According to organisers of the letter,
"This is truly the voice of people of the world, saying ’NO’ to nuclear weapons. We have urged the UN Security Council, when it sits for its historic session on 24 September... to make its topmost priority the development of a plan to achieve global zero nuclear weapons as a matter of the utmost urgency and to take decisive steps to achieve that goal.
The Sept 24 sitting of the UNSC, chaired by President Obama, represents a historic opportunity. It is more than unfortunate that the text now before the UNSC does not offer a decisive route to zero nuclear weapons, and lopsidedly emphasises counterproliferation measures only. The consequences of the actual use of nuclear weapons are such that we cannot afford to fail. The stakes - human survival - simply could not be higher."
ORGANISATIONS WORLDWIDE URGE UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO GO TO ZERO ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS
LETTER TO HEADS OF STATE OF ALL SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL, UNITED NATIONS SECY - GENERAL BAN KI MOON,
Copied to:
PRESIDENTS OBAMA AND MEDVEDEV, FOREIGN MINISTER IVANOV, PRIME MINISTER PUTIN, SECRETARIES CLINTON AND TAUSCHER, MEMBERS OF THE US NUCLEAR POSTURE REVIEW, AND MEMBERS OF RELEVANT DUMA AND CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES
SEPTEMBER 24 - UNSC HEADS OF STATE MEETING ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND NONPROLIFERATION
Dear Head of State/Security Council Representative:
The world is approaching a nuclear tipping point.
Authoritative scientific studies now predict the detonation of as little as a half of one percent of the deployed and operational arsenals of the nuclear weapon states will produce catastrophic changes in the global climate and environment. Given this data, it is clear that a large nuclear war would destroy civilisation and threaten human survival. The Security Council and all governments must take decisions in the light of this knowledge.
A handful of states possess more than 20,000 nuclear weapons and several of these states including the United States and Russia still cling to nuclear doctrines that assert the right to use these mass terror weapons first, possibly even against non-nuclear attacks and against non-nuclear weapon states. Entry-into-force of the CTBT is within reach, but is being held up by a few hold-out states. The nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea could, if not checked, promote further proliferation.
Concrete actions that reduce the salience, number, and threat of nuclear weapons are urgently needed in order to strengthen the international nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime and to secure weapons-useable nuclear material against possible terrorist acquisition.
UN Secretary - General Ban Ki Moon has developed a five point plan toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The upcoming special session of the UN Security Council on September 24 provides an opportunity to focus attention and promote tangible steps that would reduce the nuclear weapons danger, and move decisively toward a nuclear-weapon-free-world, based on the five-point plan.
All states with or without nuclear weapons have a duty to formulate and state clearly, with specificity, their plans to achieve the non- discriminatory, legally binding, verifiable, elimination of nuclear weapons.
We urge you and other Security Council members to utilise this opportunity to adopt a decision that would:
Invoke Article 26 of the UN Charter and task the Military Staff Committee to develop within 12 months a plan for getting to zero, and securing a nuclear-weapon-free world; and instruct the committee to report to the Security Council on progress in implementation once the plan is approved;
Call on all nuclear-armed states, including those outside the NPT, to immediately halt the production of fissile material for weapons purposes, sign and/or ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT) without further delay; and otherwise halt qualitative improvements that enhance the military capabilities of their nuclear weapons arsenals;
Call upon nuclear armed states to undertake immediate steps that reduce the risks of unauthorised or accidental nuclear attack, including eliminating requirements and plans for rapid launch in response to a nuclear attack (see attached General Assembly resolution);
Provide assurances that states that do not possess nuclear weapons will not be subjected to nuclear weapons threats or nuclear attack;
Call upon relevant states to sign and ratify nuclear weapons free zone treaties without further delay and without conditions, and task the SG with appointing a special envoy to advance discussions relating to the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East;
Call upon all states possessing nuclear weapons, as well as states that are not parties to the NPT to provide a detailed accounting of their nuclear weapons holdings, including all warheads of all types, associated delivery systems, and un-safeguarded fissile materials. Such an accounting should be updated annually and submitted to the United Nations Secretariat;
Call upon all remaining states that have not yet done so to conclude comprehensive full-scope safeguards agreements and additional protocol agreements with the IAEA;
Recall UN Security Council Resolutions relating to non-proliferation and disarmament, including UNSC Resolution 1540, recent resolutions relating to the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, as well as the 1998 Security Council Resolution on the Indian and Pakistani nuclear and missile programs;
Pursue negotiations in good faith — as required by the treaty — on nuclear disarmament, either through a new convention or through a series of mutually reinforcing instruments backed by a credible system of verification;
Call upon NPT States Parties to work towards a consensus action plan for strengthening the Treaty in all of its aspects at the May 2010 NPT Review Conference; and
Convene by 2010 a global summit on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and call upon all states possessing nuclear weapons or availing themselves of extended nuclear deterrence to start transforming their security policy to that free of nuclear weapons.
