Campaign for International Co-operation and Disarmament

CALL TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS

There are over 30,000* nuclear weapons in the world today. Many of them are still on the 'alert status'.

The danger of the use of nuclear weapons and the spread of nuclear weapons is increasing because the existing nuclear powers have refused to live up to their obligations under international law.

The United State retains it massive nuclear arsenal and is engaged in research and development of 'mini-nukes' and other 'usable' nuclear weapons under cover of combating terrorism or removing weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration has changed United States policy from the strategy of 'deterrence' to the 'pre-emptive strike' which includes the use of nuclear weapons as an option.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signed by the majority of world countries including the nuclear weapon powers, calls on the nuclear weapon states to work towards nuclear disarmament. This pledge for the 'unequivocal undertaking' to abolish nuclear weapons was renewed at the NPT review Conference in the year 2000.

The Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons held in Australia in 1996 brought together international experts and laid out a plan for nuclear disarmament. They called on the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China to give the lead in nuclear disarmament. A situation where a handful of countries reserve the right to have nuclear weapons while denying them to others is dangerous, highly discriminatory and cannot be sustained. The possession of nuclear weapons by any state is a constant stimulus to other states to acquire them.

A nuclear weapon free world can be secured and maintained through political commitment and anchored in an enduring and binding legal framework.

Let us create conditions for a global movement for nuclear disarmament.