International Law of Nuclear Weapons Nonproliferation: Application to Non-State Actors

Abstract

International legal responses to the threat of nuclear terrorism by non-state actors have been many but often inconsistent, inadequate, and legally unsound. This Article argues in favor of resorting to successfully-implemented methods of dealing with similar crimes. International law has already expanded from its original statist conceptions and scope to include individuals, such as in international human rights norms and international humanitarian laws. In the latter, in particular, the law has expanded in the context of both international and non-international armed conflict. This Article argues that the advancement of law in these areas can lend much to efforts to bring nuclear terrorism within the scope of International Criminal Court, from whose jurisdiction this crime is currently excluded. This Article also recommends purposefully elevating the prohibition against possession and use of nuclear weapons by non-state actors to jus cogens, making such acts international crimes of the type that do not necessarily require state consent for prosecution by an international tribunal. *Imrana Iqbal is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). She teaches writing, government, law, and business. I am grateful to Professor Paul F. Diehl, Ashbel Smith Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, for his review of this work and valuable suggestions.