Home  Media Press Releases Global Abolition Progress of Nuclear Non-Proliferation talks welcomed by CND
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Progress of Nuclear Non-Proliferation talks welcomed by CND |
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Friday, 08 May 2009 |
The Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament welcomed the significant progress made during the first week of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) talks, currently ongoing in New York. State
representatives at the Preparatory Committee to next year's major Review
Conference agreed an agenda for the first time in a decade, a significant
achievement in large part due to the greatly improved approach of the US
delegation.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,
said, "Serious progress at next year's Review Conference is vital to ensuring
both disarmament of long-held nuclear arsenals and preventing the creation of
any new ones. Agreeing a substantive agenda at this early stage gives hope that
the change in mood flowing from Obama's call for disarmament will be followed
through into considerable gains at the 2010 talks - both warhead cuts and
diplomatic frameworks for ensuring further progress."
She continued,
"Britain must play its full part in ensuring progress towards a safer world with
fewer nuclear weapons. Gordon Brown has said Trident would be on the table 'as soon as it becomes useful' - and it will be useful at next
year's negotiations. A bold move by Britain, such as ending continuous patrols
by Trident and suspending work on its replacement would be a huge boost to
global efforts."
CND also welcomed the inclusion of a review of the '13 Practical Steps' that the nuclear-weapon
states agreed to undertake at the last successful review conference in 2000,
which includes support for the aim of eliminating all nuclear weapons and the
strengthening of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty which Bush withdrew from in
order to pursue missile defence.
In another significant change of tone,
Rose Gottemoeller, the US assistant secretary of state for arms control noted
that "universal adherence to the NPT itself - including by India, Israel,
Pakistan and North Korea - also remains a fundamental objective of the United
States." This statement, explicitly calling on Israel to join the NPT regime,
which it would have to do as a non-nuclear weapon state, is a marked change in
policy from that of the Bush administration, which effectively allowed Israel to
retain the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.
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