World Court And Nuclear Weapons

EDM number 716 in 1994-95, proposed by Austin Mitchell on 01/03/1995.

That this House welcomes the United Nations General Assembly's decision on 15th December 1994 in Resolution 49-75K to request the International Court of Justice urgently to render its advisory opinion on the question 'Is the threat or use of nuclear weapons in any circumstances permitted under international law?'; is gratified by the court's decision to expedite consideration of the case, inviting entitled states to make submissions by 20th June; and urges Her Majesty's Government to initiate a full national debate on the question before making the the British submission, and to recognise and prepare for the fact that a court judgment in 1996 confirming the illegality of nuclear weapon use and threat would require a major shift of Her Majesty's Government's policy to rapid negotiations of a Nuclear Weapons Convention, using the widely-acclaimed Chemical Weapons Convention as a blueprint.

This motion has been signed by a total of 74 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.