Weapons of Mass Destruction: Maintaining the Rage

16 August 2007

Hon Gareth Evans AO QC

The lecture was a joint presentation between The Australian National University and The Lowy Institute for International Policy.

Over the last decade there has been a serious, and dangerous, loss of momentum and direction in disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. The Chemical Weapons Convention – for whose conclusion and implementation John Gee worked so tirelessly and brilliantly - shows what is achievable. Nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented, but they can be outlawed - as chemical and biological weapons have been - and their use made unthinkable. But that will require from the world's decision-makers an intelligent understanding of present dangers, creative new policy thinking, and above all an end to hypocrisy and double standards.

Dr John Gee Memorial Lecture

Dr John Gee served with distinction as an Australian diplomat in a number of countries. His greatest contribution, however, was in the field of disarmament, where he had a particular interest in chemical weapons. After a period as a Commissioner on the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq following the first Gulf War, he became Deputy Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, serving there until 2003. In recognition of his achievements, Dr Gee was made a member of the Order of Australia in January 2007.

Broad Topics: Law

Sub-topics: Policy & Political Science

Areas: University

Gareth Evans has been since January 2000 President of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, after spending 21 years in Australian politics, thirteen in the Cabinet including as Foreign Minister (1988-96). He has written or edited eight books, published worldwide over 90 journal articles and chapters and many more opinion pieces, and has been a prominent member of global panels like the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2001), the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (2004), the Blix Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction (June 2006), and the Secretary-General's Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention (2006-present).