International Law Prof Blog

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

We reported previously that the House of Lords had issued its last decision as the highest judicial body for the United Kingdom.  Click here to read that post.

The new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom opens for business today with the swearing in of its justices.  Click here to visit the website of the new court.  The website contains information about visiting the court, its history, and court procedures.

The first President of the Supreme Court is Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, who was previously the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Senior Law Lord. 

The Deputy President is Lord Hope of Craighead, who will be one of two Scottish Justices on the new Supreme Court.

The other Justices are Lord Saville of Newdigate, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Mance, Lord Collins of Mapesbury, Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, and Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony.

(mew)

Tsunami in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga; Earthquakes in Indonesia

We extend our sympathy to Samoa, American Samoa, and the Kingdom of Tonga where a tsunami yesterday may have claimed 100 or more lives.  The tsunami followed a massive underwater earthquake.

We also extend our sympathy to the nation of Indonesia, where thousands of people may have died after two earthquakes.

Ireland and the EU Lisbon Treaty

As readers may remember from previous posts, Ireland is the only country to have rejected the Treaty of Lisbon by referendum in June 2008. A new vote will take place this Friday. One important point raised during this last referendum campaign is whether the so-called Irish “legal guarantees” are legally binding. For my own thoughts on that topic, see http://www.ejiltalk.org/the-european-unions-lisbon-treaty-some-thoughts-on-the-irish-legal-guarantees/ 

And on the question of whether the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights represents a positive development in EU law, see the short piece I co-wrote with Prof. Schabas: http://humanrightsdoctorate.blogspot.com/2009/09/lisbon-treaty-will-be-good-for-human.html.

More on the results of the Irish referendum next week.

LP

New Audiovisual Library at the United Nations Available Now

In August, we reported on this blog that the United Nations was preparing to launch the Audiovisual Library of International Law.  Mr. Arnold Pronto of the United Nations gave a presentation at the ASIL Teaching International Law Workshop last week demonstrating this exciting new resource.   The electronic library provides free access to archival films and videos dealing with important historical events relating to international law, a series of short video lectures by eminent internatoinal law scholars, photos, and print materials.  These materials are on line and available NOW and may be accessed here.  I am sure professors and students of international law from around the world will find this resource to be invaluable.

(cgb)

Call For Papers: Athens Institute for Education & Research

The Law Research Unit of the Athens Institute for Education and Research has issued a Call for Papers for its Seventh Annual International Conference on Law, to be held July 19-22, 2010, in Athens, Greece. Papers must be in English, and may cover any aspect of law.

 

This year's conference will feature a night of Greek entertainment, a one-day cruise in the Greek isles, and a half-day tour to an archaeological site in Attica.

 

For more information about the Conference, visit the official website at www.atiner.gr/docs/Law.htm or contact Professor David Frenkel at ATINER.

 

(map)

 

(We could think of worse places to be than Greece in July -- Ed.)

Happy 60th Birthday, PRC!

If you regularly correspond with or do business with anyone in the People's Republic of China, don't expect much progress over the next week or so:  During October 1-8, the entire country will mark the Sixtieth Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic with a nationwide holiday.  The anniversary will be marked with a series of parades, festivals, and other events.

(map)

Will Chicago Get the Olympics?

We'll find out Friday, when the International Olympic Committee announces the host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  If you're in Chicago (like me), you're invited to join more than 10,000 friends in Daley Plaza at 9:00 a.m.  You'll get a free t-shirt if you're among the first 10,000 people there.  Visit www.chicago2016.org for more information.

(mew)

New U.N. Treaty Signatures and Ratifications Reach Four-Year High

The United Nations is reporting a record number of treaty signatures and ratifications.  Read on . . . .

Sixty-four countries took 103 treaty actions at this year’s General Assembly General Debate – the highest participation in four years – in what has become an annual United Nations event to muster support for a whole raft of conventions ranging from protecting human rights to fighting terrorism to fighting climate change.

