Trident and International Law

I am sorry I cannot be here with you today. It is a pleasure to see this book published. It is the culmination of many years of work to bring to public attention the international legal framework that if respected would lead to nuclear disarmament.

I believe that if the contents of this book are taken seriously then Scotland could apply an effective and very necessary legal pressure on Westminster to have Trident dismantled. It might be the very spur needed for the UK as a whole to disarm its nuclear weapons. And this might also encourage other nuclear weapon states to disarm.

Scotland is unique in that the Scottish public is wholeheartedly in favour of nuclear disarmament and is impatiently awaiting a government courageous enough to stand up to Westminster and a Scottish judiciary independent, impartial and wise enough to implement international humanitarian law. The legal arguments to back up an immediate Scottish demand that the UK remove Trident from Faslane and nuclear warheads from Coulport are all here in this book. I hope that this international law ’tool’ will be used to good effect.

For instance, I am hoping that something like this would happen:-

Firstly, a highly visible public statement committing Scotland to uphold international humanitarian law would be made so that the major international press would publicise it. The statement would not only quote the Scotland Act 1998 Schedule 5 where it clearly states that observing and implementing international obligations are NOT reserved but it would also quote Judge Bedjaoiu, in the book, specifying that any country is acting unlawfully by aiding and abetting any deployment and maintenance of nuclear warheads of 100 kt or comparable explosive power. Because, as he says, ’A 100 kiloton nuclear warhead, regardless of whether it was targeted to land accurately on or above a military target, would always fail the tests of controllability, discrimination, civilian immunity, and neutral rights and would thus always be unlawful’.

Then would come a demand that Trident and its associated warheads and infrastructure be removed from Scotland. This demand would not only cite international law but also the democratic rights of the Scottish people who have shown over many years their determination that Scotland be nuclear free. It might also cite the vast majority of countries who have called upon the nuclear weapon states to disarm. The demand would specify a short time limit for a response of a couple of months only.

Secondly, if no satisfactory response (ie an agreement to remove Trident from Scotland) was received within a 2 month time limit then the Scottish government, or some organisation like Trident Ploughshares, would go to the courts to argue their right not to be implicated in conspiring to commit war crimes. There are various legal routes that could be taken, ranging from a legal review of the UK decision not to remove Trident from Scotland, to a case in the International Court of Justice brought on Scotland’s behalf by another country who would join forces with Scotland on the grounds that the breaches of international law affects their country too.

I am not a lawyer, but I do know that where there is a will there is a way. International law is clear even if the nuclear weapon states continue to deny this. Hopefully, this book will motivate the brightest and best of Scotland’s legal profession to work together with the Scottish government to work out ways to use the law to end the criminal conspiracy to commit mass murder which is what Trident deployment actually is.

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