John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE/FRIENDS OF THE EARTH A SMALL STEP FORWARD FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT? In an area that's recently been characterized by stagnation and regression, a small step forward may have been made at the United Nations this week, with the adoption of a final statement by the review conference of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty - maybe. According to Irene Gale of the Australian Peace Committee and John Hallam of FOE: "While the statement that has been adopted is much weaker than NGOs worldwide and most governments, especially those of the moderate 'New Agenda Coalition', led by Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, South Africa, and Egypt, would have liked, it does for the first time, force the nuclear weapons states to commit to 'an unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapons states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals, leading to nuclear disarmament'." "Earlier on in the conference, the nuclear weapon states had released a statement pledging the 'ultimate' elimination of their nuclear arsenals." "While this commitment represents a considerable concession by the nuclear weapons states which is the result of immense pressure essentially from the entire rest of the world, it lacks a clear time table, and the requirement for the nuclear weapon states to document the steps they are taking over the next review period has been eliminated." "Outside the NPT review conference, the US and Russia are engaged in a wrangle over US plans to deploy a national ballistic missile defence system, which would violate the ABM treaty signed in 1972. Russia has given notice that if the ABM treaty is violated it will withdraw from all arms control agreements, threatening to re-ignite a nuclear arms race. During the NPT review conference, nation after nation termed the ABM treaty 'the cornerstone of strategic stability' and urged that it be maintained." "APC and FOE are highly critical of the role played by the Australian government, which has failed to support the New Agenda Coalition in spite of a resolution in the Australian Senate urging it to do so, and whose own statement to the NPT Review Conference has been termed 'pathetic'. The Australian Government should have supported the New Agenda Coalition publicly and should have taken a much more prominent role and been much more critical of our ally, the US. Australia has wasted the opportunity offered by this crucial international negotiation, to play a truly constructive role, and left that to New Zealand. The Australian Government needs to seriously re-examine its nuclear nonproliferation approach and adopt one more suited to the reality, that the overwhelming majority of the worlds people and governments want the nuclear weapon states to eliminate their nuclear weapons yesterday." CONTACT: John Hallam 02-9517-3903 02-9810-2598 Irene Gale 08-8364-2291 Parliamentarians for a Nuclear Free Future Media Release Sunday 21 May 2000 Australia's anti-nuke voice is too faint says multi-party group Australia has passed up the opportunity to make an effective contribution to the elimination of nuclear weapons, Parliamentarians for a Nuclear Free Future said today. At the conclusion of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, it was a group of States called the 'New Agenda Coalition' which helped maintain the pressure on the Nuclear Weapons States during the Conference - not Australia, the Labor, Democrats and Greens MPs said. The multi-party group welcomed the news that a final document resulted from the conference. In this document a commitment was made by the Nuclear Weapons States to unequivocally undertake to accomplish the total elimination of nuclear weapons. This is definitely a step in the right direction albeit a small one, they said. They welcomed other reported aspects of the final document including increased transparency by the nuclear powers on reporting information on their nuclear arsenals and moves towards reducing the operational status of nuclear weapons. In the days ahead when the full text of the final document has been thoroughly analysed it will become clearer as to how much further the world is down the path to the a nuclear weapons free world. This is however, no thanks to the efforts of our Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Australia has refused to adopt the position of the 'New Agenda Coalition' believing that they risk offering false hope in disarmament in areas which are not practical. Yet in the end it was precisely these countries holding significant discussions towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. The New Agenda Coalition states are Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa & Sweden. Our nearest neighbour and ally New Zealand is willing to make a concerted stand for the elimination of nuclear weapons, yet we continue our policy of positions indirectly or directly in support of the United States thereby limiting ourselves to merely watching, not participating in the main game. Last month, the group launched an international petition calling on the 187 treaty signatories to fulfil their commitment to ending the nuclear age. Of the 374 government and non-government signatures, 17 were from Australian MPs. Contact: Senator Lyn Allison PH: 03 9417 1880 or 0407 691 512 Convenors: Dr Carmen Lawrence MP Federal Member for Fremantle PO Box 1224, Fremantle 6959 (08) 9335 8555 Fax: (08) 9336 1059 Giz Watson MLC North Metropolitan Region 339 Oxford St, Leederville 6007 (08) 9201 0582 Fax: (08) 9201 0583 Senator Lyn Alison 62 Wellington Parade East Melbourne 3002 (03) 9416 1880 Fax: 03 9417 1690 AUSTRALIAN PEACE AND DISARMAMENT NON GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS MEDIA RELEASE 21 May 2000 Steps forward - but a change of heart needed before we get to a nuclear weapons free world Some steps towards nuclear disarmament were achieved at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference which has just concluded at the United Nations in New York, according to Australian peace and disarmament non government organisations. A spokesperson for the group, Margaret Reynolds, the President of the United Nations Association of Australia, who attended part of the conference on behalf of Australian peace and disarmament groups said, "The Conference did make some positive contributions towards nuclear disarmament, particularly the change of language agreed to by the nuclear weapons states to unequivocally undertake to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear weapons. However no definitive process to achieve this was actually put in place". The groups are pleased that the Conference was able to produce a final document even though it is not a timetable for steps towards disarmament. "It does provide the basis of the measures needed, unfortunately much of it is written in ambiguous and vague terms rather than being a solid action plan" said Margaret Reynolds. The groups said that the major problem with the Review Conference was that it had not confronted the real barriers to nuclear disarmament. "While we may have had a change of words it is definitely clear that we have not yet witnessed the change of heart necessary to achieve a nuclear weapons free world" said Margaret Reynolds. "A very small number of countries with nuclear weapons are creating major problems for all of us. They seem to think that nuclear weapons give them some sort of power which they will not give up. We have to confront the Nuclear Weapons States and tell them that enough is enough, we don't want to just be about restricting nuclear weapons to those who already have them." Margaret Reynolds pointed to the example of the United States. "The most powerful country in the world is continuing to test weapons and proposes to build a National Missile Defense system. The National Missile Defense system is adding to insecurity and fears about nuclear weapons, yet the discussions about it were kept away from the Conference." The Australian peace and disarmament non government organisations commented on the known position of the Australian Government. "The production of a final conference document goes beyond the Australian Government's lowly ambition expressed before the conference, " said Margaret Reynolds. "We can only wish that they had taken the possibility of success more seriously" said Margaret Reynolds. The groups also expressed support for the role of the New Agenda Coalition at the NPT Review Conference who played an important leadership role. Contact: Margaret Reynolds United Nations Association of Australia 0418 181 843 Cathy Picone Women's International League for Peace and Freedom 08 8296 4357 Clare Henderson Medical Association for Prevention of War 02 6262 9345 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