“2009 was a very good year in terms of progress towards a universal participation to international treaties,” UN Legal Counsel Patricia O’Brien said today. “My hope is that the support to international law will continue to grow during next year’s Treaty Event.”

There were 57 signatures and 43 ratifications, accessions and acceptances, two objections and one withdrawal of a reservation, with this year’s participation representing an increase of 20 States compared to 2008.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which opened for signature during this year’s Treaty Event, received the widest support with 29 signatures.

Ms. O’Brien expressed special appreciation for the overwhelming support obtained by this treaty, saying it “will put economic, social and cultural rights on a more equal footing to civil and political rights than was the case before.”

The Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, which opened to signature last Wednesday in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, received 19 signatures. 

Human rights treaties that received additional parties included the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

New members also signed on to the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Convention against Corruption, the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court, the International Tropical Timber Agreement, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

President of Honduras Addresses U.N. General Assembly . . . By Phone

Adapted from a United Nations press release . . .

RECENT COUP OPPRESSES HONDURAN PEOPLE, OUSTED LEADER TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

With a “dictatorship” having taken over Honduras, the recent coup d’état is oppressing the people of the Latin American nation, ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya has told the General Assembly, calling for the assistance of the United Nations in restoring the rule of law. 

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Mr. Zelaya – who is seeking refuge at the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa – spoke by telephone to the Assembly during the address of Foreign Minister Patricia Isabel Rodas Baca to the annual high-level debate. 
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“I call on the United Nations to give assistance to reverse this coup and to ensure that democracy is available to all nations of the world,” he said last night. 
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Mr. Zelaya, who was ousted by the military in June, also appealed to “civilized nations of the world to maintain a firm position against barbarity.” 
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Current authorities have shut down media outlets, a move he characterized as a “serious crime.”  
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Civilized nations, he said, must take a stand against barbarism, he stressed, appealing to the United Nations to reverse the coup and ensure that democracy is spread to all of the world’s nations. 
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“No matter how small we are, we deserve no less than any other society,” Ms. Rodas Baca told heads of State and government gathered at UN Headquarters, paying tribute to Hondurans for their efforts to find a solution to the crisis. 
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On Friday, the Security Council stressed the need to ensure the security of the Brazilian embassy where Mr. Zelaya has been holed up for the past week. 
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The top UN political official warned yesterday that any action taken against the embassy in would be a disaster.  “I must say the situation there took a seriously bad turn with the threats on the Brazilian embassy,” Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe told a news conference, referring to published reports that the de facto government has given the embassy 10 days to decide whether to grant Mr. Zelaya asylum or hand him over. 

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“It’s a very serious problem for all of us. It would be a disaster if any action were taken to violate international law on the inviolability of the embassies. We’re also concerned to see the worsening situation as the de facto government has been turning up the screws internally, closing media outlets and also taking state of emergency measures against the population. 

Djibouti Asks U.N. Security Council to Help Resolve Its Border Dispute with Eritrea

  Adapted from a U.N. Press Release . . .

DJIBOUTI CALLS ON U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL TO ACT TO RESOLVE BORDER DISPUTE WITH ERITREA

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Djibouti has asked the U.N. Security Council to take steps to solve the border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea, warning that if the dispute remains unresolved it will set a dangerous precedent for other crises around the world.  Roble Olhaye, Djibouti’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the final day of the General Assembly’s annual high-level segment that the U.N. Security Council needs to use “all means at its disposal” to end the stand-off between the African neighbors.

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In June last year, following weeks of rising tensions and military build-up, the two countries’ armed forces clashed over an un-demarcated area in the Red Sea known as Doumeira, killing 35 people and leaving dozens of others wounded.  This January, the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding that Eritrea pull its forces from the disputed area and cooperate with diplomatic initiatives, and welcoming Djibouti’s withdrawal of its forces to its positions before the dispute.

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A U.N. fact-finding mission sent to the region after the dispute flared was welcomed by Djibouti but blocked by Eritrea, which refused to meet with it or with any envoy of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who offered to use his good offices (under Chapter VI of the UN Charter) to help resolve the issue.

