PRESS RELEASE
Prime Minister receives nuclear abolition message from over 5 million
people world wide on final day of Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference
26 May 2005: for immediate release
Photo opportunity:
Petition hand in: 10 Downing Street, Friday 27th May 2005, 10.30am
On the final day of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference
the Prime Minister will be reminded that people everywhere want to see
real steps being taken towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. On Friday
27th May at 10.30am a petition will be presented at 10 Downing Street.
The petitions will be handed in by Bruce Kent, Vice President of CND,
Jeremy Corbyn MP, Vice Chair of CND, Claire Poyner of Abolition 2000 and
Caroline Gilbert of Christian CND. This year is the 60th anniversary of
the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To remind the
government of the true horror of nuclear weapons, paper cranes made by
Japanese children in Hiroshima, will also be handed in with the petition.
The 14,700 signatures which will be handed in represent over 5 million
signatures collected in the UK and across the world calling for the governments
of the nuclear weapons states to neither use, threaten to use nor to develop
nuclear weapons, and to take immediate steps for their abolition; and
the governments of all countries to take action for the conclusion of
an international treaty for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Millions
of signatures on the same petition were also handed in during the first
week of the NPT Conference in New York by Hiroshi Taka of the Japan Council
against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, on behalf of Abolition 2000 the global
abolition network.
The petition was originally launched by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
and the global network Abolition 2000. Tadatoshi Akiba, the Mayor of Hiroshima,
addressed delegates at the conference and spoke for over 5 million when
he said;
“We no longer accept the nuclear status quo. The time has come
for the will of the majority to be respected.”
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said,
“The outcome of this year’s NPT conference is crucial to
the future security of the planet. There have been brave and persistent
attempts by the majority of the non-nuclear weapon states to ensure that
disarmament remains at the heart of the NPT. Of particular note has been
the work of the New Agenda Coalition led by New Zealand and the Non-Aligned
movement led by Malaysia. It has been clear over the past month however,
as it was before the conference began, that the nuclear weapon states
are making every effort to move away from the disarmament steps set out
in the final document of the 2000 Conference. It will be a grave set back
if a final document is agreed on Friday which undermines the 2000’s
‘unequivocal undertaking to work towards the total elimination of
their nuclear arsenals’ and the agreed 13 step to disarmament. It
will send a clear message that the nuclear weapon states do not wish to
comply with their crucial side of the NPT bargain.”
Bruce Kent, Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, will
be handing the petition in to Downing Street. He toured the UK in the
months leading up to the NPT to draw attention to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty Review Conference and collect signatures for the petition;
“This global petition makes it clear that the people of the world
want abolition. I toured the country this year, meeting people from all
across the UK who want to see their government make real steps towards
getting rid of nuclear weapons world wide. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation
treaty is constantly being misrepresented as if it was only concerned
with stopping other countries from obtaining nuclear weapons. In fact
it lays down a clear obligation on the nuclear weapon powers to negotiate
the abolition of their own. This obligation was clearly spelt out by the
International Court of Justice in 1996. A detailed draft treaty, prepared
by experts, which covers all the difficult issues of verification and
inspection, was lodged with the UN by Costa Rica in 1997. Without total
nuclear disarmament we will never have true peace and security.”
Jeremy Corbyn MP said,
“This petition represents the global desire to rid the world of
nuclear weapons. The UK must heed this message. To comply with its NPT
commitments the government must stop any research and design work on a
new generation of nuclear weapons at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment
and make an unequivocal statement that it will not replace the Trident
nuclear weapons system.”
end
Notes to Editor:
1. For further information and interviews please contact Ruth Tanner
CND's Press & Communications Officer on +44 (0)7968 420859
2. For CND’s coverage of the NPT - http://press.cnduk.org/
3. Link to the Petition text http://abolition2000uk.gn.apc.org/2005%20Petition.doc
4. UN NPT official website - http://www.un.org/events/npt2005/index.html
5. The story of Sadako and the paper crane
On August 6, 1945, Sasaki Sadako, then only 2 years old, was exposed
to radiation from the atomic bomb. Sadako survived the bomb and grow up
to be a happy, healthy child. But radiation sickness can strike at any
time. When Sadako was 12 years old she suddenly became very sick and was
diagnosed with Leukaemia. Sadako’s classmates came to see her and
encourage her not to lose hope. One day, Sadako received a letter, which
said her illness would be cured if she made 1000 paper cranes by folding
paper. Every day, after that, she folded paper into the shape of a small
crane, wishing some day that she would get better. Ten years after the
bomb, on the 25th October 1955, Sadako died. Sadako’s friends did
not want her to die in vain. The children of Hiroshima built a statue
in Sadako’s memory. The folding of cranes has become a symbol of
peace and hope across the world. Every year we make cranes to remember
the horror of what took place in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to demand
that nuclear weapons are abolished.
6. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s
biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the
UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.
www.cnduk.org
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