Video presentation by Bill Kidd MSP to the 10th NPT Review Conference on behalf of PNND. The Review Conference has been postponed until August, but policy action, statements and deliberations relating to the NPT Review Conference continue.
Photo: Bill Kidd MSP participating in the Count the Nuclear Weapons Money action in New York during UN Disarmament Week.
States parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - especially the nuclear weapon States – need to “reach beyond the dangerous and unsustainable status quo of threat postures and nuclear arms races, and instead exercise leadership to address key security issues of today”, according to a video presentation by Bill Kidd MSP to the 10th Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, released today by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND).
“The world faces at least three fundamental threats to human society – the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and renewed international conflicts that have resurrected the threat of nuclear war,” says Mr Kidd PNND Co-President and Convenor of the Cross-Party Group on Nuclear Disarmament in the Scottish Parliament.
“Governments need to rise to this challenge and to respond positively to the parliamentary and civil society calls, including those in the Open Letter to the States Parties to the NPT, to end the nuclear arms race by stopping the production of nuclear weapons; phasing out the role of nuclear weapons in security policies starting with no-first-use policies; committing to the global elimination of nuclear weapons, no later than 2045 and shifting budgets and public investments from the nuclear weapons industry to instead support public health, climate stabilization and sustainable development.” (See below for the written transcript)
The States Parties to the NPT were scheduled to meet from January 4-28 at the United Nations in New York, but at the last minute this conference was postponed until August 2022 due to the deteriorating COVID-19 situation. Never-the-less, policy actions, statements and deliberations relevant to the NPT are continuing.
The five nuclear-weapon States parties to the NPT on January 3, for example, released the joint statement they had been preparing for the NPT Review Conference in which they recognized that a nuclear war should not be fought, but then re-affirmed the role of nuclear weapons in their security doctrines.
Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security, the Open Letter to the NPT States Parties which Mr Kidd highlighted in his video statement, has over 900 endorsements including from the President of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, a number of Nobel Laureates, legislators, religious leaders, scientists, former foreign ministers, former Presidents of the UN General Assembly and leaders of civil society organizations.
The Letter is open for endorsement until January 21, and will be sent to the nuclear weapon States and other States Parties to the NPT on January 24.
Delivered by Bill Kidd MSP
Convenor of the Cross-Party Group on Nuclear Disarmament in the Scottish Parliament
PNND Co-President. Head of PNND Delegation to the 10th NPT Review Conference
Your excellencies, honorable delegates…
We meet this month, in-person and virtually, as the world faces at least three fundamental threats to human society – the COVID19 pandemic, the climate crisis and renewed international conflicts that have resurrected the threat of nuclear war.
Parliaments, governments and civil society must rise to the challenge of these three perils that transcend borders, threaten current and future generations, and require cooperation and common security to resolve – not a further descent into nationalism, confrontation, competition and war.
This NPT Review and Extension Conference provides an opportunity for us all to shift the predominant security paradigm from one of reliance on nuclear deterrence and the threat or use of force – a paradigm which is unsustainable and cannot address the real human security issues of today – to one relying more on diplomacy, disarmament, conflict resolution, climate protection, sustainable development and the law.
Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament welcomes the civil society statement presented today and the Open Letter to the States Parties to the NPT entitled Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security. We encourage all delegations to read the civil society statement and the Open Letter conscientiously and respond to the calls and recommendations within them.
It is worth highlighting the four calls to NPT States Parties in the Open Letter:
We take the floor to add an emphasis on parliamentary action, and the importance of governments to respond.
Parliaments and parliamentarians are taking action on these three critical issues – the pandemic, climate change and nuclear disarmament – on the connections between them, and on nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament in particular.
In November last year, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and PNND - in cooperation with Parliamentarians for Global Action, the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the World Future Council and in consultation with the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs - released a handbook Assuring our Common Future; a guide to parliamentary action in support of disarmament for security and sustainable development.
The handbook includes sections on Disarmament, public health and pandemics and on Disarmament, the climate and sustainable development. This later section has been further developed by PNND as part of the Climate-Nuclear Disarmament Nexus.
The handbook gives examples of actions taken by parliaments and parliamentarians, and has prompted further parliamentary action. Examples in the nuclear weapons field include the:
Of course governments have the principle responsibility for reducing nuclear risks, phasing out the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines, undertaking nuclear disarmament steps and building the framework for a nuclear-weapon-free world. This is what makes the NPT Review Conference so important, and your actions here so significant.
We appeal to you to rise to this challenge, to reach beyond the dangerous and unsustainable status quo of threat postures and nuclear arms races, and to respond positively to the parliamentary and civil society calls mentioned earlier, in the knowledge that such leadership will have strong backing from parliaments, parliamentarians and civil society globally.
