The nuclear states who are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (UK, US, Russia, China, and France) undertake to get rid of their nuclear weapons. The treaty came into force in 1970. Every five years there is a Review Conference to see how this is going. Before the Review Conference there are a number of Pre-Review Conferences (referred to as PrepComs) to decide what will be discussed at the Review Conference. The third (!) Pre-Review Conference for the 2015 Review Conference has just concluded -- without adopting any agreed recommendations! All the nuclear states are renewing their nuclear arsenals. The British government has declared that it is building an arsenal for the next fifty years. The nuclear-armed states illustrated their commitment to making progress with disarmament by pleading that they had made a glossary of nuclear definitions! This ludicrous pantomime is treating the public with contempt. It is clear that the nuclear states have no intention of honouring the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Supporting Sanity
In my previous article, 'Nuclear Weapons: Hope At Last,' I pointed to the international meetings in Oslo and Mexico at which the non-nuclear states determined to take matters into their own hands and protect themselves and the planet by bypassing the madness of the nuclear states. The conferences focus on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons use and the nightmarish consequences. Dates have now been fixed for the third of these conferences. It will take place in Austria on 8-9 December in Vienna. It is expected that the Vienna conference will take the matter of a Nuclear Weapons Treaty much further forward. The treaty would ban the existence of nuclear weapons. Moreover, after Vienna, South Africa has mentioned the possibility of hosting a fourth conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. If the combined efforts of the non-nuclear states are successful in achieving an international ban on the existence and use of nuclear weapons then the nuclear-armed states will be under great pressure to follow suit.
There are now a vast number of civil-society organisations world-wide that are demanding a ban on the existence of nuclear weapons. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) states that among our goals we call on states, international organizations, civil-society organizations and other actors to 'take immediate action to support a multilateral process of negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons'15. This is a global campaign coalition working to mobilize people in all countries to inspire, persuade and pressure their governments to initiate negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Everyone is urged to join. Contact details for countries round the planet can be accessed at www.icanw.org.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent continue to make the world aware of their passionate opposition to nuclear weapons. At Sydney, Australia, 17 November 201316, they reiterated their deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and adopted a four-year action plan towards ensuring that nuclear weapons are never used again. The world's largest humanitarian organisation reiterated its objective to prohibit the use of and completely eliminate nuclear weapons.
The web site of Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) states it is a 'world-leading source of independent analysis, informed debate and influential ideas on how to build a prosperous and secure world for all'. They are not renowned for overstating a case. In April 2014 they published a study entitled 'Too Close for Comfort -- Cases of Near Nuclear Use and Options for Policy'. They outline some of the near misses when the world has come close to the final catastrophe. They repeat what civil society has been saying for years: 'There are many events that demonstrate the fragility of nuclear deterrence, including technical malfunctions and miscommunications.' They state, 'The primary finding of the study is that... the risk associated with nuclear weapons is high.' And 'For as long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of an inadvertent, accident or deliberate detonation remains.'
The sword was suspended above Damocles' head by a single horse's hair. It is still there and now it hangs over us all. It will keep us in grave danger of a nuclear holocaust until we clean our world of all these obscene and insane instruments of Armageddon.
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