Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World
Organizing Statement, June 2007
For more than six decades, the world has struggled to avoid nuclear war and the spread of the bomb. Prompted by public concern and pressure to reduce the nuclear danger, government leaders established a series of international arms control and risk reduction agreements that have successfully reduced the risks and dangers posed by the world’s most deadly weapons.
The foundation of these efforts, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), commits non-nuclear weapon states to permanently foreswear nuclear weapons and requires the original nuclear weapon states—Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States—to pursue and achieve nuclear disarmament.
Forty years later, the nuclear threat still remains and the NPT system is under stress. U.S. leadership is required to build international consensus for reversing strategic or military reliance on nuclear weapons globally, preventing their acquisition by terrorists or additional states, and ultimately establishing a nuclear weapons free world.
Despite the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia retain thousands of nuclear weapons, many of which are on high alert. The United States has not yet ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), is actively upgrading its current arsenal, and is proposing to build new warheads and a new production complex. In response, Russia and China are taking steps to invigorate their weapons production programs to remain “competitive.”The continuing military and strategic reliance on large nuclear arsenals by the nuclear weapons states (declared and undeclared) is the single most compelling force behind the spread of nuclear weapons.
Existing global stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and plutonium, the fissile materials that are the fuel of nuclear bombs, are growing and are not adequately secured against theft or sale to terrorists. The United States must more effectively engage with the international community—including all declared and non-declared nuclear-weapon states—to curb the programs and technologies that can be used to produce material for nuclear weapons.
We believe it is imperative that the United States take immediate and bold action to reaffirm its commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons, further reduce the number and alert status of nuclear weapons arsenals, de-legitimize development, possession and use of such weapons, and strengthen the global nuclear non-proliferation system. The US must demonstrate to the world its resolve to meet its NPT obligations.
Our organizations are joining together in to promote a more informed public debate on nuclear weapons and international peace and security in the 21st Century.
Our goal is to catalyze meaningful action on steps necessary to reduce the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and bring us closer to a world free of nuclear weapons. We will seek support and leadership from lawmakers from both parties, meaningful commitments from presidential candidates, and a more robust and high-level effort from the executive branch. Priority steps include:
- Undertaking a fundamental reassessment of the purpose of nuclear weapons, significantly and irreversibly reducing the number and role of all types of nuclear weapons, and more thorough and energetic diplomacy to engage other countries in reducing theirs.
- Encouraging lawmakers to establish US obligations to the NPT as baseline criteria for all decisions, programmatic and fiscal, regarding US nuclear weapons policies and programs (including the Life Extension Program, Complex 2030, and the Reliable Replacement Warhead).
- Halting new nuclear weapons research and production activities, which are contrary to the goal of reducing the legitimacy of nuclear weapons and risk the resumption of nuclear testing.
- Increasing funding to accelerate the pace and scope of cooperative projects to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism by helping to improve accounting and security at nuclear facilities worldwide.
- Establishing tighter controls on the spread of technologies that can be used to produce fissile material and more aggressively pursue a global verifiable ban on fissile material production.
- Convincing the United States Senate to reconsider and provide its advice and consent for ratification of the CTBT at the earliest possible date.
Now is the time to act. Please join us.
The Campaign for A Nuclear Free World Coordinating Committee (in formation)
- Susan Gordon, Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
- Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, Arms Control Association
- Sean Meyer, Project Manager, U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy Initiative, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Jon Rainwater, Executive Director, Peace Action West
- Jessica Wilbanks, Coordinator, National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Weapons Danger
Note: Jessica Wilbanks is a member of the PNA National Advisory Board, as is Common Cause Presidernt Bob Edgar.
To Join the Campaign, call PNA at 215-546-3030, or contact Members of the Coordinating Committee.
Email us at pnausa@gmail.com, for more information.
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