OSCE legislators oppose Russian invasion & nuclear threats and promote UN Future Summit

More than 200 parliamentarians from North America, Europe and Central Asia - including a number of PNND members - adopted the Vancouver Declaration today (July 4), the final day of the 30th Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Amongst other things, the Declaration:

• Condemns Russia’s aggression and war crimes in Ukraine;
• Calls for an end to the nuclear threat escalation fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine;
• Calls on all OSCE countries to redouble their efforts for the global elimination of nuclear weapons;
• Gives support to the UN Summit of the Future.

The Assembly in Vancouver was hosted by the Canadian Parliament, led by Dr Hedy Fry MP who serves as the Head of the Canada Delegation to the OSCEPA, as well as the Special OSCEPA Representative on Gender Issues and Chair of PNND Canada.PNND held a side event at the OSCEPA on Common Security, Nuclear Risk-Reduction and the UN Summit of the Future and was active in the deliberations that led to the adoption of the Vancouver Declaration.

Russia’s aggression and war crimes in Ukraine

The Assembly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an act of aggression, supported Ukraine President Zelensky’s 10-point Peace Plan, called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the entire territory of Ukraine (including Crimea), welcomed the International Criminal Court’s investigation of war crimes committed by Russia including the arrest warrants for Russian President Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Ms Lvova-Belova, and condemned various other actions of Russia in Ukraine including attacks again residential areas and critical infrastructure, targeting civilians, militarizing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and destroying the Nova Kakhovka Dam. The Assembly also condemned Russia’s military operations in Georgia and called for the unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.

Nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament

PNND members at the assembly raised concerns about the increasing threats of nuclear weapons use, especially by Russia in their invasion of Ukraine, and the lack of progress on nuclear disarmament. The Assembly adopted text proposed by Dr Hedy Fry, in which it:

• Calls for the immediate end of nuclear threat escalation fueled by the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine; 
• Encourages all participating states to redouble international efforts to achieve the global elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework, including by negotiating a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention (NWC) or framework of agreements as recommended in the final document of the eight Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or by signing and ratifying the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Dr Fry, in introducing the text calling for the global elimination of nuclear weapons, noted that the formulation was inclusive, providing nuclear disarmament options for both the non-nuclear states, most of whom are supportive of the TPNW, and for the nuclear armed and allied states who have all rejected the TPNW.

The three possible pathways to a nuclear-weapon-free world (framework agreement, NWC or TPNW) are explored further in the working paper NWC Reset: Frameworks for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.

Future Generations and Summit of the Future

The Assembly adopted a supplementary resolution, submitted by Senator Farah Karimi (Netherlands), Special Representative of Youth Engagement of OSCEPA. The resolution, entitled Future Generations:

• Highlights a number of threats to future generations including nuclear weapons, armed conflicts, climate change, biodiversity loss and unsustainable consumption;
• Calls on governments to establish Commissioners or Ombudspersons for Future Generations and for parliaments to establish parliamentary committees on future planning/generations - as has already been done in Finland, Iceland, Lithuania and the United Kingdom;
• Supports the 2024 UN Summit of the Future and calls on the OSCEPA to organize a parliamentary conference in preparation for the Summit.

PNND side event – nuclear disarmament and Summit of the Future

PNND hosted a side event at the OSCEPA on July 3 to follow-up on the texts adopted on nuclear risk-reduction, disarmament and future generations. Speakers included Dr Hedy Fry, Senator Farah Karimi, Ivan Siluianov and Alyn Ware. Parliamentarians from nearly 20 countries participated in the roundtable discussion.

• Nuclear risk reduction

Addressing questions on nuclear risk reduction and the value of no-first-use policies, Mr Ware referred to ‘No-First Use of Nuclear Weapons: An Exploration of Unilateral, Bilateral and Plurilateral Approaches and their Security, Risk-reduction and Disarmament Implications’ a working paper submitted to the 2022 NPT Review Conference by NoFirstUse Global.He also invited parliamentarians to endorse Nuclear Taboo: From Norm to Law, a declaration that was presented to the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May, and which will also be presented to the 2023 NPT Conference in August and UN General Assembly in October.

• Nuclear disarmament

Dr Hedy Fry spoke about the need to engage nuclear armed and allied states in a nuclear disarmament process. If they are not prepared to join the TPNW, then a framework agreement or nuclear weapons convention provide viable alternatives. Further discussion of these three pathways to nuclear abolition will be explored in the upcoming webinar NWC Reset: Frameworks for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World on July 12 (Session 1: Asia/Pacific, Session 2: Americas/Africa/Europe/Middle East)

• UN Summit of the Future

Senator Karimi highlighted the importance of parliamentary engagement in the UN Summit of the Future, including in discussion and promotion of key proposals to the Summit. Mr Ware noted that most of the proposals for the summit which are gaining traction are in the Interim Peoples Pact for the Future, prepared through global consultations culminating in the March 2023 Global Futures Forum.Civil society will hold a second Global Futures Forum, tentatively planned for May 2024 in Nairobi. Parliamentarians are encouraged to attend. Senator Karimi and Mr Ware also pledged to build cooperation with appropriate stakeholders (e.g. Inter-Parliamentary Union) for the OSCEPA parliamentary conference in preparation for the UN Summit of the Future.

• Youth Hotline

Ivan Siluianov (Abolition 2000/Youth Fusion) highlighted the importance of providing channels of dialogue between youth, academics and others in/from Russia and those from the West during this difficult time of armed conflict, civil rights suppression, ultra-nationalism and ‘fake news’. The Youth Fusion Hotline, which he introduced to the parliamentarians, provides one of the few opportunities remaining for such dialogue.

• Common Security and nuclear disarmament

Mr Ware introduced the Common Security framework for nuclear disarmament. This framework opens the door to engaging with nuclear armed and allied states because it does not dismiss their security issues that give rise to reliance on nuclear deterrence, but instead explores alternatives to nuclear weapons to address these security issues. Mr Ware acknowledged that blatant aggression and disregard for international law create challenges for a common security approach, but in no way render it powerless.

He presented to the roundtable meeting a paper The Promise of Peace and Nuclear Abolition: Has large power aggression destroyed Common Security? which discusses a range of common security options that could be better utilized to build success – in particular the International Court of Justice.

• Parliamentary participation in UN processes

Senator Karim and Mr Ware highlighted the value of parliamentarians participating in key UN processes/deliberations/conferences whether as part of their government delegations or as part of the delegations of parliamentary bodies like PNND or Parliamentarians for Global Action. This includes, in particular, the NPT Conference in Vienna (July 30 – August 12, 2023) the UN General Assembly Disarmament Committee (annually in October) and the UN Summit of the Future (Sep, 2024).