7 March 2005: For immediate release
An adjournment debate on ‘The Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference’ will be taking place on Tuesday 8th March from 2pm to 3.30pm in Parliament’s Westminster Hall. The debate has been called by Jeremy Corbyn MP, Chair of Parliamentary CND. MPs from all political parties will take part in this crucial debate.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference takes place in New York in May 2005. The Non- Proliferation Treaty opened for signature in 1968, and entered into force in 1970. A total of 187 parties have joined the Treaty, including the five declared nuclear-weapon states (US, UK, Russia, China, France). More countries have ratified the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement, a testament to the Treaty’s significance. At the 2000 NPT Review conference the UK and the four other declared nuclear weapons states signed a final document in which they gave an ‘unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals’, one of 13 agreed steps for the systematic and complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The UK must comply with its obligations under the NPT and abolish all nuclear weapons.
Jeremy Corbyn MP, Chair of Parliamentary CND said,
“The NPT conference in New York should be an opportunity for great hope in the world to start on the road to the abolition of all nuclear weapons. The debate we’re holding is to try to persuade the government to set out its policy to help this process take place. This debate will be a chance for MPs from all parties to express their hope for a nuclear weapons free future.”
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said,
“Despite its treaty obligations the UK government has made no progress towards disarmament in the past five years. In March 2002, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said that the government reserved the right to use nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear weapon states. Such a policy is a breach of our legal obligations and highlights the nuclear hypocrisy of government policy. This year is the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We must abolish these immoral and illegal weapons now.”
To comply with its NPT commitments the government must stop any research and design work on a new generation of nuclear weapons at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment and make an unequivocal statement that it will not replace the Trident nuclear weapons system.
-end-
Notes to Editor:
1. For further information or interviews please contact Ruth Tanner CND’s Press & Communications Officer on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859
2. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.