This special session of the Security Council represents an important opportunity that should not be squandered. We urge you to act in a serious and purposeful manner.
Sincerely,
Signed:
International NGOs:
Arielle Denis, Vice-President, International Peace Bureau, Geneva.
Jayantha Dhanapala - former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs
Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute, NY, Philadelphia
Dr James D. Head, Chair, World Security Institute, Washington DC
Bjorn Hildt, Chair, Board of Directors, IPPNW, Trondhiem Norway
Sergey Kolesnikov, Professor and Co-President of IPPNW
Alfred L. Marder, President, International Association of Peace Messenger Cities
Ronald Mc Coy, Past Co-President, IPPNW
Herman Spanjaard, Chair of the International Council, International of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
Susi Snyder, Secretary-General, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Geneva
Kathleen Sullivan, Education Consultant, Office for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, New York
Aaron Tovish, Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign
Rene Wadlow, Representative to the UN, Geneva, Association of World Citizens Doug Mattern, President, Association of World Citizens, San Francisco
Alyn Ware, Vice-President, International Peace Bureau, Geneva
Gunnar Westberg, Past Co-President & Board member IPPNW
Australian NGOs:
Judy Blyth, PND- W.A., Perth, Western Australia
Guillaume ’Willem’ Brugman, director, Culture Lab International Inc.
Judy Blyth, PND- W.A., Perth, Western Australia
Brian D. Byrne SVD. Catholic Priest Divine Word Missionaries. Sydney
Bruce Childs. Co Convenor, Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition, (former Australian Senator)
Ian Cohen MLC, Greens, NSW Columban Mission Institute Centre for Peace Ecology and Justice Sydney
Nick Deane, Marrickville Peace Group, Marrickville, NSW
Leonie Ebert, Graham F. Smith Peace Trust, Adelaide
Irene Gale, Australian Peace Committee, Adelaide, SA
Dr Andrew Glikson, Climate Change Institute, ANU, Camberra
Jill Hall, Member of Parliament, Canberra
Frazer Kirkman, United Visions, Australia
Prof. John Langmore, United Nations Association of Australia Mark Coffey, President, United Nations Association of Australia (Victorian Division) Australia
Pauline Mitchell, Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD), Melbourne
Father Claude Mostowik, Director, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Justice and Peace Centre, Erskineville NSW
Peter Murphy, SEARCH Foundation, Sydney NSW
David Purnell and Brian Turner and, Co-Convenors, Australian Quaker Peace & Legislation Committee, Canberra
Doreen Shenman and Carol McLean, Tasmanian Peace Network, Moonah
Adrian Van Der Borch, Secy, MAPW South Australia
Ruth Watson, Anti-Nuclear Alliance, Western Australia
Tim Wright, Peace Organisation of Australia
Canadian NGOs
Judith Deutsch, Sini Maury Coordinator, Science for Peace, University of
Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Mrs Eryl Court, Member of the Council of Advisors, Unitarian-Universalist United Nations Office, Vice-President, Canadian Peace Research Association
Gordon Edwards, President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Montreal
Susan Grace Draper Regional Representative KAIROS BC/Yukon network
Brian Hopkins, Halton Peace Network, Oakville
Bruce Hyer, Member of Parliament, Ottawa
Pierre Jasmin, Les Artistes Pour La Paix, Montreal, Quebec
Gladys Kennedy, Victoria, B.C. Canada branch VANA
Tamara Lorincz, Halifax Peace Coalition Nova Scotia
