Activists dressed as missiles outside the NPT
States which were prepared to go to war to disarm Iraq must take action to meet their international legal obligations to get rid of their own nuclear weapons, Greenpeace said, as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Member States began meeting in Geneva today. (1)
Illustrating its point, Greenpeace "inspectors" destroyed a parade of mock missiles bearing flags of the five "official" nuclear weapon states (US, Russia, UK, France, China) as well as those of Israel, India and Pakistan outside the United Nations building where the 2003 NPT Preparatory Committee is being held.
Greenpeace believes that a key lesson of the Iraq crisis is that international laws and treaties to prevent proliferation must be strengthened, not weakened. The millions of people who marched against the Iraq war want to see the North Korean crisis and future proliferation problems solved by negotiation, not preemptive military strikes. In the long run, the most effective means to halt proliferation is the rule of law applied universally and even-handedly to all states, not unilateral gunboat diplomacy," said William Peden from Greenpeace International.
The environmental and peace organisation said the NPT meeting must address several urgent challenges to the non-proliferation regime. The invasion of Iraq raised questions about the effectiveness of multilateral institutions, North Korea withdrew from the Treaty on April 10th, and the failure of the nuclear weapon states to make significant progress toward disarmament since the Treaty was extended indefinitely in 1995 has weakened the Treaty's standing.
The NPT enshrines a global norm of nuclear disarmament - 182 of its 187 members have pledged never to acquire nuclear weapons. "If the US and UK believe strongly enough in disarmament to invade Iraq, they should be promoting disarmament at home just as vigorously, and putting real pressure on Israel, India and Pakistan to give up their nuclear arsenals," concluded Peden.
"There must be no double standards where nuclear weapons are concerned, or otherwise the entire non-proliferation regime is put at risk," said Stephanie Mills, Greenpeace International nuclear co-ordinator. "The central bargain of the Non Proliferation Treaty obliges the five nuclear weapon states to disarm their nuclear arsenal, while non-nuclear weapons states pledge to remain so. The vast majority of states have kept their word -- it is now time disarmament began in the US, UK, Russia, China and France," she said.
Given the current nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, Greenpeace urges negotiations to stablish a Nuclear Free Zone in Northeast Asia. As a first step, North Korea should declare the status of its nuclear programme, abandon the pursuit of nuclear weapons and rejoin the NPT.
Greenpeace strongly supports five major recommendations for states at the NPT meeting:
- States should reject the use of military force to resolve proliferation concerns, and uphold the value of multilateral legal mechanisms
- States should reject the "first strike" use of nuclear weapons, and agree legally binding security assurances.
- All nuclear weapon states should commit to the goal of eliminating their illegal nuclear arsenals and halting the development of new nuclear weapons or the "refurbishment" of existing ones.
- States should agree an emergency mechanism to deal more swiftly and effectively with future crises such as North Korea's withdrawal from the NPT.
- The promotion of "dual use" nuclear technology, particularly reprocessing and enrichment technologies, which is permitted under the NPT, should be stopped and a comprehensive ban on the production and use of all fissile material agreed.
Notes to Editors:
(1) The April 28-May 9 meeting of the NPT Preparatory Committee is tasked with preparation of recommendations for the 2005 NPT Review Conference.
