RUMLAE hosts Prof Jonathan Black-Branch to present on ‘The Effectiveness of International Law to Govern Nuclear Non-Proliferation’  

RUMLAE was very pleased to host a recent visit by Professor Jonathan Black-Branch to Adelaide Law school to provide an address on The Effectiveness of International Law to Govern Nuclear Non-Proliferation.  Prof Jonathan Black-Branch is the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba and also Chair of the International Law Association Committee on Nuclear Weapons, Non-Proliferation and Contemporary International Law. The presentation canvassed current international legal regimes that govern the possession, testing and acquisition of nuclear weapons and outlined legal mechanisms that could substantially contribute towards progressive nuclear weapons disarmament. Prof Black-Branch also posed a number of original and thought provoking propositions to the very engaged audience of staff and students on the mechanisms that were available under international law that could counter the actions of States who were acquiring and/or developing nuclear weapons outside of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation controls.  RUMLAE Director, Prof Dale Stephens, introduced the topic and noted that RUMLAE was very pleased to host this very topical presentation and spoke of the challenges that nuclear weapons represented under existing international law.  Prof Black-Branch was then introduced by Deputy Dean Dr Lorne Neudorf who was instrumental in co-ordinating the visit’.