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Fordham International Law Journal
Volume 19, Issue 5 1995 Article 3

Nuclear Testing: New Zealand and France in the International Court of Justice
Don MacKay∗

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Copyright c 1995 by the authors. Fordham International Law Journal is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj

Nuclear Testing: New Zealand and France in the International Courtof Justice
Don MacKay

Abstract
This article discusses the action taken by New Zealand following Jacques Chirac’s announcement that France would conduct a series of eight nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific. New Zealand eventually took its complaints to the ICJ and requested that their case from 1973-1974 regarding weapons testing be reopened.

NUCLEAR TESTING: NEW ZEALAND AND FRANCEIN THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Don MacKay* INTRODUCTION On June 13, 1995, the recently elected President of France, PresidentJacques Chirac, announced that France would conduct a final series of eight nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific starting in September. President Chirac's announcement broke the moratorium on nuclear testing observed by France and most other nuclear weaponstates ("nuclear powers") for the past three years. It came just a month after the decision of the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty' ("NPT") to extend the treaty indefinitely. As part of that outcome, the nuclear powers had agreed to exercise the "utmost restraint" in nuclear testing pending the entry into force of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Non-nuclear powers already felta sense of betrayal over China's nuclear testing within a month of the NPT compact being reached. France's announcement that it would soon follow suit, fuelled that anger further, and sparked world-wide criticism. Even in France itself, polling suggested that there was widespread anxiety and opposition over its Government's decision. In New Zealand, the Government had already reacted strongly tothe Chinese test. Its reaction to the French announcement was both strong and immediate, with the Prime Minister making a public statement in the New Zealand Parliament deploring the decision and urging the French Government to reconsider it. The New Zealand Parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning any resumption of' French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. A few days later, theNew Zealand Permanent Representative at the U.N. Conference
* International Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand. The views expressed in this Essay are those of the Author personally and not of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade or of the New Zealand Government. 1. Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, opened for signatureJuly 1, 1968, 21U.S.T. 483, 729 U.N.T.S. 161.

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on Disarmament 2 took a similar stance, drawing attention to the inconsistency between the French announcement and the undertaking given by the nuclear powers upon the extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A delegation from the South Pacific region, at senior political level, including theNew Zealand Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, quickly flew to Paris to convey the region's deep concern to the French Foreign Minister. New Zealand also initiated a series of intensive bilateral representations to the French Government urging it to reconsider. The New Zealand Prime Minister wrote to the French President calling attention to the strong public reaction in New Zealand, andindicating that the French decision had cast a cloud over the relationship between the two countries that would last as long as the nuclear tests continued. He also expressed concern about possible environmental consequences from the testing, and pointed to the unanimous opposition of countries in the South Pacific region to its resumption. In a unique adaptation of new technology, the Prime...