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Today, Mr. Olhaye called for the row over Doumeira – which he noted is “situated in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world” – to be resolved along the lines of the Council resolution, “without further equivocation, confusion and deliberate procrastination.”

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Exercising his right of reply, an Eritrean delegate told the U.N. General Assembly that his country “doesn’t have territorial ambitions” and has not occupied land belonging to Djibouti. He also said that Djibouti had presented a one-sided view of the situation.

What Will Happen if Honduras Attacks the Brazilian Embassy?

The de facto military government in Honduras has threatened to revoke the embassy status of Brazil'sembassy in Honduras if if does not turn over the duly elected president of Honduras to the military coup government.  Brazil has said it has no intention of doing so.  What would happen if Honduras attacks Brazil's embassy?  Here's a press release issued yesterday from the United Nations.

(mew)

ACTION AGAINST BRAZILIAN EMBASSY IN HONDURAS WOULD BE DISASTER – TOP UN OFFICIAL
New York, Sep 28 2009  4:05PM

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Any action taken against the Brazilian embassy in Honduras where ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya has taken shelter would be a disaster, the top United Nations political official said today.
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“I must say the situation there took a seriously bad turn with the threats on the Brazilian embassy,” Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, referring to published reports that the de facto government has given the embassy 10 days to decide whether to grant Mr. Zelaya asylum or hand him over.
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“It’s a very serious problem for all of us. It would be a disaster if any action were taken to violate international law on the inviolability of the embassies. We’re also concerned to see the worsening situation as the de facto government has been turning up the screws internally, closing media outlets and also taking state of emergency measures against the population.
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“We’re very concerned about all of that and have been trying to work with others to see whether we can move that process forward,” he added, reiterating UN readiness to provide whatever help it can to resolve the crisis and its full support for the efforts of Costa Rican President Óscar Arias Sánchez to mediate the crisis.
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On Friday the Security Council stressed the need to ensure the security of the Brazilian Embassy where Mr. Zelaya turned up last week after being ousted by the military in June.
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Giving an overview of the “unprecedented” week-long diplomacy and talks on dozens of world crises on the sidelines of the annual high-level debate of the General Assembly, Mr. Pascoe called it the most intensive effort on peace and security issues that he has seen at the UN in the three years he has been here.
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He cited progress in some areas, noting that talks with representatives of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) over its nuclear programme had been “more positive, much more fruitful” than in recent weeks.
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“In my view it was an extraordinary week in terms of doing exactly what the UN is supposed to do… pushed front and centre of the discussion the most serious international events of the day and I think the UN really served that function,” he said.
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He noted that Mr. Ban himself held over 75 bilateral meetings with national leaders beyond the multilateral meetings he attended, such as the Security Council session on nuclear disarmament and the Quartet session on Middle East peace.
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“I think one thing that is very interesting to me about this process is this is a time when people come not really so much, some of them perhaps, to be seen but mostly to really coordinate positions, to talk about what’s going on, to talk about where we’re headed in the future,” he said.

U.S. Relations with Kenya

The President of Kenya has reportedly written to U.S. President Barack Obama to express displeasure at U.S. moves to punish Kenya for lack of action on government reforms, according to today's Financial Times.  The paper says that Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Mwai Kibaki sent letters last week to 15 senior Kenya politicians and bureaucrats warning them that their future relationship with the United States would depend on their attitude to reform.

(mew)

Honduras Denies Entry to OAS Delegation

 The de facto government of Honduras yesterday denied entry to a delegation from the Organization of American States.  The delegation was turned back at Tegucigalpa Airport.

The Financial Times notes that refusing entrance to the OAS Delegation is "a move likely to further isolate the de facto government headed by Roberto Micheletti."  The elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, has made his way back into the country and is currently enjoying the protection of the Embassy of Brazil.  It seems that 65 of his family members, supporters, and journalists are also there in the Brazilian Embassy.

