The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)  – the NGO leader on this issue – estimates that around 4,000-5,000 people were maimed or killed by landmines last year alone, and that millions more suffer from the agricultural, economic, and psychological impacts of the weapons. They estimate that there are still tens of millions of landmines in the ground in 78 countries. And UNICEF estimates that 30-40 percent of victims are children under 15 years of age. To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo Landmine by Duke Human Rights Center Robin Kirk, flickr cc

The UN has failed to reach agreement on a draft text for an Arms Trade Treaty, which would seek to establish controls on the international trade in arms, and, in particular, to ban their illicit trade. It would require countries to assess if a proposed arms export could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian or human rights law. The scope would be wide-ranging, from warships, combat aircraft, and tanks, to small arms.

Click HERE to read this article in full.

Photo United Nations Gun by Aristoteles83, flickrcc.

Photo courtesy Blondie5000, flickr cc

The sale of Australian uranium to India, as proposed by Prime Minister Julie Gillard in November 2011, would violate Australia’s obligations under the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty SPNFZT), an international legal instrument initiated by Australia in the 1980s.

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Photo: Atomic weapons, Ohio. Courtesy Blondie5000, flickr, CC

Rev Harry Kerr

Professor Tilman Ruff – Chair of the Australian Board of ICAN and Rev Harry Kerr – Chair of Pax Christi (Vic), addressed Social Policy Connections on March 29^th 2011 on one of the world’s most pressing issues, nuclear disarmament.

Professor Ruff outlined the catastrophic outcome for the planet if even a small amount of nuclear arms were detonated. He also focused on how NGOs such as Social Policy Connections could contribute in creating a world free of nuclear arms.

The Rev Harry Kerr’s address to the forum brought a Christian perspective on this issue of nuclear disarmament.

Please click HERE to listen to the Rev Harry Kerr’s talk.

Please click HERE to Listen to Professor Tilman Ruff’s talk.

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The NGOs were led by Dimity Hawkins and other members of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

I have previously described on the SPC website my interpretation (before the meeting with DFAT) of the outcomes.
The key points the DFAT representatives made were:

• The Conference was a “modest success”. Nobody was ‘over the moon’ about the outcomes, nor was it a miserable failure like the 2005 Conference.
• There were positives such as the undertaking by all parties to disarm (although no date is given), and the proposed Nuclear Free Zone in the Middle East.
• Given entrenched positions, a first priority was to save the treaty, and the Action Plan (with 64 “actions”) was put together behind the scenes late in the conference and is a consensus document.
• A Nuclear Weapons Convention (as advocated by many anti-nuclear weapons NGOs) was widely supported but not by at least some of the Big Five (US, Russia, UK, China and France). The Big Five (the Nuclear Weapons States – or at least those recognised as such in the Treaty, as there are of course others) are not yet prepared to completely disarm.

There are severe limitations in a large conference where consensus must be achieved among about 190 parties. Lowest common denominator outcomes tend to be the rule of the day. Of course, the Big Five (Nuclear Weapon States) carry the most weight, and as I understand it, Russia in particular was the most hard line. But it wasn’t just the Big Five. Strenuous efforts were made to obtain Iran’s agreement. There were also efforts to get India (and probably others) to sign the NPT and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Critically, where do we go from here? It seems that the actions will be in other related fora. Among matters that DFAT will be looking at will be a Treaty on Fissile Materials. Close to home, there is the potential for a Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, and this is likely to be on the agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the Pacific Island Forum in Vanuatu. Most important will be continued work between the US and Russia on further disarmament under their START Treaty (between them, they account for about 90% of the weapons); and taking further the proposal for a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone.

It is also proposed in the NPT actions that the UN Conference on Disarmament establish a special body to address nuclear disarmament, though how successful this will be is not clear. And no doubt there will be continued efforts to try to obtain further signatories and ratification on some treaties.

It appears to me that there is room for progress, albeit nowhere near as fast as we would like, but that this will take place in bilateral or other fora, and not in the NPT itself. The big negatives are how does the world curb the nuclear ambitions by Iran (a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone is of course relevant here, but this will require Israel’s commitment also) and North Korea, and the internal instability in Pakistan, and the potential dangers that this gives rise to.

We thanked the DFAT representatives for coming to Melbourne for the briefing.

Please click HERE to download a PDF of this article.

Photo courtesy OpenThreads flickr

Firstly, President Obama announced a change in US nuclear defence policy. In a statement of 6 April, Nuclear Posture Review1, the United States declared for the first time that America would not use its nuclear arsenal against non-nuclear states that abided
by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Secondly, and two days after this announcement, Obama signed an agreement with Dimitry Medvedev, the Russian President. This was the new START agreement2. Both pledged to reduce their country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 30% over the next seven years.

Thirdly, Obama chaired a Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.3 Defence Minister
John Faulkner represented Australia. That Summit endorsed a program of actions to enhance the security of nuclear materials around the world, in particular to improve nuclear security to counter the challenge of nuclear terrorism.

Click HERE to read the full update.

Photo: whitehouse.gov

Starting from first principles there are of course the teachings of Christ. Christ espoused love and peace throughout his mission. This, the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, parables such as the Good Samaritan, love of your enemies as well as neighbour are all squarely counter to nuclear proliferation and the threat to humanity that this poses.

Click HERE to read the full statment

Photo: Chris Devers- flickr CC

2009 was a year of hope for nuclear disarmament. After many fruitless years there seems to be a will by the key players – especially the Obama administration – to take real action. But there is a long way to go, and there are many problems. As Copenhagen and Doha have demonstrated, multilateral agreements are immensely difficult.

Nuclear disarmament was in the news in December for a number of reasons.

Click HERE to read the full report.

Click HERE to read the full statement.

Photo: Kingdafy, flickr CC