The Gazette 1986

GAZETTE

sepTemBER 1986

Correspondence

The Editor,

Law Society Gazette,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

13 October, 1986

Dear Editor,

The Case of 20,000 Plaintiffs against

the State of the Netherlands.

A very interesting case has been taken in the

Netherlands by 20,000 individuals, institutions and

organisations against the State of the Netherlands. The

Plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the deployment

of cruise missiles is a wrong towards the Plaintiffs

individually and collectively, and orders forbidding the

State from proceeding with the deployment of such

missiles.

The Summons in which the Plaintiffs set out their

case has been translated into English and published in

book form by the 'Ban the Cruise Missiles' Foundation

in Amsterdam. It is available from the Foundation

at a

cost of £8.00 plus postage, or from the Irish U.N.

Association.

The case is unique in legal history because of the

number of Plaintiffs and because it seeks to prevent the

occurrence of an international crime of vast proportion.

The 'laws of war', both customary and conventional,

have been traditionally elaborated in peace-time, but

usually after some catastrophic clash of powers in which

it has become clear that the existing laws are inadequate.

When new tensions erupt into warfare again, the laws

are ignored, or new weapons are devised which are not

covered by the existing agreements.

A new era dawned with the invention of nuclear

weapons. Such weapons are not only indiscriminate, but

can actually destroy entire civilisations. The very logical

attitude of the Netherlands Plaintiffs is that prevention

of the outbreak of a nuclear war is not only the best cure

against the use of such weapons, it is now the only

possible cure. As they state in the introduction to the

Summons 'To expect that a debate in court about the

admissibility of the use of cruise missiles will be of any

consequence

after

they have been used is unrealistic,

quite apart from the question whether there will be any

court left'.

The case has been prepared with a reassuring

thoroughness by two Amsterdam barristers, A.H.J, van

Biesen and Peter Ingelse. In the Summons they go into

the historical background of the NATO decision-

making process. They go on to show how plans for the

use of nuclear weapons have become an integrated part

of Western military strategy. They tell how cruise

missiles work, how they are launched and what the

consequences of their use, accidental or otherwise,

would be. Then, having situated the weapon as a

weapon of societal destruction, they go on to establish

that not only does the use of such a weapon violate

every rule for the conduct of warfare, but that even

having

such a weapon on the national territory is illegal

under international law. Deployment, for example,

breaches the Non-Proliferation Treaty, violates

fundamental human rights, presents an illegal threat of

violent action and fits into an illegal system of

armament.

The book sets out the legal arguments, persuasive and

comprehensive, to show that the arms race is not a

matter of morality only; there are existing legal

obligations which make it illegal, and neither persons or

parliaments can make legal what is illegal under inter-

national law.

The legal profession has traditionally supported

campaigns for a just society, for respect for human

rights, for the protection of individual liberty and the

application of the Rule of Law. In Ireland, we can

support the initiative of our Netherlands colleagues by

informing ourselves and others about the case of

'Ban

the Cruise Missiles' Foundation and 20,000 Plaintiffs

-v-

the State of the Netherlands.

What better way to do

so than by sending for a copy?

Yours sincerely,

Muireann O Briain, B.L.,

17 Charleville Road,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.

1. P.O. Box 1043, 6501 BA Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Tel. 080-224441.

2. Irish U.N. Association, Roebuck House, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14.

IRISH SOCIETY FOR LABOUR LAW

Annual Public Lecture

Speaker: Mr. Justice Niall McCarthy

Topic:

"To do a great right, do a little wrong"

Venue:

The Ernest Walton Theatre

Trinity College Arts Building

Date:

Monday, 24th November, 1986

Time:

7.30 p.m.

THIS LECTURE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

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