World Future Council, April 2005. Judge Weeramantry wrote a comprehensive dissenting opinion in the 1996 ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons. Why the Nuclear Danger grows Day by Day, published 9 years after the ICJ opinion, discusses devastating human, environmental, and legal consequences of nuclear weapons, and the urgent need to prevent their use and negotiate for their abolition.
The ICJ on the Nuclear Disarmament Obligation, John Burroughs, Senior Analyst, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Reaching Critical Will, NPT News in Review, vol. 21, no. 3, 7 May 2026
The Inadmissibility of Nuclear Threats, John Burroughs, Arms Control Today, April 2024
We Honour….People who played a significant role in the World Court Project on Nuclear Weapons and International Law, Slide show prepared July 2026 for the 30th anniversary of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on nuclear weapons.
ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change:
- The relevance of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, 9-minute video statement to the July 8-9 Hague Conference by Vishal Prasad, Campaign Director, Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change;
- Judge Weeramantry and the ICJ cases on nuclear weapons and climate change, 4-minute video message to the July 8-9 Hague Conference by Solomon Yeo, Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change;
- The Caribbean States, future generations and the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, a 7-minute video message to the July 8-9 Hague Conference by Justin Sobion, Coordinator of the Caribbean group at the International Court of Justice hearings on climate change, and Secretary of the Earth Trusteeship Working Group;
- Oral presentation to the ICJ public hearings on climate change, Cynthia Houniuhi (Solomon Islands), President of Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change;
- Fighting not Drowning, 20 minute video of the ICJ hearings on climate change.
- UNGA Resolution 20 May 2026, Welcoming ICJ AO on Obligation of States on Climate Change, https://docs.un.org/en/A/80/L.65
- ICJ AO on Obligation of States on Climate Change, 23 July 2025
- Cynthia Honohui, President, PISFCC, Opening Statement at the ICJ AO, 2024
- UN General Assembly adopts historic consensus Resolution to seek an Advisory Opinion on Climate Change from the International Court of Justice, 2023