Tamara Lorincz, Voice of Women for Peace, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Tamara Lorincz, Executive Director, Nova Scotia Environmental Network (NSEN)
Hon. Douglas Roche OC, Former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, Former Senator
Jennifer Allen Simons, President, The Simons Foundation Vancouver, BC
Erika Simpson, professor, University of Western Ontario, vice-chair of Pugwash Canada
Audrey Tobias, Coordinator Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, (VANA) ON-QUE Region Canada
Abraham Weizfeld, Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians, Montreal, Quebec
Patricia Willis, Denman Island Peace Group
Belgian NGOs
Juliette Boulet MP, Federal Deputy Ecolo (Greens,) Brussels
Prof. Henri Firket, President, IPPNW Belgium (AMPGN)
Zoe Genot MP, Federal Deputy Ecolo, Brussels
Senator Benoit Hellings, Ecolo (Belgian Green Party), Brussels
Hans Lammerant, Vredesactie, Antwerp
Michel Vanhoorne, LEF (Links Ecologisch Forum), Flanders
Egyptian NGOs
Nouri Abdul Razzak Hussain, Secretary-General of Afro-Asian Peoples’
Solidarity Organization (AAPSO), Cairo
French NGOs
Arielle Denis, co-president of Le Mouvement de la Paix (France)
Jean-Marie Matagne, President, Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire (ACDN), France
Pierre Villard, President of Le Mouvement de la Paix (France), coordinateur ICAN-France,
Finnish NGOs
Laura Lodenius, Peace Union of Finland, Helsinki
Vappu Taipale, professor, co-president IPPNW International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Finland
German NGOs
Hans-Josef Fell MP, Member of the German Bundestag, Green Parliamentary
Group
Angelika Beer MEP, Greens,
Angelika Graf MP, Bundestag, Berlin, Germany,
Xanthe Hall, Disarmament Expert, IPPNW Germany, PNND Germany,
Kerstin Möller, MP Alliance 90/The Greens, Foreign Policy Spokeswoman,
Ingrid Schittich, director, Association of World Citizens - German branch, Ueberlingen
Uta Zapf, MP, Bundestag, Berlin, Germany,
Ghanaian NGO
John Kwadwo Kaabi, Ghana Cities Mission, Kumasi
Greek NGOs
Thanasis Anapolitanos, Mediterranean Anti-Nuclear Watch, Rhodes, Greece
Maria Arvaniti Sotiropoulou, President of the Greek Affiliate of IPPNW (Panhellenic Medical Association against Nuclear and Biochemical Threat)
Alice Yotopoulos-Marangopoulos (Professor Emeritus, Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights, Athens
Indian NGOs
Wilfred D’Costa, President, Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), New Delhi
J Gurumurthi, Joint Secretary, All India Insurance Employees’ Association, Chennai
Arun Mitra, General Secretary, Indian Doctors for peace and Development, India
Admiral Ramdas, Lalitha Ramdas, Mumbai
Sukla Sen EKTA, Mumbai
Iraqi NGO
Ahmed Ali Mohsine Al-Marashi, Iraqi Women Charitable Association, Basra
Israeli NGO
Dr. Yehuda Atai and Gideon Spiro members of the Israeli Committee for a Middle East Free from Atomic Biological and Chemical Weapons
Japanese NGOS
Shingo Fukuyama, Secretary General, Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (GENSUIKIN)
Hideyuki Ban Citizens Nuclear Information Centre, (CNIC) Tokyo
Akira Kawasaki, Peace - Boat
Klaus Schlichtmann, lecturer in Peace Studies, Japan Women’s University, Tokyo
Hiromichi Umebayashi, Special Advisor, Peace Depot
Kenyan NGO
Paul Saoke, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Nairobi
Malaysian NGO
Dr Syed Husin Ali, Deputy President, People’s Justice Party
Mexican NGO
Luis Gutierrez Esparza, President, Latin American Circle for International Studies (LACIS) Mexico, DF, Mexico.
