Make nuclear weapons the target:

Legal and humanitarian imperatives for banning the use of nuclear weapons

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Bradley Forum, UniSA City West campus, Hawke Building level 5, 50-55 North Terrace, Adelaide

Jointly presented by Australian Red Cross and The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at UniSA

Nuclear weapons pose a unique threat to humanity - in their capacity for indiscriminate devastation of human life, cultural property and the natural environment.

Co-hosted with The Hawke Centre, please join us for a forum on the humanitarian impact and international legal issues involved in the use of nuclear weapons.

Speakers include Dr Amanda Ruler, Coordinator for the Medical Association for Prevention of War (SA Branch) and Dr Grant Niemann, Chair of the International Humanitarian Law Committee of Australian Red Cross in South Australia.

The evening also includes the opportunity to pick up a copy of the latest issue of our international humanitarian law magazine, entitled Nuclear Weapons: a unique threat to humanity.

Dr Ruler will consider the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons and Dr Niemann will address the legal frameworks regulating the use of nuclear weapons.

Biographies

Dr Grant Niemann, Associate Dean of the Flinders University School of Law, is the Chair of the International Humanitarian Law Committee of Australian Red Cross in South Australia and a member of the Divisional Board of Australian Red Cross in South Australia.

Prior to taking up an academic position at Flinders Law School, Grant Niemann was a Senior Trial Attorney with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, The Netherlands, and has had extensive experience as a war crimes prosecutor in Australia.

His expertise lies in international criminal law, with a particular emphasis on the laws and customs of war. His publications in this area include: 'War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Genocide in International Criminal Law', 'The Life and Times of a Senior Trial Attorney at the ICTY 1994 to 2000', 'Advice On the Use of Force Against Iraq', a Review Essay on - "Annihilating Difference - The Anthropology of Genocide", and a report for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the war crimes trials in Timor Leste and Jakarta.

Dr Amanda Ruler is the coordinator for Medical Association for Prevention of War (SA Branch). Amanda has long term interests in global sustainability, peace promotion, justice, human rights and the impact of war, and has written and published general health articles specialising in nuclear, community violence, aging and end of life issues.

Amanda has an academic background in biology, psychology and nursing and her qualifications include a PhD, RN, BA (Hons), and a Grad Dip in Gerontological Nursing.

While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: strengthening our democracy - valuing our diversity - and building our future.

The copying and reproduction of any transcripts within the Hawke Centre public program is strictly forbidden without prior arrangements.