INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE MANHATTAN
PROJECT (ITMP)
STUDY GUIDE
Institute of Engineering Model United Nations
IOEMUN 2024
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to the IOEMUN 2024 and the International Tribunal for the Manhattan Project
(ITMP). It is with great pleasure that we, Monisha Choudhary and Subin Poudel, assume the
role of the Chair and Vice-Chair for this distinguished committee. Our journey in Model
United Nations has been one of endurance and dedication, with Monisha’s involvement in
Model United Nations from 2017 to 2021, and in international competitions related to
international law since 2021, and Subin’s continued engagement as a prominent MUNer,
trainer, and organizer since 2018. Over the years, we have accumulated invaluable
experience, having participated in a variety of committees and competitions outside of
MUNs. Our academic aspirations and engagements as law students further inform our
expertise in the region- deeming us capable of standing as your Chair and Vice-Chair for the
session.
IMTP is a special committee, designed specifically for engineering students, as it is novel in
both its approach and subject. It provides a platform for prospective engineers to account for
ethical and moralistic considerations in the process of innovating. Embodying the burden of
innovation, the committee provides a unique experience at the juncture of international law
and politics, and science and technology.
We understand that navigating a Model United Nations conference can be exhilarating and
challenging. As such, we want to emphasise our commitment to supporting and guiding you
throughout your journey in the ITMP. We would be more than willing to help you out
whether you have questions about the points of discussion, require assistance with
understanding your country’s stances or need any other form of guidance. If anything, our
goal is to induce a greater understanding of your position in the larger world as an innovator
and provide some clarity on the many arbitrary determinants of criminal responsibility under
international law.
If you have any doubts or questions or are looking for advice, please contact us through the
formal email of IOEMUN or our emails- monishachoudhary16@gmail.com (Monisha) or
subinpoudel1@gmail.com (Subin). Good luck delegates!
Regards,
Monisha Choudhary
Chair of ITMP
Subin Poudel
Vice-Chair of ITMP
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMITTEE
A. Overview
In the International Tribunal for the Manhattan Project (ITMP) at IOEMUN 2024, we will
discuss the possibility of prosecuting the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project for the
creation of lethal weapons. Brace yourself for thorough political and legal discussions and
extensive diplomatic exchanges on the novel prospect of criminal liability for innovation.
B. Mandate
The ITMP is a fictitious committee set in 1945, after the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and the effective end of World War II. A Declaration has been issued for the
establishment of the Tribunal. However, several thematic issues need to be settled by the
international community before the Tribunal can be established. As such, in this Model
United Nations, we commence the first conference to discuss the potential criminal liability
and prosecution of the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project. This ad-hoc conference is
being held in Geneva, Switzerland with the attendance of up to 25 states.
Participating agents and experts will be required to discuss political and legal matters
pertaining to the role of scientists in the Manhattan Project. The outcome documents of the
session may constitute political declarations or negotiating texts, depending solely on the
nature of the discussion and the negotiations that may ensue. As the primary goal is to initiate
a novel discourse through this global forum, we hope that the committee can produce a
conclusive framework for the determination of the burden of innovation (or lack thereof).
1. AGENDA: THE AFTERMATH OF HIROSHIMA NAGASAKI: ASSESSING THE
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LIABILITY OF SCIENTISTS OF THE
MANHATTAN PROJECT
i. Context
In light of the nuclear advances of Nazi Germany, physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner
convinced Albert Einstein to send a letter to the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt to
pursue their own nuclear research program. First, an Advisory Committee on Uranium was
set up, which reported that a chain reaction in uranium is possible. With the discovery of
element 94 under Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California and the creation of the
Office of Scientific Research and Development, the Manhattan Project began on December 6,
1941.
The United States was at war with both Japan and Nazi Germany by 1941, leading to an
executive decision to obtain all fissionable materials, including the electromagnetic process
developed at the University of California under Ernest Orlando Lawrence and the diffusion
process developed under Harold Urey at Columbia University. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers were assigned to the management of the construction work for the plants, labs and
manufacturing facilities associated with atomic research; with Brig. Gen. Leslie R. Groves,
chiefly in charge of engineering activities.
