The Erosion of the Nonproliferation Treaty by Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Mohamed El Baradei International Herald Tribune / UN News 1:37pm 3rd May, 2005   May 2, 2005    As the review conference of the Nonproliferation Treaty convenes in New York this month, we can only be appalled at the indifference of the United States and the other nuclear powers. This indifference is remarkable, considering the addition of Iran and North Korea as states that either possess or seek nuclear weapons programs.    In the run-up to the conference, a group of "Middle States" had a simple goal: "To exert leverage on the nuclear powers to take some minimum steps to save the nonproliferation treaty in 2005." Last year this coalition of nuclear-capable states - including Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and eight NATO members - voted for a new agenda resolution calling for implementing NPT commitments already made. Tragically, the United States, Britain and France voted against this resolution.    Preparatory talks failed even to achieve an agenda because of the deep divisions between nuclear powers that refuse to meet their own disarmament commitments and the non-nuclear movement, whose demands include honoring these pledges and considering the Israeli arsenal.    Until recently, all American presidents since Dwight Eisenhower had striven to restrict and reduce nuclear arsenals - some more than others. As far as I know, there are no present efforts by any of the nuclear powers to accomplish these crucial goals.    The United States is the major culprit in this erosion of the NPT. While claiming to be protecting the world from proliferation threats in Iraq, Libya, Iran and North Korea, American leaders not only have abandoned existing treaty restraints but also have asserted plans to test and develop new weapons, including antiballistic missiles, the earth-penetrating "bunker buster" and perhaps some new "small" bombs. They also have abandoned past pledges and now threaten first use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.    Some corrective actions are obvious:    The United States needs to address remaining nuclear issues with Russia, demanding the same standards of transparency and verification of past arms control agreements and dismantling and disposal of decommissioned weapons. With massive arsenals still on hair-trigger alert status, a global holocaust is just as possible now, through mistakes or misjudgments, as it was during the depths of the cold war. We could address perhaps the world's greatest proliferation threat by fully securing Russia's stockpiles.    While all nuclear weapons states should agree to no first use, the United States, as the sole superpower, should take the lead on this issue.    NATO needs to de-emphasize the role of its nuclear weapons and consider an end to their deployment in Western Europe. Despite its eastward expansion, NATO is keeping the same stockpiles and policies as when the Iron Curtain divided the continent.    The comprehensive test ban treaty should be honored, but the United States is moving in the opposite direction. The administration's 2005 budget refers for the first time to a list of test scenarios, and other nations are waiting to take the same action.    The United States should support a fissile-materials treaty to prevent the creation and transport of highly enriched uranium and plutonium.    The United States should curtail development of the infeasible missile defense shield, which is wasting huge resources, while breaking our commitment to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty without a working substitute.    Act on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, an increasing source of instability. Iran has repeatedly hidden its intentions to enrich uranium while claiming that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. This explanation has been given before, by India, Pakistan and North Korea, and has led to weapons programs in all three states. Iran must be called to account and held to its promises under the Nonproliferation Treaty. At the same time, we fail to acknowledge how Israel's nuclear status entices Iran, Syria, Egypt and other states to join the community of nuclear-weapon states.    If the United States and other nuclear powers are serious about stopping the erosion of the Nonproliferation Treaty, they must act now on these issues. Any other course will mean a world in which the nuclear threat increases, not diminishes.    (Jimmy Carter is a former president of the United States and founder of the Carter Center in Atlanta).    © 2005 IHT    2 May 2005    UN watchdog call for balance between security and development. (UN News)    The world’s nations gathered today in New York to begin their review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and heard the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency renew his call for a moratorium on new fuel-cycle facilities while international controls are negotiated.    The “choke point” to preventing nuclear weapons development is ensuring effective control over activities involving uranium enrichment and plutonium separation, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the opening session of the 2005 Review Conference of the States parties to the NPT.    “Without question, improving control of facilities capable of producing weapons-usable material will go a long way towards establishing a better margin of security.”    