[E-rundbrief] Info 1539 - New UK submarines with nuclear-missiles

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1539 - ICAN: UK continues to rely on weapons of 
mass destruction.

Bad Ischl, 19.7.2016

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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UK continues to rely on weapons of mass destruction

ICAN

www.icanw.org

Dear friends,

Late on Monday 18 July, the British parliament voted in favour of 
building four new nuclear-powered submarines to carry US Trident 
missiles armed with modernized nuclear warheads for the next half 
century. The vote effectively means the UK will continue to possess 
and deploy its nuclear weapons arsenal, threatening other countries 
with annihilation and exposing its people to serious risks of nuclear 
accidents, use or attacks, for a further generation.

Earlier in the day, UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon claimed that 
nuclear weapons are needed to deter all threats, including from IS, 
North Korea and terrorism, and that since the UK could not predict 
what security threats it would face in 2040-2050, it needs to possess 
weapons of mass destruction.

These kinds of arguments only serve to encourage proliferation of 
nuclear weapons and seriously undermine the UK's commitments to the 
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The British decision to continue its reliance on weapons of mass 
destruction comes at a time when the rest of the world is moving 
towards prohibiting these weapons outright. Over 120 states have 
endorsed the international "humanitarian pledge" and proposals for 
starting negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons in 2017 were 
made at the UN working group on multilateral nuclear disarmament in 
May. It's possible that the UN General Assembly will vote on starting 
such negotiations in October.

The UN working group will conclude its work and make recommendations 
to the General Assembly on a treaty banning nuclear weapons in August. 
The United Kingdom decided to boycott this working group after being 
given the right to veto the conclusions of the discussions and the 
recommendations agreed to by the majority of states.

A treaty banning nuclear weapons, even without the participation of 
nuclear armed states, will delegitimize and stigmatize nuclear 
weapons. It is a significant opportunity to change the way nuclear 
weapons are perceived in the international community, which will in 
turn transform the debate in parliaments of nuclear weapon states.

So while we are disappointed by the news from the UK last night, we 
are encouraged by the resolve from many non-nuclear weapon states to 
move forward with negotiating a treaty banning nuclear weapons at the 
UN General Assembly this autumn.

Best regards,
Beatrice Fihn
Executive Director, ICAN

www.icanw.org

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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Honoured by the (Austrian) "Journalism-Award from below 2010"