COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY (CTBT) (5:10 PM):

• The treaty comprehensively bans nuclear tests for both civilian and defence purposes.
• The treaty is a successor to the  Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) of 1963 which was pioneered by India.
• PTBT banned nuclear tests in atmosphere, space, and water. 
• Due to PTBT, Indian and other nuclear tests of other countries went underground.
• PTBT was negotiated on the Conference of Disarmament (COD) which is a 65-member treaty.
• COD is the only global body for negotiating disarmament.
• CTBT draft was adopted and it was opened for signature in 1995.
• CTBT has been signed by 184 countries and ratified by 168 countries.
• Despite this, the treaty has not yet entered into force.
• This is because the treaty has a specific  Entering Into Force (EIF) clause.
• As per the clause, all the countries that were capable of nuclear technologies when the treaty was negotiated must sign and ratify the treaty.
• There were 44 such countries.
• Out of these 44 countries, 8 have not yet either signed or ratified the treaty.
• India, Pakistan & North Korea never signed the treaty.
• The USA, Israel, China, Iran, and Egypt have signed but never ratified the treaty.

Importance of CTBT:

• It is one of the largest arms control treaties.
• Unlike NPT, CTBT will check both horizontal and vertical proliferation.
• Even nuclear testing is very harmful to the environment.

Indian position on CTBT:

• India expressed that it would never sign the treaty.
• The threat does not talk about global disarmament.
• It only bans physical testing and not lab-stimulated testing.
• Even this treaty is discriminatory- divides the world into nuclear haves and have-nots.
• Indis stands for uniform, comprehensive, time-bound, verified, and irreversible global disarmament.
• CTBT violates the Vienna Convention on the Laws of Treaties.
• The convention says that every sovereign nation is free to either join or not join any treaty.
• But CTBT has the EIF clause.
• The USA has not ratified CTBT because Bill Clinton signed the treaty without taking the US Congress into confidence, and the US Congress refused to ratify it.

Should India join the treaty?:

• India can join the treaty as it has nothing to lose and something to gain.

India has nothing to lose because:

• After Operation Shakti in 1998, India self-imposed a moratorium against nuclear testing.
• Under the civilian nuclear agreements with the USA and Japan, India has agreed to not conduct any nuclear tests.
• India does not need to go for physical tests and we have the capacity to go for physical nuclear tests.

INDIA CAN GAIN (5:40 PM):

• Increased stature as a responsible nuclear state.
• It could strengthen India's case for NSG full membership.
• Technical Gains:
• Once the treaty comes into force, it will set a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
• CTBTO will have an International Monitoring System (IMS) and  International Data Center (IDC) for on-site verification.
• Under IMS, the whole world will be mapped through radars.
• They will study seismic signals, hydro-acoustics, infrasonic sounds, and radionuclide particles.
• It will check if any nuclear test is conducted.
• India will get access to data from IMS and IDC which can be used for civilian purposes and scientific research.
• India signing CTBT will create pressure on other non-signatories to join CTBT.
• It would in turn strengthen the international nuclear arms control regime.
• This is important because India believes that its national interests are best served in a de-nuclearized world.

Fissile Material Control Treaty (FMCT):

• The proposed treaty aims to check the production of two main components of nuclear weapons- Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and Plutonium.
• The negotiations are going on under the Shannon Mandate.
• There is a lack of consensus even on the draft of CTBT.
• Two points of contention remain:
• I. Verification regime.
• II. Existing stockpiles of HEU & plutonium.
• The USA believes that a conclusive verification of whether any country has stopped production of HEU & plutonium.
• India insists on the need for such a regime to verify compliance by member states.
• India and the USA are on the same side regarding existing stockpiles- only future production must be stopped.
• Pakistan has taken a different stand- present stock must be destroyed and future production must be stopped.
• Pakistan is concerned regarding the large difference between Indian and Pakistani stockpiles.
• Pakistani stand is only a time-buying strategy to increase its nuclear stockpile at par with India.

TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS(TNPW) OR NUCLEAR WEAPONS BAN TREATY (6:10 PM)

• The treaty was adopted in 2017 and it entered into force on 1st January 2021.
• The treaty is unique because it is a civil society initiative led by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
• The ICAN is based in Geneva and it is a coalition of more than 500 grassroots NGOs.
• The treaty comprehensively bans testing, storage, transfer, use or even threatening to use nuclear weapons.
• None of the nuclear weapon states and their allies like Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, NATO, etc. have signed the treaty.
• The countries who refused to sign have mainly given procedural reasons- the treaty was discussed in UNGA when it must have been discussed in COD.
• They also believe that the treaty is futile and that not a single nuclear warhead has been destroyed.

Is the treaty futile?:

• The treaty is not futile.
• It is widely believed that nuclear weapons have not been used due to the threat/deterrence of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
• MAD says that a country does not use nuclear weapons as it is feared of getting attacked by nuclear weapons in return.
• But a bigger reason is the public taboo associated with nuclear weapons.
• We saw that the USA chose to engage for decades of war with non-nuclear states-Afghanistan and Vietnam, but still chose not to use nuclear weapons.
• The treaty strengthens the global stigma against nuclear weapons.
• It comprehensively bans the development and use of nuclear weapons.
• It is a civil society-led initiative, signifying that even normal people can cause big change.
• It has compensatory provisions for the victims of nuclear weapons testing and use.
• It is the first international treaty with provisions for environmental remediation from the use of nuclear weapons.

INDIAN NUCLEAR DOCTRINE (6:30 PM):

• India was a de-facto nuclear state in 1998.
• In 1999, India released a draft nuclear doctrine.
• In 2003, the official nuclear doctrine of India was released.
• The purpose of the nuclear doctrine is to clarify a country's nuclear posture.
• It will explain the purpose of acquiring nuclear weapons and state how the nuclear weapons would be deployed, both during peace and war.
• The provisions of the Indian nuclear doctrine are:
• I. Building and maintaining a Credible Minimum Deterrence (CMD).
• II. No first use.
• III. Non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states.
• IV. The Indian response to a nuclear strike will be massive and will be designed to inflict maximum damage.
• V. Such attacks can be authorized by civilian authority through the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).
• VI. The Continued commitment to the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world through global nuclear disarmament.
• NCA comprises a Political Council and an Executive Council.
• The Political Council is chaired by the PM.
• It is the sole body that can authorize a nuclear attack.
• The Executive Council is chaired by the National Security Advisor (NSA).
• It provides inputs for decision-making by the political council and executes the directives given to it by the political council.
• In the event of biological or chemical weapons attack on India or Indian forces anywhere, India may retaliate with nuclear weapons.

UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION (7:00 PM):

• It was founded on 24th October 1945 after the San Fransisco Conference.
• It had 51 founding members.

Aims of the UNO:

• I. Peace & Security:
• Its Charter reads that its aim is to save the 'successive generations from the scourge of war'.
• To promote friendly relations between countries.
• II. Protect Human Rights.
• III. Promote Development.

Organs of the UNO:

• United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
• United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
• International Court of Justice (ICJ).
•  United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC).
• United Nations Trusteeship Council(UNTC).
• United Nations Secretariat.

UNGA:

• It can be considered similar to the Indian parliament.
• It is a forum for representation, deliberation & policy-making.
• Except the International Court of Justice, all the rest five bodies are headquartered in New York.
• It meets for annual sessions.
• All UN members are a part of the UNGA.

UNSC:

• It is referred to as the nucleus of the UN.
• It is the only UN body with 'teeth to bite' in the sense that it can bite legally binding resolutions.
• Its aim is to ensure world peace and security- the primary role of the UN.
• It has 5 permanent (the USA, the UK, France, Russia & China) and 10 non-permanent members.
• The permanent members have veto power.
• The non-permanent members get elected every two years as per geographical representation.
• Before 1965, there were only 6 non-permanent members.
• In 1965, the UN Charter was amended under the Article 108 of the UN Charter.
• An amendment to the UN Charter will need the accent of 2/3rd members.
• 5/10 non-permanent members retire every year.
• A retiring member cannot immediately seek re-election.

