United for Peace and Justice is among more than 80 civil society organizations that have endorsed a joint statement to the states parties of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The diverse network of national and international peace and nuclear disarmament non-governmental organizations are urging government leaders, particularly from the nuclear-armed states and their allies, to act with greater urgency and cooperation to meet unfulfilled promises to reduce nuclear risks and advance progress on disarmament, and to realize their commitment under the Treaty to the “complete elimination of nuclear weapons.”
The statement was released on May 11, the 25th anniversary of the package of decisions that led to the indefinite extension of the Treaty, and following the postponement of the 2020 NPT Review Conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The groups endorsing the statement underline that one of the many lessons to be learned from the pandemic is that “science must not be ignored under the guise of ‘national security’ policies that put profit before people and privilege the most powerful.”
“We’re not only at a pivotal point in the struggle against the fast-moving coronavirus; we are also at a tipping point in the long-running effort to reduce the threat of nuclear war and eliminate nuclear weapons. Tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed states are rising; the risk of nuclear use is growing; billions of dollars are being spent to replace and upgrade nuclear weapons; and key agreements that have kept nuclear competition in check are in serious jeopardy.”
“This environment,” the organizations write, “demands bolder action from all states to reduce nuclear risks by eliminating nuclear weapons; action that is rooted in ‘deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons’.”