Netherlands NGOs
Jan Gruiters, Director, IKV Pax Christi, Utrecht, Netherlands
Ak Malten, Pro Peaceful Energy Use, Netherlands
New Zealand NGOs
Dr Kate Dewes and Commander Robert Green, Royal Navy (Ret’d), Co- Coordinators, Disarmament & Security Centre, Christchurch
Gerald O’Brien, Former Member of Parliament New Zealand and former Senior Vice President, New Zealand Labour Party
Barney Richards, President, Gerald O’ Brien President of Honour, Peace Council Aotearoa
Bob Rigg, former chair, NZ National Consultative Committee on Disarmament
Dr Robert White, former Director of the University of Auckland Centre for Peace Studies, Auckland
Norwegian NGOs
Hallgeir H. Langeland, Member of Parliament
John G. Maeland Chair Norske leger mot atomvaepen (IPPNW Norway)
Kirsten Osen, Professor emeritus, Dr.med., Council member IPPNW Norway,
Oslo
Bitte Vatvedt, journalist, Board of ’Norwegian NO to Nuclear Weapons’
Palestinian NGO
Dr. Haidar Eid Al-Aqsa University, Gaza
Pakistani NGO
Zubeida Mustapha, Journalist, Karachi
Paraguayan NGO
Martin Almada, Paraguay
Russian NGOs
Sergey Kolesnikov, prof. M.P.-Member of Russian State Duma (Russian Parliament)
Salvadoran NGO
Mauricio Lozano, M.D, El-Salvador ICAN Liason, Vice-President and Research Coordinator for Salvadoran Physicians for Social Responsibility
Spanish NGO
Rafa de la Rubia , World without Wars, Spain
Sri-Lankan NGO
Dr.Ranjith. S.Jayasekera, Vice President, Sri-Lankan Doctors for Peace and Development, Kandy
Swedish NGOs
Gertrud Holm, SSAMK, (Nurses,Physicians and Analytics against Nuclear Weapon)
Kirsti Kolthoff Ordförande/President Internationella Kvinnoförbundet för Fred och Frihet, svenska sektionen (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Swedish Section), Stockholm
Jan Larsson, President, SLMK, Swedish Physicians against Nuclear Arms
(Swedish affiliate of IPPNW)
Turkish NGOs
Ahmet Atžl Asžcž International Relations Secretary of Green Party of Turkey
Tanay Sdk Uyar,President, EUROSOLAR Turkiye, Istanbul
United Kingdom NGOs
Diana Basterfield, Co-Founder, Ministry for Peace
Colin Bex, Founder, Global Justice, Wessex
David Chaytor MP, Bury North, Westminister
Frank Cook MP, Westminster
Jill Evans Member of European Parliament Plaid Cymru, Wales, CND-Wales
Eirwen Harbottle, Founder/Co-Director, Hilde Rapp, Co-Director, Centre for International Peacebuilding
Kate Hudson, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, London
Jean Lambert, Member of European Parliament
Mildred Masheder, Positive Childhood, author, educationalist, London
Jenny Maxwell, West Midlands Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Birmingham
Peter Nicholls, Abolition - 2000
George Paxton, The Gandhi Way
Dave Webb, Yorkshire CND, Yorks,
Angie Zelter, Founder, Trident Ploughshares
United States NGOs
Joann Blatchley, Convener, Minneapolis St. Paul Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration Committee
Jay Coghlan, Executive Director, Nukes Watch New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM
Lynn DeFilippo, No Nukes North, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Michael Intigrilator, Professor of Economics, Political Science and Public Policy, University of California, LA
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CARES, Livermore, California
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Santa Barbara, California
Madeline Labriola, Hudson Valley Pax Christi
Robin Lloyd and Margaret Harrington Tamulonis, Nuclear Free Future Vermont
Jill Mackie, Ashland, Oregon, USA, Ashland Branch of WILPF
Bruce Martin, Executive Director, Promoting Enduring Peace, Hartford, CT
Doug Mattern, Association of World Citizens, San Francisco, California
Nancy Munger and Laura Roskos, Co-Presidents, WILPF US Section
Rosemarie Pace, Director Pax Christi Metro New York, New York, NY
Dorothy Prunhuber, The Ribbon International
Linda Richards, WILPF Disarm Committee, Corvallis, Oregon State University
Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation NY
Steve Starr, Senior Scientist, PSR, Missouri, Dr Helen Caldicott Founding President Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)
Patricia Topitzer, City of New Haven Peace Commission, New Haven, CT
Suzi Wizowaty, Vermont Legislature, Montpelier, VT
Susan Zipp, Consultant, Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations New York, NY
Susan Zipp, President, United Nations Association, San Francisco chapter
Thailand NGO
Alfredo Ferrariz Lubang, Nonviolence International Southeast Asia, Bankok, Thailand,
The letter was coordinated by John Hallam of People for Nuclear Disarmament Sydney’s Nuclear Flashpoints project, with help from many major disarmament organizations, including the able assistance of: Jonathan Granoff, Kate Hudson, Akira Kawasaki, Daryl Kimball, Dave Krieger, Peter Nicholls, Erika Simpson, Steven Starr, Aaron Tovish, Hiro Umebayashi, and Alyn Ware.
Contacts:
John Hallam 61-2-9810-2598 (leave message) m0416-500-793
johnhallam2001@yahoo.com.au
foesyd4@ihug.com.au
jhjohnhallam@gmail.com