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NPT Conference Outcome A Success

By: Sayre Sheldon, WAND delegate to the United Nations

June 3, 2010

Dear Friends of WAND;

By this time you will know that the month-long review conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty ended successfully Friday afternoon when all 189 nations present reaffirmed their commitment to the treaty. Five years ago the conference ended without consensus and this time around there was concern up to the last hours that Iran would not agree to sign.

My earlier report was gloomy as I followed the daily bulletins from Reaching Critical Will, WILPF's excellent project on nuclear disarmament. Reaching Critical Will presented a much more realistic estimate of the problems the delegates were wrestling with than was available in news accounts. As in previous review conferences the major struggle was between the powerful nuclear nations on one side and the angry nuclear weapons free zones or undeclared nuclear countries on the other. Non-nuclear entities feared that once again they would be left with no guarantees of real progress from the nuclear "haves."

There were new commitments, however, and possibly the most important was the agreement to hold a conference on eliminating weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East countries in 2012. This was initially opposed by the U.S. because it would obligate Israel (not present at the conference) to admit to possessing nuclear weapons. Finally the U.S. did allow the language to remain. Secondly, the U.S. revealed the size of its stockpile during the conference and Great Britain did the same. Thirdly, non-nuclear states had to agree to more international inspections from the IAEA. Another positive development was the inclusion of more language reflecting the goal of complete nuclear disarmament, although the date was pushed ahead.

Credit should be given to President Obama for providing long-range goals in his speeches, concrete steps in promoting START and holding the White House conference on nuclear terrorism.  toCredit  is also shared with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who sent a strong letter to the conference when prospects for agreement looked bleak, and with the U.S. negotiating team led by Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary of State For Arms Control and International Security, as well as U.S. NPT ambassador to the U.N., Susan Burk. In her closing statement, Ellen Tauscher said the final document "advances President Obama's vision".Tthe New York Times wrote that the document "breathes new life" into the non-proliferation treaty. The message for WAND is clear: groups like ours have much to do if real progress is to be made when we consider the narrow margins of support in today's House and Senate for the concrete steps our government needs to take. Passage of the New START (New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and Test Ban (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaties) are essential next steps.

Not everything turned out well. Many compromises had to be made. Iran and South Korea were left further isolated which was considered positive by the nuclear countries, less so by the non-nuclear states. Critics of the conference questioned whether the recent agreement to trade nuclear materials for peaceful uses between Iran, Brazil, and Turkey should have been so completely dismissed and said that other countries may begin to seek new agreements outside of treaties due to their frustration with lack of progress by the nuclear countries. 

But the vision for real change-- the determination to not leave empty-handed this time-- lasted through the conference. The resulting document conveys the hopes set in motion by a renewed conviction that the time for vague promises is up and people expect progress before it is too late.

From my point of view one real disappointment was the postponing of the date of 2025 for getting rid of all nuclear weapons-now I'll have to live to be over one hundred!

Sincerely,

Sayre Sheldon

WAND delegate to the United Nations

Disarmanent Now!
Thousands from around the world march during an International Day of Action.  Marchers brough their posters, drums, and children to say to world leaders to We want a Nuclear Free Future! A Nuclear Weapons Convention to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons! Fund Human Needs, Not War! End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! Protect the planet instead of destroying it with war and nuclear proliferation!
	May 2, 2010

April 8, 2010 Thursday 7:30 p.m.

LI Rally For A Nuclear Free World

Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock
48 Shelter Rock Road, Manhasset

Ray Acheson is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, a project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She monitors and reports on meetings of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other international disarmament conferences and acts as UN-NGO liaison. Acheson is the editor a new book, Beyond Arms Control: Challenges and Choices for Nuclear Disarmament.
Sister Jeanne Clark, O.P., Pax Christi LI
Sister Mary Beth Moore, SC, LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives

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April 14, 2010

NEXT STOPWAR MEETING WILL BE HELD AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY,
AXINN LIBRARY, 2 to 4 pm.

This is a special meeting, COMMUNITY FORUM ON BUDGET CHOICES: IMPACT ON LONG ISLAND. 

A panel,  with

Jo Comerford, National Priorities Project;
Jean Kelly, Interfaith Nutrition Network;
Rev. Mark Lukens, Interaith Alliance LI

will address how budget deficits, choices, cuts and taxes affect many people on Long Island. You will need to RSVP for this forum.

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May 2, 2010

LI Rally to Mobilize for May 2 NYC March
For Peace and Human Needs:
Disarmament Now!

Sunday, May 2 will be the International Day
of Action for a Nuclear Free World.

Thousands will march in NYC to demand that the nuclear powers fulfill their Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Article VI obligation and commence negotiations to completely eliminate their nuclear arsenals. They can mark the 40th Anniversary of the NPT by starting negotiations to ban nuclear weapons, and to turn away from militarism and toward human and environmental security.

Directions: From LIE, exit 35 north (from east) or 36 (from west). North 1 ½ miles on Shelter Rock Rd.
Entrance on left by white fence. From Northern Blvd. , Go  South 1/2 mile on Shelter Rock Rd. Entrance on  right.

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May 11, 2010

STOPWAR MEETING, AT  UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, 1-4 pm.

Greg Maney will facilitate a discussion at this mini-retreat about the state of our LI peace and social justice movement and how we move forward and work together. Note earlier time to begin meeting.

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May 13, 2010 at 7:30 pm

Roy Bourgeois will speak at Shelter Rock Forum. He will report on his recent trip to Latin America

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PETITION TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ON
ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

One nuclear weapon exploded in one city -- be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague -- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be -- for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.                
                                                 President Barack Obama, Prague, April 5, 2009

Dear President Obama,

We applaud you for declaring in Prague, “I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”. We commend you for your courageous and historic recognition that "as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act." We call on you to make good on that commitment and fulfill that responsibility by announcing at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference your initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons, within our lifetimes.  Sign Petition

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