Today's New York Times has a longer version of the story.  It also notes that the de facto Honduran government has given a 10-day deadline to Brazil to either grant political asylum to President Zelaya or "hand him over for trial on a catalog of charges including treason and abuse of authority."  If Brazil does not comply, according to Carlos Lopez Contreras (foreign minister of the de facto government), then the Brazilian embassy "will lose its diplmatic status."  The foreign minister said that "[a]s a courtesy, we are not planning to invade the place."

The Brazilian government discounted the threat to its embassy and the President of Brazil said that Brazil would not reply to "an ulitmatum from a government of coup-mongers."

(mew)

Cuba at the U.N. General Assembly

From a U.N. Press release issued today . . .

Cuba’s Foreign Minister told the United Nations General Assembly today that it is still waiting for the global optimism generated by the new United States administration to be translated into action, calling for an end to the decades-long embargo against the Caribbean nation.  With the election of President Barack Obama in the United States, “it seemed that a period of extreme aggressiveness, unilateralism and arrogance in the foreign policy in that country had come to an end and the infamous legacy of the George W. Bush regime had been sunk in repudiation,” Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said at  at the Assembly’s annual high-level debate.

In spite of Mr. Obama’s calls for change and dialogue, “time goes by and the speech does not seem to be supported by concrete facts,” the Cuban official said. “His speech does not coincide with reality.”  The current U.S. authorities have displayed “uncertainty” in overcoming the “political and ideological trends” propagated by the previous administration, he noted.

“The detention and torture centre in the Guantanamo Naval Base – which usurps part of the Cuban territory – has not been shut down,” Mr. Rodríguez Parrilla said. “The occupation troops in Iraq have not withdrawn. The war in Afghanistan is expanding and is threatening other States.”

In April, the United States announced it was going to “abolish some of the most brutal actions taken by the George W. Bush administration” preventing contact between Cubans living in the United States and their relatives in Cuba. “These measures are a positive step, but they are extremely limited and insufficient,” the foreign minister stressed.  Most importantly, the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba is still in place, he pointed out.  “Should there be a true desire to move towards change, the US Government could authorize the export of Cuban goods and services to the United States and vice versa.”

Further, Mr. Obama could allow U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, the only country in the world they cannot visit, Mr. Rodríguez Parrillo emphasized.  “The U.S. blockade against Cuba is an act of unilateral aggression that should be unilaterally terminated,” he said, expressing his country’s wiliness to normalize relations with the United States.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda - Updates from the Trial and Appellate Chambers

  From a U.N. press release . . .

A former Rwandan mayor, who had been on the run for eight years, went on trial today at a United Nations war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in the 1994 massacres in the small Central African nation.

Grégoire Ndahimana, former mayor of Kivumu and one of the last 13 indicted fugitives until his arrest in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last month, pleaded not guilty to all the charges arising from the 1994 genocide, when an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed by Hutu militants, mainly by machete, during a period of less than 100 days.

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Mr. Ndahimana, 57, a high-level figure in the rebel Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in eastern DRC, was handed over last week to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, a transfer facilitated by the UN Mission in DRC, known as MONUC.  He was indicted in 2001 and had been on the run since then. He is charged with four counts of genocide, or alternatively complicity in genocide; conspiracy to commit genocide; and crimes against humanity for extermination.  He is alleged to have been responsible for killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to Tutsis in Kivumu, and to have planned the massacres of mostly ethnic Tutsis who sought refuge at Nyange Parish, in conjunctions with Father Athanase Seromba, already sentenced to 15 years in the first instance and to life imprisonment after dismissal of his appeal, and Fulgence Kayishema, who is still at large.  Mr. Ndahimana was arrested on 10 August at Kachuga Camp in North Kivu during a combined operation by the ICTR, MONUC and DRC law enforcement agencies.

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Also today, an ICTR Appeals Chamber heard oral arguments in the appeal lodged by Protais Zigiranyirazo and the prosecution against two 20-year and one 15-year concurrent jail sentences for genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity.

