Basel Declaration on human rights and trans-generational crimes resulting from nuclear weapons and nuclear energy
The participants in the international conference Human Rights, Future
Generations and Crimes in the Nuclear Age, held in Basel from September
14-17, 2017, affirm that the risks and impacts of nuclear weapons,
depleted uranium weapons and nuclear energy, which are both
transnational and trans-generational, constitute a violation of human
rights, a transgression of international humanitarian and environmental
law, and a crime against future generations.
We are convinced that the energy needs of all countries can be met by
safe, sustainable, renewable energies, and that the security of all
countries can be met without reliance on nuclear weapons. Our
conclusions are based on the following;
On Uranium mining
• Uranium mining and enrichment, which provide the
fuel for nuclear energy, release long-lasting and highly toxic
radionuclides into the environment causing severe impact on the health
of current and future generations exposed to the radiation;
• The nuclear fuel chain, especially uranium
enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, provide possibilities for
countries with these technologies to also produce nuclear weapons,
creating additional threats to current and future generations.
• Finally, the financial prospects of uranium mining
in the intermediate and long term future seem questionable at best,
considering the existing downtrend in utilization of nuclear energy.
Subsequently Governments may seriously consider ceasing the exploration
of uranium.
On nuclear energy
• Along the chain of production, regular use
and waste management of nuclear fuel for energy generation as well as
after nuclear power plant accidents huge amounts of radioactive
isotopes are released into the biosphere. Severe health effects as
cancer and non-cancer diseases have been demonstrated in populations
exposed. In particular resulting genetic changes impact on the health
of current and future generations. Modern studies on low dose ionizing
radiation (LDIR) corroborate the Linear No Threshold [LNT] concept.
Scientifically based understanding calls for acceptance of risk
estimations at doses as low as 1 mSv. ICRP-recommendations must be
revised as they are outdated one decade after their effective date.
• Many nuclear power plants, particularly in Europe, are located in regions of high population density;
• Any nuclear disaster has cross border effects
affecting population of several countries, and would be an infringement
of international law requiring states to ensure that activities within
their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of
other states.
• The 2015 Sendai United Nations declaration
recognized that accountability for disaster risk creation is needed at
all levels. Furthermore, all human rights need to be promoted and
protected in any disaster situation, including man made hazards and
technological risks;
• The exorbitantly high costs of nuclear energy
production and management (including waste storage) make it an
inappropriate investment as compared to renewable energies;
• Nuclear disasters like those at Mayak, Three Mile
Island, Sellafield, Chernobyl and Fukushima, release massive quantities
of radionuclides into the environment impacting on the health of
current and future generations;
• Nuclear power plants, in operation and after their
dismantlement, generate huge amounts of radioactive waste, which is
dangerous for thousands of years, even longer than any known
civilization has lasted. The question of safe long-term storage of
radioactive waste over centuries has not been answered so far.
On nuclear weapons
• The use and testing of nuclear weapons has
generated severe, trans-generational damage to health and the
environment of those in the vicinity of the detonations and also to
humanity as a whole;
• Recent research, highlighted by the series of
international conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear
weapons, indicates that any use of nuclear weapons on a populated area
would cause disastrous humanitarian and environmental consequences, and
any multiple use of nuclear weapons would cause catastrophic and
irreversible damage to the climate in addition to the radiation and
blast impacts;
• We affirm that nuclear deterrence is immoral,
illegal and of doubtful value for security. The high risks of nuclear
weapons being used in current confliicts such as in North East Asia, in
other times of tension, and until nuclear weapons are eliminated
provides an imperative for nuclear abolition.
• The financial and human investments in the nuclear
arms race are deviating required resources from human, social and
environmental needs. This includes promoting education, providing basic
universal health care, protecting the climate and implementing the
sustainable development goals.
On depleted uranium (DU) weapons
• Epidemiological reports indicate that exposure to
depleted uranium has health impacts on those exposed and their
offspring;
• Use of uranium for armor plating and piercing
projectiles release depleted uranium into the environment, where it
will be deposited for thousands of years, causing risks to combatants
and non-combatants alike.
On international law applicable to nuclear weapons and energy
In addition to general international law, the following branches, inter
alia, are applicable to nuclear weapons and nuclear energy:
• International human rights law protects, in
particular, the right to life, the right not to be subject to inhuman
or degrading treatment, the right to the highest standard of health and
to a healthy environment, the right to an adequate standard of living,
including the right to food and water, as well as the freedom of
expression and the right to seek and receive information. Moreover,
special instruments for particularly vulnerable groups, such as women,
children, indigenous peoples or persons with disabilities, have been
adopted and concluded.
• International humanitarian law: This body of law
prohibits the use of weapons or methods of warfare that would
indiscriminately impact on civilians, cause unnecessary suffering to
combatants, violate neutral territories, be dis-proportionate to the
provocation or cause severe, long-term or irreversible damage to the
environment.
• The law of peace and security: This body of law,
expressed primarily through the UN Charter, prohibits the threat or use
of force except in legitimate self defence.
