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 1,200
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:
- 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.*
- Immediately make an unconditional pledge not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.
- 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.
- Cease to produce and deploy new and additional nuclear weapons systems, and commence to
withdraw and disable deployed nuclear weapons systems.
- Prohibit the military and commercial production and reprocessing of all weapons-usable
radioactive materials.
- 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.
- 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.
- Create additional nuclear weapons free zones such as those established by the treaties
of Tlatelolco and Rarotonga.
- Recognize and declare the illegality of threat or use of nuclear weapons, publicly and
before the
World Court.
- Establish an international energy agency to promote and support the development of
sustainable and environmentally safe energy sources.
- 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.
* 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.
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:
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 121; Santa Barbara, California; 93108;
Tel.: +01 (805) 965-3443; Fax +01 (805) 568-0466;
e-mail: wagingpeace@napf.org
OR sign electronically at: orgapledge.html
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