Double Veto:

• First Veto:
• Whenever an issue comes to the UNSC for voting, it gets distinguished as either a Procedural or Substantive Veto.
• P5 has no veto powers over procedural vetoes and 9/15 votes are needed.
• P 5 countries have vetoes over substantive issues.
• P 5 countries can also abstain from substantive issues.

Second Veto:

• P5 will decide if the issue will be classified as procedural or substantive.

ECOSOC:

• The aim is policy recommendation, discussion, and promoting sustainable development.
• It has 54 member countries which are elected for three years by the UNGA on the basis of geographical representation.
• The president of ECOSOC is elected by the members of ECOSOC amongst themselves for a period of one year.

UNTC:

• It was established in 1945 with the aim to govern and help the trust territories to attain self-governance.
• Trust territories were 11 small states that were transitioning from being colonies to sovereign nations.
• The mandate of the Trusteeship Council was completed in 1994 when the 11^th trust territory Palau gained self-rule.
• Since then, UNTC has continued to exist, but without a mandate.

UN Secretariat:

• It comprises the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) and hundreds of thousands of UN bureaucrats.
• It is the bureaucratic or administrative body of the UN.
• UNSG is the chief executive officer of the UN.
• He is appointed by the UNGA on the recommendation of the UNSC.
• He can serve for any number of terms.
• The present secretary-general is António Guterres.
• Before him, there was Ban Ki Moon, and Kofi Annan was before him.
• The first secretary general was ​Trygve Lie.
• The second secretary-general was Dag Hammarskjöld.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (ICJ)(7:30 PM):

Ground	International Court of Justice (ICJ)	Permanent Court of Arbitration(PCA)
Relation with UN	It is an organ of the UN.	It is not an organ of the UN.
Origin	It was formed in 1945. It is actually a successor of the Permanent Court of International Justice under the League of Nations and has the same charter.	It is the oldest global body for dispute resolution. Its stature was signed in 1899
Membership	All 193 UN members are members of the ICJ	It has 122 members with 120 being UN members, along with Kosovo and Palestine
Jurisdiction	The jurisdiction involves only member countries.	The jurisdiction involves member countries, international organizations, and private parties as well.
Nature of Jurisdiction	Legally binding (disputes involving members) and advisory (international organizations when they approach for legal opinion)	It is an institution for Alternative Dispute Resolution- Mediation, Arbitration, Conciliation, etc. mechanisms are used.
Composition	15 judges elected for a 9-year term. They are elected by the UNSC and UNGA simultaneously but separately. Judges need an absolute majority for an election. P 5 cannot veto the elections. The judges can be re-elected after serving 9 years. ICJ is a permanent body, therefore 1/rd of the judges retire every three years, and 5 new judges are elected.	It is not a court but a permanent bureaucracy. It is tripartite in structure: I. Administrative - Oversees budget and policies. II. Panel of independent potential arbitrators known as the Members of the Court III.  Secretariat, known as the International Bureau.
Headquarters	Peace Palace in Hague, Netherlands	Peace Palace in Hague, Netherlands
Prominent Cases	Kulbhushan Jadhav Case (binding jurisdiction). A case on the British Control of the Chagos Archipelago, which was once part of Mauritius(got independence from Britain in 1968). Chagos also has the Diego Garcia base owned by the USA.	The Philippines v/s China over Chinese territorial aggression in the South China Sea. PCA ruled against China, but China refused to comply.

• Both ICJ and PCA lack effective enforcement mechanisms for their judgments.

International Criminal Court (ICC):

• It is also based in Hague, Netherlands, but not in the Peace Palace.
• It is set up under the Rome Statute adopted in 1998.
• It entered into force in 2002.
• It is the only permanent international court with the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals (and not nations or private bodies)
• It will try individuals for four specified crimes:
• I. Genocide.
• II. War Crimes.
• III. Crimes against humanity.
• IV. Crimes of aggression.
• ICC is meant to complement the national judicial system.
• It is meant to fight certain powerful individuals and bring them to justice.
• It has 123 members, however important global powers like India, China, the USA, Russia, Pakistan, etc., are not members of the ICC.
• This raises questions about its ability to perform its desired functions.

The topics for the next class are Indian relations with the ICC and the continuation of the UN.