Parliamentarians and civil society representatives are invited to endorse Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security, an Open Letter to the nuclear weapon states and other parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In August, 2022, the States Parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) will meet in-person at the United Nations in New York for the 10th NPT Review Conference.
This is one of the most important inter-governmental events on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament to take place since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 191 States are Parties to the NPT, including five of the nuclear armed States. The Treaty includes obligations on both non-proliferation and disarmament. The NPT Review Conferences provide an opportunity to move governments to take action on implementing these obligations. The last NPT Review Conference was held in 2015.
NoFirstUse Global invites parliamentarians to endorse Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security, an Open Letter to the States Parties of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. (Also available in French and Italian)
The Open Letter, which was released for endorsement at the global event The United Nations and the Climate Nuclear Disarmament Nexus on 28 October 2021, calls on the nuclear weapon States and others States Parties to the NPT to:
- End the nuclear arms race;
- Phase out the role of nuclear weapons in security policies starting with no-first-use policies;
- Commit to a timeframe for the elimination of nuclear weapons;
- Shift budgets and public investments from the nuclear weapons industry to instead support public health, climate stabilization and sustainable development.
The Open letter has so far been endorsed by over 1100 signatories from 72 countries, including parliamentarians and Nobel Laureates, former government ministers and high-level UN officials, former military commanders, leading scientists, religious leaders, business leaders and representatives of civil society organizations from around the world.
Open letter presentations to States Parties to the NPT
The Open letter, plus a working paper, No-First Use of Nuclear Weapons: An Exploration of Unilateral, Bilateral and Plurilateral Approaches and their Security, Risk-reduction and Disarmament Implications, was sent to the nuclear weapon states and other NPT States Parties on January 24, 2022. The Letter will remain open for endorsement until August 2022 to keep the pressure on the nuclear weapon states and in preparation for a presentation to the NPT States Parties at the 10th NPT Review Conference
Quotes from some of the endorsers
“Nuclear weapons threaten current and future generations. They cannot resolve the conflicts between countries, and they are counter-productive to the human security issues of today and tomorrow – the COVID pandemic, climate crisis, food security, cybersecurity, and achievement of the sustainable development goals. It’s time to fulfil the NPT and the goal established by the UN in 1946 to eliminate nuclear weapons globally.”
H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador). Member of the World Future Council. President of the 73rd UN General Assembly. Former Foreign Minister of Ecuador.
“The Non-Proliferation Treaty has been respected by the non-nuclear-countries, but the nuclear-countries have not respected their obligations. As a citizen of a non-nuclear-country I am particularly offended by their refusal to start the negotiations for achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons.”
Professor Giorgio Parisi (Italy). 2021 Nobel Laureate in Physics.
“War is not the answer to the problems we face in the 21st century. This is also true of nuclear weapons and equipment which have already had dire impacts on people and our environment and will for generations to come. It is past time to divert our money, resources, and intelligence into finding solutions that meet the needs of the world today.”
Adrienne Kinne (USA), Past- President of Veterans for Peace.
“It’s high time the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council sat down and had a serious discussion of how to reduce the risks of nuclear war, including such concepts as No First Use and Sole Purpose. After all it is only days since they collectively re-affirmed the Reagan / Gorbachev view that a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought.”
Lord David Hannay (UK), Co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non-proliferation and former UK Ambassador to the United Nations and the European Union.
“Embracing ‘no first use’ is the litmus test. Without that the P5 declaration that ‘a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought’, as overdue and welcome as it is, is just empty rhetoric.”
Rt Hon Gareth Evans (Australia), Founder of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network. Former foreign minister of Australia.
“Submerged on patrol, commanding officers of strategic submarines have no way of knowing why they have been ordered to fire, what the target is, or the consequences on civil population of doing so. As such, I was not prepared to launch a first strike with Polaris missiles from my submarine in the 1970’s and remain strongly opposed to First Use of any nuclear weapons.”
Commander Robert Forsyth (UK). Royal Navy, retired.
“Nuclear weapons states are increasing the accuracy of their missiles and bombs, proliferating dual-capable air-based delivery systems, and moving to new types of nuclear weapons such as forward-based assets outside their national territory. All this adds up to more justifications for using strategic and tactical nuclear weapons in their national nuclear strategies. These are dramatic and dangerous developments, made worse by the fact that so far nuclear weapons states have never conducted official negotiations on downsizing or banning use of their tactical nuclear arsenals and delivery systems. On the other hand, if a pledge of no first use of nuclear weapons were accepted by all nuclear weapons states, it could produce a revolutionary turn initially leading to the erosion of nuclear weapons and finally to the complete elimination of such weapons of mass destruction from our planet, for the benefits of all its inhabitants and international security at large.”
Vladimir P. Kozin, Member of the Russian Academies of Military Sciences and Natural Sciences.