• Law protecting the environment and future
generations: This body of law, expressed in a number of international
treaties, provides a responsibility to ensure a sustainable environment
for current and future generations, and to prohibit activities which
are known to seriously threaten this. There is also a legal
responsibility to prevent and protect the public from exposure to harm,
when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk.
The production of nuclear energy violates human rights law and
international law protecting the environment and future generations due
to the impacts of nuclear energy on human health and the environment as
outlined above.
The production, threat and use of nuclear weapons violate all four
bodies of law outlined above. As such, we agree with the conclusion of
the International Court of Justice that ‘the destructive impact of
nuclear weapons cannot be contained in time or space’ and with the
affirmation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that
‘any use of nuclear weapons would be contrary to the rules of
international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the
principles and rules of international humanitarian law.’ More-over, it
would constitute an ecocide.
On rights and responsibilities under the law
• We call for full redress for all people whose
health, well-being or livelihoods have been negatively impacted by
uranium mining, nuclear energy and nuclear weapons;
• We welcome the provision in the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on victim assistance and environmental
remediation and call for its full implementation;
• We appeal to all those in the nuclear weapons and
energy industries and administrating government departments to
recognize the illegality of the production of nuclear weapons and
energy, and to cease such activities;
• We welcome the conclusions of the International
Peoples’ Tribunal on Nuclear Weapons and the Destruction of Human
Civilisation. held on July 7-9, 2016, that convicted (in absentia) the
leaders of the nuclear-armed States (and one of the allied States as a
test case) for war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against
peace, crimes against future generations and crimes of threatening,
planning and preparing acts which would constitute ecocide, which is
understood as causing serious damage to, or destruction, of an
ecosystem or ecosystems, or of causing serious, long-term or
irreversible damage to the global commons.
• We welcome the fact that the majority of countries
neither produce nuclear energy nor possess nuclear weapons, and we call
on all other countries to join them.
• We welcome the establishment of the International
Renewable Energy Agency, which provides assistance to countries to
develop renewable energies, and we highlight it’s 2016 Report
REthinking Energy: Renewable Energy and Climate Change which
demonstrates the possibilities to completely replace fossil fuels by
safe renewable energies, without relying on nuclear energy, by 2030.
• We commend the 184 countries who have joined the
Non-Proliferation Treaty as non-nuclear States and the 122 countries
who voted in favour of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
which also prohibits the threat or use of nuclear weapons. We call on
all countries to agree to the prohibition and elimination of nuclear
weapons and to adopt, at the 2018 UN High Level Conference on
Disarmament, a framework to implement this.
• We call on all countries utilizing nuclear energy
to announce a program for phasing out their use of nuclear energy and
replacing it with renewable energy sources.
• Finally, as doctors, lawyers, scientists and
nuclear experts from 27 countries we consider it as our moral duty to
highlight the facts regarding nuclear energy and weapons, and promote a
safe, sustainable and peaceful future for humanity and our planet
consistent with human rights and the rights of future generations.
As such we make the following proposals:
1. All countries at the United Nations shall promote human rights, the
rights of future generations, and the legal requirements to phase out
nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. We support the initiatives that
Switzerland has taken to phase out nuclear energy domestically and to
prohibit nuclear weapons globally, and we encourage Switzerland to take
further efforts at the United Nations to prohibit all aspects of the
nuclear energy and weapons industries.
2. The Linear No Threshold [LNT] concept and collective
dose-calculations allow extrapolations of health risks in large
populations exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation. Current
scientifically based understanding calls for acceptance of risk
estimations at doses as low as 1 mSv and therefore asks for a revision
of the ICRP-recommendations, which are outdated one decade after their
effective date.
3. Violations of human rights by ionizing radiation sources must be
documented epidemiologically. In this regard medical standards for
compensation of victims have to be established. Companies / people
found to violate the rights of the concerned workers must be held
responsible by national and international courts. Everyone has the
right to seek and receive information. Victims must be compensated.
4. The employment of nuclear weapons, as well as indiscriminate
damage to health and to the environment resulting from other nuclear
activities, should be included as a crime against humanity under the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. We also call for
amendment of the Rome Statute to include the crime of ecocide.
5. Young people and students need to be alerted to the relation between
« Nuclear energy / nuclear weapons – Violations of human rights –
Rights of future generations. Their human rights are endangered and
therefore they need to become active and encouraged to have their
current and future interests respected. Law and medical faculties are
encouraged to consider teaching on human rights in their corresponding
curricula, in general but also in the mentioned context of the ‘Nuclear
fuel chain’, and this also in view of the rights of future generations.
6. The 28 May 1959 agreement between the World Health organization and
the IAEA, which leads to conflict of interest and limits the free
information on health consequences of nuclear civil use, must be
abolished
7. The participants of the Symposium ‘Human Rights, Future Generations
and Crimes in the Nuclear Age’ are ready to share these demands and
communicate them to decision makers in other countries.
Contacts:
Conference website: www.events-swiss-ippnw.org
Association of Swiss Lawyers for Nuclear Disarmament: https://safna.org
Basel Peace Office: www.baselpeaceoffice.org
International Center for Comparative Environmental Law: www.cidce.org
PSR/IPPNW Schweiz: www.ippnw.ch
Uranium Network: www.uranium-network.org
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