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Dear PNND members, friends and supporters,
We wish to draw your attention to new opportunities for parliamentarians to advance key nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament steps arising from:
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UN Secretary-General speaking at the UN with Henry Kissinger and Mohamed ElBaradei |
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On United Nations Day 24 October 2008, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a landmark speech in the UN entitled Contagious doctrine of deterrence has made non-proliferation more difficult, in which he announced a five point plan for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, bringing together ideas from UN resolutions, proposals to the Conference on Disarmament, and a number of high-level commissions. His primary point was a call on governments to fulfil their nuclear disarmament obligations through negotiating a package of instruments or a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention. “Upon the request of Costa Rica and Malaysia, I have circulated to all United Nations Member States a draft of such a convention, which offers a good point of departure.”
The following month, a resolution calling for the commencement of negotiations concluding in a Nuclear Weapons Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly supported by 127 countries (UN GA Resolution 63/49). Supporting countries included a mix of countries from around the world including non-nuclear countries; nuclear-weapons possessors such as China, India and Pakistan; and countries which might be able to develop a nuclear weapons capacity such as Iran.
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Global Zero launch in Paris,
December 2008 |
On 9 December a high-level group of 129 political, military, business, faith and civic leaders from around the world launched Global Zero – an international campaign to build public awareness and political support for a nuclear weapons treaty.
In light of these developments, the German Bundestag (parliament) held initial hearings on 17 December on the proposal for a Nuclear Weapons Convention as guided by the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention. Parliamentarians from all political parties represented in the Bundestag participated in the hearings. The parliament also heard testimony from non-governmental experts involved in the drafting of the Model NWC.
- Submit the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention and the UN Secretary-General’s five point plan to your legislature;
- Call for hearings on the Nuclear Weapons Convention similar to those held in the German Bundestag.
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The Obama administration has hit the ground running with key disarmament initiatives announced following the election and early in the new presidency. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated during her senate confirmation , “We will seek agreements with Russia to secure further reductions in weapons under START.” In the election campaign Obama spoke about the need to take remaining nuclear weapons off alert status, work for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and commence multilateral negotiations on a fissile material production ban. These commitments were also re-affirmed by Hillary Clinton in her Senate confirmation. During the election campaign Obama also announced his aim to stop the development of new nuclear weapons and to use the presidency to “seek a world in which there are no nuclear weapons.” The White House Foreign Policy webpage confirms this policy stating that “Obama and Biden will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it. ”
On Obama’s first day as president he announced the ratification of four protocols to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. In his first conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on 27 January, Obama paved the way for a leaders meeting and improved Russian-US relations that could ease the way for a number of disarmament initiatives. Two days later, Medvedev announced a halt to planned Iskander missile deployments in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (Russian territory situated in-between Lithuania and Poland) and expressed optimism for improved relations with the US under the Obama administration.
The US Mission to the United Nations in Geneva is reinforcing the new era of optimism and support for disarmament and multilateralism through regular (almost daily) email newsletters reporting on key Obama initiatives. To receive this e-newsletter, contact pa@usmission.ch.
At the 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a working group was established to consider the issue of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and prepare a draft report and resolution for adoption at the 120th Assembly in Ethiopia 5-10 April 2009. A draft report including elements for a draft resolution were presented to the 119th IPU Assembly in Geneva.
In light of the possibilities existing then, the report and resolution concentrated on building support for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), commencement of negotiations on a fissile materials treaty and further reductions in nuclear stockpiles. However, a number of delegations and invited speakers at both the 119th Assembly in Geneva and at the IPU Annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations in November noted that such a limited focus has formed the basis for the international agenda that in the past ten years has failed to achieve any significant steps on either nuclear non-proliferation or disarmament, and that such a limited focus would continue to fail due to the discriminatory nature of the steps, i.e. they primarily address the proliferation of nuclear weapons to new countries but do not address the capacity of the nuclear weapon States to continue threatening massive destruction (See Summary of panel discussion at 119th IPU Assembly).
In addition, since the 119th IPU Assembly, the possibility to take a much more comprehensive and non-discriminatory approach has blossomed - one that could lead to success. The new possibilities arise through the UN Secretary-General’s support for a Nuclear Weapons Convention and the more positive climate for disarmament in the new US administration. There is a growing opinion that this political opening should not be squandered. Thus, a number of PNND members are suggesting that the draft resolution to the 120th IPU Assembly be amended to support the UN Secretary-General’s five point disarmament plan and especially his proposal for negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention.
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L-R: Theo Kelchtermans, Belgian MP and Mayor of Peer; MEP Angelika Beer (Greens/EFA, Germany); MEP Annemie Neyts (ALDE, Belgium); MEP Ana Gomes (PSE, Portugal); MEP Girts Kristovskis (UEN, Latvia) MEP Frieda Brepoels (PPE-DE, Belgium)
at the EP launch July 1, 2008
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On Tuesday, July 1, 2008 the European Parliament section of PNND commemorated the 40th anniversary of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) by launching a Parliamentary declaration in support of the Nuclear Weapons Convention. The declaration calls for implementation of the NPT disarmament obligation through multilateral negotiations to achieve a non-discriminatory global treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons and providing for their elimination under international control.
The declaration was endorsed by Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum including former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard and former Belgian Prime Minister Jean–Luc Dehaene. PNND is now circulating the declaration globally seeking endorsements from additional parliamentarians with a view to presenting it to 2009 Preparatory Conference of States Parties to NPT in May and to the 2009 United Nations General Assembly in October.
Please return signed declarations to PNND, PO Box 24-429, Manners Street, Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand Fax: +64 4 496-9599 pnnd@gsinstitute.org
For more on the July 1 launch see Members of the European Parliament launch support for a total ban on nuclear weapons
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