LOBBY COALITION This briefing aims to supply background information to help in your discussion with your MP. We do not expect you to take it all on in one go, though you may find it useful for future reference. Disarmament Nuclear Weapons Abolition Overview Nuclear weapons have divided the world and threatened untold devastation. Since the horrific destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 explosive testing, mining for fissile materials and nuclear waste storage have caused irreparable human and ecological damage and threatened the existence of vulnerable communities. The costs of nuclear weapons contrast with the relative indifference of the nuclear powers to the basic security needs of the world's poor. The US alone has spent $5 trillion since 1940 and continues to spend $35 billion every year. In effect, the Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) use their nuclear weapons to pursue their national interests rather than, as alleged, to preserve international security. Assuming invulnerability, states possessing them seek to project political power and control over states without them. Consequent reluctance of the 'haves' to give them up and the desire of some 'have-nots' to obtain them, threatens to rupture the nuclear non-proliferation regime and generate a new arms race. Prospects for disarmament Most of the world's population supports nuclear abolition. In 1996 the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice stated that nuclear weapons are generally illegal under international law and that the declared NWS - China, France, Russian Federation, UK, USA* - have an obligation to successfully conclude disarmament negotiations. Yet they all base their defence policies on nuclear "deterrence". Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) the NWS agreed to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament…" In return, the nuclear have-nots agreed not to develop nuclear weapons. Since then, further countries have emerged as nuclear-weapons-capable (including India, Israel, and Pakistan, who have remained outside the NPT regime). In May 2000 at the NPT Review Conference the NWS undertook unequivocally to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals, but did not specify a timetable. *NB. These are also the 'P5' - permanent members of the Security Council, with veto power over decisions determining international security. They also export 80% - 90% of the world's arms. Nuclear Weapons Convention Conventions exist banning chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. A Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) would similarly constitute an agreement to abolish these and could specify a time-bound framework for irreversible, enforceable nuclear disarmament. Although Britain voted in the UN with all the NWS (except China) against discussing a NWC the Government should instead take the initiative to convene negotiations. Britain and the 'New Agenda Coalition' The New Agenda Coalition (NAC), formed in 1998,works closely with NGOs to press the NWS to agree a Programme of Action including further unilateral disarmament measures, a reduced role for nuclear weapons in security policies and reduced 'operational status' of the weapons. These have not yet been applied in British or NATO nuclear policy. Although Britain has maintained a working relationship with the NAC, in 1998 and 1999, Britain with the other NWS voted against the New Agenda Resolution at the UN General Assembly. They must be urged to vote in favour when it is reintroduced in November 2000.
Since the end of the Cold War arms exports to actual and potential conflict zones have greatly increased, exacerbating conflict and increasing its lethality. Over 80% of the world's exports of major conventional weapons come from the Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council. Today armed conflict is less international than domestic/internal, often waged with light weapons and with civilian rather than military casualties predominating. The international community, working with the UN, must reduce and eventually eliminate arms transfers - old and new, legal and illicit. (Most illicit weapons were at some point legally transferred.) Measures needed: a) for legal arms transfers a commitment to reducing such transfers enforcing international arms embargoes and systems to control and monitor the final destination and use of exported small arms reducing economic reliance on arms production and sales - through effective conversion strategies developing national, regional and ultimately global Codes of Conduct b) for illicit transfers local, national, regional and international agreements to combat weapons trafficking; strengthened police and customs co-operation and improved border controls; comprehensive controls on the activities of arms brokering agents; tackling the linkages between trafficking weapons and trafficking other commodities such as drugs, tropical timber and precious stones.
There is pressure to extend the Register to include small arms transfers. This would be particularly relevant to some African states lacking the current 7categories while suffering devastating wars fought with light weapons. Nevertheless, the Register is helping to develop confidence by increasing transparency and reducing the secrecy that leads to distrust and insecurity - eg south-east Asian states now circulate their UN Register returns, together with other military information, to each other.
Britain should take a lead in the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in summer 2001 to establish a serious programme of action. Saferworld, the British American Security Information Council, and International Alert, 3 members of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), have proposed an International Plan of Action to: - Facilitate tracing the source of illicit weapons. - Prioritise controls on brokering activities - Enforce legislative and other measures to control manufacture. - Increase controls governing legal transfers, including a rigorous International Code of Conduct. - Establish international standards for the management and security of authorised stocks against loss, theft or corrupt sale. - Develop strict, standardised controls on the disposal of surplus stocks.
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