Day Two at the ICJ: Where Is Pakistan?
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The Marshall Islands’ legal teamObservers arrived at the International
Court of Justice this morning expecting to hear the first in a series of
four days of oral arguments in the Marshall Islands vs. Pakistan nuclear
disarmament case. Instead, Judge Ronny Abraham, President of the
International Court of Justice, announced that Pakistan had decided not
to attend the hearings.
In a letter to the Court, Pakistan wrote, “The Government of Pakistan
does not wish to add anything further to its statements and submissions
made in its Counter-Memorial and therefore does not feel that its
participation in the oral proceedings will add anything to what has
already been submitted through its Counter-Memorial.”
The Marshall Islands legal team was still able to present their
arguments to the Court regarding jurisdiction and admissibility. Instead
of hearing from Pakistan twice and the Marshall Islands once more, the
judges will make their decision based solely on today’s oral arguments
by the Marshall Islands, along with the Memorial
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Lc7LClU6LmR8HXqahUpzoKuE1fcdt8kw>
and Counter-Memorial
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OoX5XtbW0LIJ1O2CbBoG96uE1fcdt8kw>
filed by the Marshall Islands and Pakistan, respectively. The Court made
those documents public today after the hearing.
The 15 judges listened with great interest as Tony de Brum, Co-Agent of
the Marshall Islands, opened today’s session with a powerful personal
story. He said:
/Yesterday was a beautiful morning here in The Hague that featured a
picture-perfect snowfall. As a tropical State, the Marshall Islands has
experienced ‘snow’ on one memorable and devastating occasion, the 1954
Bravo test of a thermonuclear bomb that was one-thousand times the
strength of the Hiroshima bomb. When that explosion occurred, there
were many people, including children, who were a far distance from the
bomb, on our atolls which, according to leading scientists and
assurances, were predicted to be entirely safe. In reality, within 5
hours of the explosion, it began to rain radioactive fallout at
Rongelap. Within hours, the atoll was covered with a fine, white,
powdered-like substance. No one knew it was radioactive fallout. The
children thought it was snow. /And the children played in the snow. And
they ate it. /So one can understand that snow, while beautiful, has a
tragic and dark history in the Marshall Islands./
After hearing a strong case for jurisdiction and admissibility from the
Marshall Islands legal team, the Court brought the hearings in this
phase of RMI vs. Pakistan to a close. The judges will now deliberate in
private before delivering their judgement at a public sitting at a date
to be announced. Today’s ICJ press release
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=fa4x%2Fb%2Fc1daXSJ3QZpu8yG8L%2BgQCV6Kf>
has a more detailed explanation of the deliberation process.
Tomorrow morning, the United Kingdom will present opening arguments in
the RMI vs. United Kingdom nuclear disarmament case. The hearings will
be livestreamed on the ICJ website
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=YEmYNGgNRqThSqeniQcflauE1fcdt8kw>
starting at 10:00 am CET.
————————————————————————
/Rick Wayman (//@rickwayman/
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=LdC5VOcDxmNfyknjuybv3KuE1fcdt8kw>/)
and Jackie Cabasso (//@jackiecabasso/
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=G%2FF6eHf3JhzH%2Fs9kXVU9%2FquE1fcdt8kw>/)
will be tweeting live from the ICJ every day. You can also get updates
from the NAPF //Facebook/
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and video of the oral arguments is available on the//ICJ website/
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