Abolition 2000
A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
 

Statement signed by Irish CND

On April 1995, during the first weeks of the Non-Proliferation Treaty
Review and Extension Conference, activists from around the world
recognized that the issue of nuclear abolition was not on the agenda.
Activists met together to write the following statement that has become
the founding document of the Abolition 2000 Network. Over 850 NGOs on
six continents have now signed it and are actively working in ten
working groups to accomplish the eleven points listed here.

 STATEMENT

    A secure and livable world for our children and grandchildren and all
future generations requires that we achieve a world free of nuclear weapons
and redress the environmental degradation and human suffering that is the
legacy of fifty years of nuclear weapons testing and production.

    Further, the inextricable link between the "peaceful" and warlike uses
of nuclear technologies and the threat to future generations inherent in
creation and use of long-lived radioactive materials must be recognized. We
must move toward reliance on clean, safe, renewable forms of energy
production that do not provide the materials for weapons of mass destruction
and do not poison the environment for thousands of centuries. The true
"inalienable" right is not to nuclear energy, but to life, liberty and
security of person in a world free of nuclear weapons.

    We recognize that a nuclear weapons free world must be achieved
carefully and in a step by step manner. We are convinced of its
technological feasibility. Lack of political will, especially on the part of
the nuclear weapons states, is the only true barrier. As chemical and
biological weapons are prohibited, so must nuclear weapons be prohibited.

    We call upon all states particularly the nuclear weapons states,
declared and de facto to take the following steps to achieve nuclear weapons
abolition. We further urge the states parties to the NPT to demand binding
commitments by the declared nuclear weapons states to implement these
measures:

1. Initiate immediately and conclude by the year 2000 negotiations on a
nuclear weapons abolition convention that requires the phased
elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with
provisions for effective verification and enforcement.*
2. Immediately make an unconditional pledge not to use or threaten to use
nuclear weapons.
3. Rapidly complete a truly comprehensive test ban treaty with a zero
threshold and with the stated purpose of precluding nuclear weapons
development by all states.
4. Cease to produce and deploy new and additional nuclear weapons
systems, and commence to withdraw and disable deployed nuclear weapons
systems.
5. Prohibit the military and commercial production and reprocessing of
all weapons-usable radioactive materials.
6. Subject all weapons-usable radioactive materials and nuclear
facilities in all states to international accounting, monitoring, and
safeguards, and establish a public international registry of all
weapons-usable radioactive materials.
7. Prohibit nuclear weapons research, design, development, and testing
through laboratory experiments including but not limited to non-nuclear
hydrodynamic explosions and computer simulations, subject all nuclear
weapons laboratories to international monitoring, and close all nuclear
test sites.
8. Create additional nuclear weapons free zones such as those established
by the treaties of Tlatelolco and Raratonga.
9. Recognize and declare the illegality of threat or use of nuclear
weapons, publicly and before the World Court.
10. Establish an international energy agency to promote and support the
development of sustainable and environmentally safe energy sources.
11. Create mechanisms to ensure the participation of citizens and NGOs in
planning and monitoring the process of nuclear weapons abolition.

    A world free of nuclear weapons is a shared aspiration of humanity. This
goal cannot be achieved in a non-proliferation regime that authorizes the
possession of nuclear weapons by a small group of states. Our common
security requires the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Our objective
is definite and unconditional abolition of nuclear weapons.
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* The convention should mandate irreversible disarmament measures, including
but not limited to the following: withdraw and disable all deployed nuclear
weapons systems; disable and dismantle warheads; place warheads and
weapon-usable radioactive materials under international safeguards; destroy
ballistic missiles and other delivery systems. The convention could also
incorporate the measures listed above which should be implemented
independently without delay. When fully implemented, the convention would
replace the NPT.
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If your group or organization wishes to sign on to this statement,
please send an e-mail stating
contact name, organization name, address, fax, telephone and E-mail to:
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Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 123; Santa Barbara, California; 93108;
Tel.: +01 (805) 965-3443; Fax +01 (805) 568-0466;
e-mail: wagingpeace@napf.org
OR sign electronically at: http://www.wagingpeace.org/orgapledge.html

 

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