On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi succeeded in producing the world’s first controlled
nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago. By 1943, a laboratory to construct a
nuclear bomb was established at Los Alamos, New Mexico, with a staff of scientists headed
by J. Robert Oppenheimer. In August of 1943, a combined policy committee with Great
Britain and Canada was established and scientists from those countries moved to the United
States to join the project. By the summer of 1945, Nazi Germany had surrendered and
amounts of plutonium-239 sufficient to produce a nuclear explosion had been secured.
The first atomic bomb (plutonium-239) was detonated in a test near Alamogordo in Southern
New Mexico on July 16, 1945, under the Trinity Test. By the time the Project had ended, it
had cost US $2 billion (equivalent to $3.26 billion in 2022), involving almost 125,000 people.
Despite the magnitude of the project, it was one of the best-kept secrets of war according to
Bryon Price, the Office of Censorship. A local magazine Life estimated that before the
bombings, “probably no more than a few dozen men in the entire country knew the full
meaning of the Manhattan Project, and perhaps only a thousand others even were aware that
work on atoms was involved.” Further, the magazine wrote that 100,000 others employed in
the project operated in the dark. They were supposedly warned that disclosing the project’s
secrets would be punished by 10 years in prison or a fine of US $10,000 (equivalent to
$163,000 in 2022).
The following scientists played a significant role in the development of the atomic bomb:
● Hans Bethe
● James Chadwick
● Albert Einstein
● Enrico Fermi
● Richard Feynman
● James Franck
● Klaus Fuchs
● Joseph Rotblat
● Glenn T. Seaborg
● Robert Serber
● Leo Szilard
● Edward Teller
● Eugene Wigner
● Herbert York
The newly discovered and untested uranium-235 gun-assembly bomb, dubbed the Little Boy
was airburst 580 meters above Hiroshima on August 6 and a duplicate of the Trinity Test
bomb nicknamed Fat Man was airburst at 500 meters above Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. An
estimated 140,000 and 73,000 people were killed instantly by each of these bombs.
In areas within 1 kilometre of ground zero, human bodies without any shielding, namely in
the open air on the roads and ground, were instantaneously squeezed by the blast wind
(pressure) against walls, causing multiple fractures of skeletons and ruptures of the
abdominal cavity causing escape of colons. Many people on open roads and grounds were
carbonized by the direct effect of heat rays within 1.0 km from ground zero. Many residential
areas full of Japanese houses were crushed by the wind and burned out in which many
victims were also burned to white bones. The skin of people on open roads or grounds within
0.5–1.5 km was deeply flash-burned due to heavy heat rays. The skins were soon peeled off
because of necrosis in the deep skin layer. With large areas of skin peeling off, people
suffered severe pain and bleeding.
Figure 1. Projected death rates by distance from ground zero in the first three
months in areas of Nagasaki city
Figure 1. Initial projection of increased rate of leukaemia among atomic bomb
survivors: Hiroshima
Damages of an unprecedented nature have been projected, the depths of which cannot be
understood or prevented at this time. Japan's military leaders were divided on whether to
continue fighting or surrender unconditionally. Japan's Emperor Hirohito intervened and
announced Japan's acceptance of the Allied terms of surrender on August 15, 1945. Japan's
surrender marked the end of its expansionist ambitions in Asia and its role as a major power.
ii. Current Situation
In the aftermath of the atomic bombing, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8,
1945. However, after Japan surrendered, in a national broadcast on Soviet Central Television
on August 9, Joseph Stalin declared- “Comrades, the war is not over yet. The Japanese may
have lost, but the United States has not won. The Soviet Government has always been ten
steps ahead of the infamous Truman. Nuclear Physicist Igor Kurchatov and the group of
engineers led by General Boris L. Vannikov are developing the truly “First Lightning” that
the world will witness.”
Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Republic of China lauded the efforts of the US, as he
proclaimed- “The Japanese, who once colonized our people, have finally faced a feted defeat.
No one is protected from the totality of war, not after what they did in Nanjing. The sun has
finally set.”
