Parliamentarians call on the NPT to 'Turn Back the Doomsday Clock'

States Parties to the NPT should "elevate cooperative leadership and the rule of law in order to prevent nuclear war, resolve international conflicts peacefully and protect the climate for current and future generations", according to a parliamentary appeal Turn Back the Doomsday Clock presented to the 2024 NPT Prep Com in Geneva last week by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer, PNND Co-President.

"We meet here at the UN at a time of devastating armed conflicts, erosion of multilateralism and the rule of international law," said Baroness Miller as she presented the appeal. "There is a renewed nuclear arms race, increased and specific threats to use nuclear weapons, and a looming existential threat to humanity from climate change. 

The appeal calls on NPT States Parties to take nine concrete and feasible measures to address this, including:

1. End the modernisation and production of nuclear weapons; 
2. Affirm that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible, as was agreed by G20 leaders at their Summit in Bali, and that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal has been  affirmed by the International Court of Justice; 
3. Commit to phase out the role of nuclear weapons in security policies starting with no-first-use policies:  
4. Commit to achieve the complete elimination of nuclear weapons no later than the 75th anniversary of the NPT; 
5. Commence a collective process for the global elimination of nuclear weapons, which could involve negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention, adoption of a framework agreement for nuclear disarmament, or negotiations of protocols to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to enable accession by nuclear-armed and allied states, as outlined in the NWC Reset paper submitted by Abolition 2000; 
6. Affirm the important role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to advance the rule of law and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, rather than recourse to the threat or use of force. I commend my own government (the UK) and the other 73 countries that accept compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ, and encourage all countries to follow suit, as recommended by the UN Secretary-General.  
7. Affirm the current regional nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZs) and support the establishment of additional NWFZs including a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction and a North-East Asia NWFZ; 
8. Cut nuclear weapons budgets and public investments in the nuclear weapons industry, and re-purpose these resources to instead support public health, peace, climate stabilization and sustainable development. 
9. Commence negotiations of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, inspired by the NPT, to phase out the extraction of fossil fuels and their emissions. 

More than 80 parliamentarians from 35 legislatures endorsed the appeal, including members of foreign affairs and defence committees; parliamentary delegates to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, NATO Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly; former Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Disarmament; and others.