PRESENTED BY HALLE EDWARD TO THE GLOBAL LAW AND SOCIETY FORUM

 DEFINITION  TYPES OF NUCLEAR TERRORISM  RISKS OF NUCLEAR TERRORISM  NUCLEAR SECURITY AND THE 2012 SEOUL SUMMIT  THE MAIN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS RELATED TO NUCLEAR TERRORISM  RECOMMENDATIONS  CONCLUSION

 There is no generally accepted definition of Terrorism under international Law.  Many have attempted to define terrorism, but to date there is no universally accepted definition. Terrorism is a term wrought with complex moral, ideological and political overtones.  Unlike the combatants in a declared war terrorists have no rules or conventions for the humane treatment of the innocent.  In most situations the goal of the terrorist is to frighten a much larger group in to doing something that it otherwise would not.  The problem in defining Terrorism stems from the disagreement as to the nature of the acts which constitute it, the manner of identifying the involvement of foreign governments and its apparent conflict with self determination movements.  From an ideological perspective, one nation’s freedom fighter is another nation’s terrorist. Because the definition of Terrorism can differ so dramatically from one nation to another, an alleged terrorist can avoid being brought to justice.

 There have been two basic approaches by those who have sought to define Terrorism. These include the deductive and the inductive approaches  The first which is known as the deductive approach seeks an analytic, generic, abstract definition under which all terrorists acts may be lumped.  The second also known as the inductive approach carves out narrow categories of acts that can provide the foundation for developing the legal framework to suppress Terrorism.  Thus under these two general approaches it can be seen that nuclear terrorism falls under the inductive definition of terrorism.

 Terrorism  President Barack Obama in his first speech to the UN Security Council described Nuclear Terrorism as “ the single most important national security threat that we face”  Nuclear Terrorism in general terms denotes the use or threat of the use of nuclear or radiological weapons in acts of Terrorism, including attacks against facilities where radioactive materials are present.  Legally speaking, it is an offense committed if a person unlawfully and intentionally uses in anyway radioactive materials, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury or with the intention to cause substantial damage to property or to the environment, or with the intent to compel a natural or legal person, an international organization or a state to do an act as per the 2005, UN international Convention for the Suppression of acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

 The attacks of September have provided a wake up call for facing the threat of nuclear Terrorism. There is now intense national and international attention to the risks of nuclear terrorism. The possibility that al-qaeda might acquire the materials and the knowledge for building nuclear weapons or dirty bombs or might attack commercial nuclear power facilities to trigger a nuclear meltdown are of particular concern.  Nuclear Terrorism can manifest itself through the following ways  1-Acquiring or Fabricating a nuclear weapon  2- Fabricating a dirty bomb  3-Attacking a nuclear reactor  4-Attacking or taking over a nuclear armed submarine, plane or base  A dirty Bomb is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives.

 1-Are reactors adequately protected against attack?  2-Could Terrorist built nuclear weapons?  3-Are nuclear weapons vulnerable?  On the 8 th November teams of men attacked the Pelindaba nuclear facility in the USA, where hundreds of kilograms of weapons grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) are stored. While one of the teams was chased off by site security officers, the other team of 4 armed men disabled the detection systems and gain entry. They spent 45 minutes inside without being engaged by security officers then disappeared through the same hole. S.A officials later arrested 3 individuals, but soon released them without charge. The S.A government refused to release important details of its investigation of the attack and refused US offers for help. This is a reminder that the risk of nuclear terrorism is real.