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, although relieved that the war was over, expressed
several concerns about the future role of nuclear weapons in international relations and
advocated for international control and regulation of atomic energy, as reported by the local
newspaper The Times on August 9, 1945. However, in the United States, Presidential Medals
for Merit were awarded to over 20 contractors and scientists on August 12.
On August 25, 1945, representatives of Sweden and Switzerland issued a declaration named
Punishment for the War Crimes and Crimes Against Peace committed through the
Manhattan Project [“PMP Declaration”]. The declaration is similar to the Punishment for
War Crimes and Crimes declaration issued in 1942 but more comprehensive insofar that
encompassed prosecution not only for the War Crimes committed by the American soldiers
but also the scientists who were engaged in the project for the commission of Crimes Against
Peace. Several states such as Germany, Japan, France, Denmark, Hong Kong, Greece, Iran,
Indonesia, Netherlands, Poland and South Africa became signatories to the Declaration
immediately.
The Commission for the Determination of Responsibility of the Manhattan Project
[“CDRMP”] was established under the PMP and tasked with the determination of the
political and legal aspects of the establishment of the International Tribunal for the
Manhattan Project. To delimit the scope of the discussion, the CDRMP recommends that
the conference use the following definition of “Crimes Against Peace” as a point of
departure:
Crimes against Peace constitute planning, preparation, initiation, waging or
participation in a common plan or conspiracy related to a war of aggression,
which can only apply in relation to international armed conflict.
The CDRMP is conducting the first conference to discuss whether or not the scientists
engaged in the Manhattan Project violated international law, and if it is so concluded that they
did, recommend the method of prosecution. The conference will be held on September 5-6,
1945 (Present Date- January 29-30, 2024) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Some of the aforementioned states have also demonstrated intentions to become signatories
to the PMP Declaration. However, several states such as the US and Canada have expressed
their disregard for the Declaration and have made it unequivocally clear that they will be
participating in the conference with the sole purpose of defeating the objective of the
Declaration and the CDRMP.
To the shock of the international community, the following piece was published in the
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on August 29, only 5 days prior to the conference.
2. POINTS OF DISCUSSION FOR THE CONFERENCE
i. Can states pursue the scientific development of lethal weapons, such as atomic
weapons, without restraint?
a. What is the role of scientists in the development of such lethal weapons?
ii. Have the scientists committed crimes against peace?
a. If they have, how do their actions constitute crimes against peace?
i. Can their intention (or knowledge of the consequence) be established?
ii. Do their actions have a nexus with the bombing?
b. If they have not committed crimes against peace, can their action be justified
politically?
i. Whether the total war doctrine applies?
ii. Did the bombings justifiably end World War II?
iii. Can their actions be justified in the pursuit of scientific research and development?
iv. Can the scientists be prosecuted under international law by establishing the
International Tribunal for the Manhattan Project?
a. Would prosecution discourage the pursuit of scientific research and
development?
b. Would prosecution allow retroactive application of law (i.e. can an action that
was not a crime at the time of commission be prosecuted at a later time under
a new law criminalizing such action)?
c. Can universal jurisdiction be exercised for prosecution?
3. RESOURCES
1. On the Manhattan Project
F.G. Gosling-'Manhattan Project: Making Atomic Bomb' (2010)
Jacob Horowitz- 'Building Bombs, Talking Peace The Political Activity of Man…
2. On Crimes Against Peace
Dr Kirsten Sellars - ’Crimes against Peace’ (2013)
3. Contemporary Treaties and Conventions
a. On the Means and Methods of Warfare
Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (190…
[See Articles 22-28]
Declaration (XIV) Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosiv…
b. On the Applicable Treaties
Atlantic Charter 1941.pdf
Note:
● The aforementioned list of resources is not exhaustive. Please conduct your independent research on
the pertinent issues.
● The definition of “crimes against peace” intentionally does not include the part of the definition
which limits liability to individuals in a high position of authority, representing a State or a
State-like entity as is prominent in the definitions of the present day, to broaden it to include the
liability of scientists.
● The delegates are strictly prohibited from alluding to the present date in any manner whatsoever.
● Similarly, the delegates must limit their arguments to materials published before September 5, 1945.
