By The Right to Live in Peace
From January 4 to January 28, 2022, the tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will be held in New York.
In the framework of this meeting, individuals and organizations launched an “Appeal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament”, calling on the United States, in the first place as well as other nuclear powers, and all world leaders to take concrete steps in for agreements for the control, reduction and elimination of the nuclear arsenal”.
The appeal has been sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, as well as to the diplomatic missions of the countries of the world, represented at the UN, to draw attention to the danger of nuclear weapons and the need to advance in this Conference for their control and total elimination as soon as possible.
The appeal denounces the strong militarization developed by the USA and NATO, the carrying out of military actions and exercises on the borders of other countries – such as on the borders of North Korea, China, or the Russian Federation – in recent years; these countries are considered “enemies” and suffer economic sanctions; it represents a point of permanent tension and the danger of the use of nuclear weapons.
“The strong arms race driven by the US has only resulted in us living in a much more insecure world, affecting the right to peace and global security”, the appeal states.
Recall that in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, spending on nuclear weapons increased by an additional $1.4 billion. According to a report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the United States spent more than half of the total amount, about $37.4 billion, which is about 5% of its military spending in 2020.
Also in terms of arms reduction, arms control, the last few years have represented a clear setback because as US pulled out of the Open Skies Treaty, the Intermediate – Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), and the Iran Agreement. Although last June, US President Joe Biden, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin – both countries with the largest numbers of nuclear weapons – held a meeting at Geneva and agreed to initiate talks, no progress has been made to date.
The Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is an opportunity for all countries of the world to express their unequivocal position that it is time to eliminate the nuclear arsenal as soon as possible and to achieve concrete progress so that all countries of the world sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which was adopted by the United Nations in 2017 and entered into force in 2021. The State Parties plan to hold the first meeting of the TPNW, in Vienna, from March 22 to 24, 2022.
Signatories to this appeal include Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Martin Almada, Right Livelihood Award; from the U.S., Medea Benjamin of Codepink; Bahman Azad of U.S. Peace Council; Roger Harris, from Task Force on The Americas; Anthony Donovan, member of Veterans for Peace and Pax Christi; lawyer Purificación González de la Blanca,of the international Collective Eyes for Peace of Spain; Ludo de Brabander, from Vrede vzw, Belgium; Alicia Lira, of the Agrupación de Ejecutados Políticos de Chile; among others.
The letter has also been signed by organizations such as Servicio de Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ) from Argentina, Mexico and Chile; Alianza CONVIDA20; Coalición de Movimientos y Organizaciones Sociales de Colombia, COMOSOC; Mesa Ecuménica por la paz de Colombia; SOA Watch Chile; IPB – International Peace Bureau; MOPASSOL from Argentina; among others.