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Mr. Zigiranyirazo, 71, a brother-in-law of late Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, alleges that the Trial Chamber committed numerous errors of law and fact, and asked the Appeals Chamber to overturn his convictions or alternatively reduce his sentence, while the prosecution is seeking a life sentence, or alternatively a total effective sentence greater than 20 years of imprisonment.

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In all, 81 people have been indicted by the ICTR for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Rwandan genocide.

New Decision from the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court

Here is a link to the decision issued on September 25, 2009 by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in the case of Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, one of the cases on the Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

The Appellate Chamber affirmed the trial chamber's decision (of June 12, 2009), which had found that the case against Germain Katanga was admissible before the International Criminal Court.  

Judge Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko, acting as Presiding Judge, gave a summary of the Appeals Chamber’s judgment in open court.  A press release from the ICC summarizes his explanation of each of the five grounds for appeal and the Chamber’s ruling on each point:

- The Defence submitted that Trial Chamber II erred in considering that the challenge to admissibility was filed out of time and that it should have been filed prior to the “commencement of the trial”. The Appeals Chamber noted that the appellant himself acknowledged that he did not suffer any prejudice from the Trial Chamber’s allegedly erroneous interpretation of the Rome Statute, because the Trial Chamber decided to consider the merits of his admissibility challenge. Since there was no prejudice, the Appeals Chamber did not deem it necessary to consider the merits of this first ground of appeal.

- The Defence submitted that Trial Chamber II erred in considering that Pre-Trial Chamber I had determined the admissibility of the case on proper grounds, since the Prosecutor failed to disclose relevant documents concerning the attacks on Bogoro for which a warrant of arrest against Germain Katanga was requested. The Appeals Chamber considered that, were it to assess the merits of this second ground for appeal, it would, in effect, be assessing the correctness of the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision on the warrant of arrest, and not of the decision of the Trial Chamber, which was the subject of the appeal.

- The third and fourth grounds of appeal related to compliance with the principle of complementarity, under which priority is given to national systems. The ICC complements national criminal justice systems rather than replacing them. The Appeals Chamber found that the complementarity principle, as enshrined in the Statute, strikes a balance between safeguarding the primacy of domestic proceedings vis-à-vis the ICC, on the one hand, and, on the other, the goal of the Rome Statute to “put an end to impunity”. If States do not or cannot investigate and, where necessary, prosecute, the ICC must be able to intervene. The Appeals Chamber also noted that, at the time of the admissibility proceedings in the present case, there were no proceedings against Mr Katanga in the DRC, whether for the crimes with which he is charged before this Court, or for other alleged crimes. On the contrary, the DRC has made it clear that it wished for him to be prosecuted before the ICC.

- Under the fifth ground of appeal, the Defence for Mr Katanga disputed the fact that a State can decide whether or not it is willing to prosecute international crimes “without the need to justify or explain its unwillingness”. In the opinion of the Defence, that would lead to the accused being deprived of the right to effectively challenge the admissibility of the case based on a State being unable or unwilling to prosecute. However, the Appeals Chamber considered that this argument is misconceived, and held that whether or not a case is admissible is determined by the Court, which assesses the relevant facts against the criteria of article 17 of the Statute.

For these reasons, the Appeals Chamber upheld Trial Chamber II’s decision of 12 June, 2009 and dismissed the appeal.

Germain Katanga had been transferred to the Hague on October 17, 2007. He and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui allegedly jointly committed, through other persons, crimes against humanity (murder, sexual slavery, and rape) and war crimes (using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities; intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; wilful killing; destruction of property; sexual slavery; and rape).

The trial in the case of Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is scheduled to commence on November 24, 2009.

In other ICC news, the court will hold a ceremony on October 1, 2009 to welcome the Czech Republic as a new State Party to the Rome Statute.

(mew)

ABA Section of International Law -- Fall Meeting in Miami Beach!