Stressing the importance of balancing both development and security interests, Mr. ElBaradei said: “We should be clear: there is no incompatibility between tightening controls over the nuclear fuel cycle and expanding the use of peaceful nuclear technology. In fact, by reducing the risks of proliferation, we could pave the way for more widespread use of peaceful nuclear applications.”    The month-long Review Conference brings delegations together every five years to consider the workings of the landmark agreement, which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology, foster the peaceful use of nuclear energy and further the goal of general and complete disarmament.    Mr. ElBaradei said the core of the accord can be summed up in two words: security and development. And while the custodians of the NPT may hold differing priorities and views, “I trust that all share these two goals: development for all through advanced technology; and security for all by reducing – and ultimately eliminating – the nuclear threat,” he said. “If we cannot work together, each acknowledging the development priorities and security concerns of the other, then the result of this Conference will be inaction.”    While acknowledging that the NPT had served the global community well for 35 years, Mr. ElBaradei said that it must be regarded as a “living, dynamic regime,” capable of evolving and changing to match realities. If not, it risked fading into irrelevance, leaving all nations vulnerable and unprotected.    “While our twin goals – security and development – remain the same, our mechanisms for achieving those goals must evolve,” he said, urging to Conference to remain committed to ridding the world of nuclear weapons, have zero tolerance for new States developing nuclear weapons, and, among other things, ensure that all countries have the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.    He also urged the meeting to strengthen the IAEA’s verification authority, noting that in recent years, the additional protocol to comprehensive safeguards agreements has proven its worth. “With better access to information and locations, we get better results,” he said.    “The whole purpose of verification is to build confidence. In cases where proliferation concerns exist, I will continue to urge States to be open and transparent. Even if such measures go beyond a State’s legal obligations, they pay valuable dividends in restoring the confidence of the international community,” he said.    3 May 2005    Annan urges city leaders to work with global partners to help eradicate nuclear weapons    United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged a gathering of mayors from around the globe to press ahead with their valuable work – building bridges of international cooperation at the community level – to help revitalize the long-term vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.    Revitalizing that vision “is the only way to guarantee that these terrible weapons will never be used again,” Mr. Annan said in remarks to a conference of mayors at UN Headquarters in New York. The visit by the “Mayors for Peace,” who are in town to promote their vision of a global ban on nuclear weapons by 2020, coincides with the opening of the 2005 Review Conference of State Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).    The group is composed of cities around the world – led by city leaders from Hiroshima and Nagasaki – who have formally united against nuclear weapons. The non-governmental organization (NGO) is now supported by 554 cities in 107 countries and regions, endorsing the 1982 Programme to Promote Solidarity of Cities toward the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons.    “Your work is very important to us here at the United Nations,” Mr. Annan said. “This UN is a meeting place of national governments, but it also needs the ideas and enthusiasm of local communities around the world.”    Welcoming a number of “Hibakusa” – living witnesses to the horrors wrought by the atomic bombs unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 – the Secretary-General urged the mayors to press ahead with their work, even in the face of what might seem to be insurmountable obstacles.    If the world’s NPT obligations – ensuring nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy – were to be revitalized, action would be required on all fronts. “Your efforts, of course, are a part of something bigger – the struggle for a freer, fairer and safer world,” Mr. Annan said.    At a press conference earlier Tuesday, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, President of Mayors for Peace, said the interim goal of the so-called “2020 Vision Campaign” was to have a universal nuclear weapons convention prepared by 2010, for consideration by the next NPT review meeting. He said he hoped the discussions over the next few days would be the beginning of a constructive exchange between the custodians of the NPT and the mayors, citizens and NGOs of the world.    Mayor Kazunaga Itoh of Nagasaki said that in the 60 years since the horrific attacks on his home city and Hiroshima, many nuclear weapons had no doubt been produced but not one had been used. That was perhaps because the countries that have or those that would like to have such weapons realized what a devastating thing they could be. He added, however, that six decades after the event, one could still identify cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. Calling for the eradication of all nuclear weapons, he said that the effects of the bombs were such that even today, the long-term after-effects were still being felt.
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