NUCLEAR WEAPONS - Rid the World of the Nuclear Threat March 97
The nuclear weapons states, with their 30,000 nuclear weapons, appear committed to indefinite possession of nuclear weapons. And the chances of terrorists gaining possession of nuclear weapons are greater than ever.
Nuclear Weapons Convention A major international meeting is coming up which gives you the chance to make your voice heard for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
"The proposition that nuclear weapons can be retained in perpetuity and never used - accidentally or by decision - defies credibility."
Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, August 1996
"The elegant theories of deterrence wilt in the crucible of impending nuclear war... A world free from the threat of nuclear weapons is necessarily a world devoid of nuclear weapons."
General Lee Butler, Head of the US Strategic (i.e. nuclear) Command (1992-94)
The nuclear weapons states, with their 30,000 nuclear weapons, appear committed to indefinite possession of nuclear weapons. And the chances of terrorists gaining possession of nuclear weapons are greater than ever.
Even after the end of the cold war nuclear states continue to modernise their arsenals. The U.S. for example, has begun to deploy a new nuclear bomb, the B61-11, which is specially designed to destroy underground facilities. Senior Pentagon officials suggested in April 1996, that such a weapon could be used against a suspected underground chemical factory being built by Libya.
The U.S., France, and U.K. continue to maintain that they might use nuclear weapons first in a conflict. In February top Russian officials, in response to a planned NATO expansion, reaffirmed that Russia is abandoning its policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons.
Such policies increase the risk of nuclear weapons proliferating to more countries. Nobel laureate Joseph Rotblat explains that, "If the militarily most powerful and least threatened states need nuclear weapons for their security, how can one deny such security to countries that are truly insecure?" The increasing availability of nuclear technology and materials make such proliferation inevitable unless there is a move towards global elimination of nuclear weapons.
The good news is that calls for the nuclear states to abolish their nuclear weapons are emerging from a variety of authoritative sources:
* July 1996: the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal and that all states have an obligation to negotiate for "nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control."
* September 1996: a high level international commission formed by the Australian Government (the Canberra Commission) reported to the United Nations that the elimination of nuclear weapons is both imperative and feasible.
* December 1996: 60 retired generals and admirals joined in a statement calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
* December 1996: the United Nations General Assembly called for negotiations to begin in 1997 leading to the conclusion of a Nuclear Weapons Convention which would provide for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
Next month there will be a crucial opportunity to put these calls into action.
From April 7-18, governments will meet at the UN for the first in a series of meetings of the 185 states party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT, signed in 1970, is an agreement between non-nuclear states, which pledge not to acquire nuclear weapons, and nuclear weapon states, which agree under Article VI of the treaty to negotiate for nuclear disarmament and for general and complete disarmament. The April meeting provides an opportunity to press the nuclear weapon states to implement their Article VI obligation by beginning work on a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contact your Minister of Foreign Affairs or one or more representatives in your national legislature. Ask them to:
• urge your government to take a strong stand at the NPT meeting in April calling for negotiations to commence on a Nuclear Weapons Convention to provide for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons under effective international control.
Abolition 2000
The International Abolition 2000 Network, now comprising 700 organizations (including many EarthAction Partners), was formed at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 1995 with the aim of achieving, by the year 2000, an international treaty to abolish nuclear weapons (Nuclear Weapons Convention).
A working group of the network, headed by the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, is drafting a Model Nuclear Weapons Convention which outlines a framework for the elimination of nuclear weapons including provisions for verification and enforcement. The Model NWC will be released at the NPT meeting in April.
For further information contact:
The Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, 666 Broadway, #625, New York, NY 10012, USA. Tel: (1) 212 674-7790, Fax: (1) 212 674-6199, email: lcnp@aol.com.
To join the Abolition 2000 Network, contact:
Abolition 2000 Network Global Office, PO Box 220, Port Hueneme, CA 93044, USA. Tel: (1) 805 985-5073, Fax: (1) 805 985-7568, email: pmeidell@igc.apc.org.