The American Bar Association Section of International Law will hold its Fall meeting in Miami Beach, Florida.  Early bird registration is now open.  The program looks great.  There are more than 60 sessions clustered in eight tracks, with first-rate speakers from across the globe.  Click here to have a look at the program book.  (The program book is 58 pages long, but that's what you get from a meeting that has so much to offer.)

The meeting will take place October 27-31, 2009.  And yes, I'll be there.

(mew)

World Justice Project Appoints Executive Director

WORLD JUSTICE PROJECT APPOINTS HONGXIA LIU AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,  

The World Justice Project, launched in 2007 to strengthen the rule of law worldwide, has appointed Hongxia Liu as the project’s executive director.

William H. Neukom, the project’s founder and former President of the American Bar Association, said that “The World Justice Project is pleased to have Mrs. Liu join us at this important time for the project. Her background at the Law Library of Congress, at the United Nations Development Programme and at the International Development Law Organization will be a great help in continuing our efforts to build a world-class organization that can initiate on-the-ground projects in support of the rule of law. Her international background and experience in Asia in particular will be a noteworthy addition to our leadership team." 

Liu will begin her responsibilities as executive director on Oct. 19.  She is presently director of the Directorate of Legal Research at the Law Library of Congress of the United States. The directorate primarily provides research and reference services in the fields of foreign, comparative and international law to the Congress, the Federal courts, and executive branch agencies (as well as helping out many international law professors who were smart enough to ask for help!)  Liu was previously based in Sydney, Australia, as director for Asia and the Pacific for the International Development Law Organization. She served as the founding director of the American Bar Association/United Nations Development Programme’s International Legal Resource Center in Washington, D.C. She received the World Order Under Law Award from the ABA Section of International Law in 2005 and served as president of the Washington Foreign Law Society.  She is a naturalized U.S. citizen who grew up in China. She received a Bachelor of Law degree from Peking University and a Master of Arts in Public Policy from New York University.
 
The World Justice Project is governed by a board of directors that consists of William C. Hubbard, Columbia, S.C.; James R. Silkenat, New York: and Bill Neukom.  Click here for more information on the World Justice Project and its new Executive Director Hongxia Liu.

(mew)

Another Reminder about the Call for Presentations at the Global Legal Skills Conference

Click here for our earlier post about the Global Legal Skills Conference that will be held February 25-27, 2010 in Monterrey, Mexico at the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey. 

(mew)

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown Proposes a "Grand Global Bargain" in His Remarks to the U.N. General Assembly

United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed a “grand global bargain” between nations that have nuclear weapons and nations that do not, telling the United Nations General Assembly that the world was facing a renewed threat of proliferation.  Addressing the annual high-level debate at the Assembly, Mr. Brown proposed that countries with nuclear weapons offer energy in exchange for other countries renouncing plans to acquire such weapons.

With the current number of nations with nuclear weapons believed to be nine, Mr. Brown said there was a “real and present danger” that more countries and even terrorists will acquire them.  “We are at a moment of danger when decades of preventing proliferation could be overturned by [a] damaging rise in proliferation,” he noted.  To counter this, the leader of the UK, a nuclear power, suggested a bargain, with the country helping non-nuclear States acquire what former United States president Dwight Eisenhower called “atoms for peace” in the form of civil nuclear energy.  “With others we will be prepared to sponsor a uranium bank outside these countries to help them access civil nuclear power,” Mr. Brown said.

But “let there be no ambiguity. Iran and North Korea must know that the world will be even tougher and we are ready to consider further sanctions,” he said, adding that the onus is on non-nuclear countries to prove they are not developing nuclear weapons.

Nuclear proliferation is one of five urgent challenges – the others being climate change, terrorism, poverty and shared prosperity – which he characterized as “epoch-making.”  The world is entering a critical six-month period “which may prove even more testing for international cooperation,” Mr. Brown told the dozens of heads of State and government assembled at UN Headquarters in New York. “Once again we are at a point of no return,” he warned.

Adapted from a press release from the United Nations

(mew)