 For a small group of terrorists, the answer is clearly yes. Osama Bin Laden has called the acquisition of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction a “religious duty.”  Before Al-quaeda, the Japanese terror cult Aum Shinrikyo also made a concerted effort to get nuclear weapons with at least two groups going down this path in the last 15yrs we must expect that others will in the future.  Article 7 states “No person shall be turned back at the border or made subject to any other measure that would compel that person to return to or to live in a territory where that person's life, bodily integrity or freedom would be threatened” The law prohibits ‘refoulement’ of refugees, and asylum seekers for reasons other than national security and public order, pursuant to a lawful order, and with 72 hour notice to the UNHCR

 Nuclear security is a series of preemptive measures introduced to prevent internal and or external threats directly or indirectly related to nuclear materials radioactive substances, relevant facilities or other associated activities. In the case of imminent threat, it consist of counter measures to detect, delay and prevent illegal acts as well as administrative and technical measures to minimize the damage caused by accidents.  The Seoul summit was built on the objectives and measures set out in the 2010 Washington communiqué to identify 11 areas of priority and importance to nuclear security. They include  1-Global Nuclear Security Architecture  2-The Role of the IAEA  3-Nuclear material  4-Radio active sources  5-Nuclear forensics  6-Nuclear Security Culture  7-Information security  8-International cooperation. E.t.c

 1-International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) of April 2005 has been signed by 115 Nations and ratified by 77 Nations and came into effect in July  It imposes an obligation on state parties to define the following acts as criminal offenses when a person unlawfully and intentionally uses in anyway radioactive materials with the intent cause death on serious bodily injury or to cause damage to property E.t.c  2-Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials (CPPNM) and amendment of February 1987 establishes measures related to the prevention, detection and punishment of offenses related to nuclear materials. It also places an obligation on non state parties for physical protection during international transport.  The amendment legally binds states to protect nuclear facilities and materials in peaceful and domestic use storage and transport.  3-UN Security Council Resolution 1540 of 2004  It establishes for the first time binding obligations on all UN member states under chapter vii of the UN charter to take and enforce effective measures against the proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery and related materials. 

 INFCIRC 225 Rev. 5  It remains the basic international standard for physical protection of nuclear materials. It is neither a treaty or binding resolution, but rather a set of guidelines and therefore has no signatories or ratification requirement.  It is an IAEA document providing guidance and recommendation for the physical protection of nuclear material against theft, during use, storage and transport and contains provision relating to the sabotage of nuclear material facilities.  GLOBAL INITIATVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM (GICNT)  It is an international partnership of 82 nations and official officers.(IAEA, EU, INTERPOOL and UNODC) who are committed to work individually and collectively to implement a set of shared nuclear security principles. Its aimed at strengthening global capacity to prevent, detect and respond to nuclear terrorism by conducting multilateral activities that strengthen the plans, policies and procedures of partner nations.  The US and Russia serve as co-chairs and Spain serves as coordinator of the implementation and assessment group.

 The G8 Global PARTNERSHIP AGAINST THE SPREAD OF MATERIALS AND MATERIALS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (G8-GP)  It is a G8 initiative committed to preventing terrorists or those that harbor them from acquiring or developing nuclear, chemical, radiological or biological weapons, missiles or related equipment and technology. Its mandate was to end in however at the 2011 G-8 summit of Deauville, the leaders agreed to extend the global partnership beyond 2012.

 Among the recommendations the following are very important  Nuclear security supporting infrastructure centers of excellence should be build to provide for human resource and professional development, technical support, scientific feedback and analysis where appropriate cost effective through regional and international agreements.  Securing vulnerable materials should be fundamental. Reaching the goal of bringing all nuclear materials in a secure custody will be a major achievement and is fundamental to risk management.  Increased transparency and understanding without compromising the protection of sensitive information thereby gaining confidence among the general public and the world of nations.  The universal adherence to and implementations of the nuclear security conventions, wide universal implementation of all the conventions is advisable.

 While it is clear that nuclear terrorism poses a major threat to world peace, it should be said that because of the technicalities involved in making a nuclear weapon, it still remains very difficult for terrorist to come up with one.  The global awareness concerning the devastating effects of a nuclear weapon has made nations to invest a lot of time and money in security measures aimed at preventing terrorists from achieving their aims.  International cooperation among nations must reinforced in the field of nuclear science.