Photo: Bill Kidd discussing nuclear risk-reduction measures at the 2024 NPT Prep Com, United Nations in Geneva.
States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty should take concrete policy measures to prevent nuclear war and pave the war to nuclear disarmament, according to Bill Kidd, Member of the Scottish Parliament and Abolition 2000 Global Council Member who presents a statement on Nuclear-risk reduction, no-first-use and the inadmissibility of the threat or use of nuclear weapons to the NPT Prep Com at the United Nations in Geneva today.
The statement, which was prepared by the Abolition 2000 Working Group on Nuclear-Risk-Reduction and NoFirstUse Global, calls on the NPT States parties to:
- Affirm the proclamation made at the G20 Summit in Bali and subsequent G20 Summits that “the threat or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
- Begin P5 consultations on the possibilities of bilateral, plurilateral and/or multilateral no-first-use agreements as proposed by China;
- Establish an open-ended working group (OEWG) on nuclear-risk reduction which could include consideration of policies and approaches to prevent any initiation of nuclear war.
Below is the full text of the Bill Kidd’s presentation to the NPT Prep Com.
Read the full statement to the NPT: Nuclear-risk reduction, no-first-use and the inadmissibility of the threat or use of nuclear weapons.
Nuclear-risk reduction, no-first-use and the inadmissibility of the threat or use of nuclear weapons
Dear Assembly Members,
It’s an honour to address you today and to bring to your attention a Statement to the NPT Prep Com from NoFirstUse Global and the Abolition 2000 Working Group on Nuclear-Risk-Reduction.
This Statement, which is attached in full to the written version of my presentation, highlights the increased threat and risk of nuclear war over the past two years, which arguably exceeds anything other than the Cuban Missile Crisis or brushes with the apocalypse such as the Serpukhov-15 incident of 1983.
We are now witnessing the frightening development of direct coercive threats to potentially use nuclear weapons in armed conflict – i.e. the Russian invasion of Ukraine, plus elevated tensions between nuclear armed States in other regions such as East Asia.
These threats may amount to bluff – we hope so. however, the very possibility that such statements could become a self-fulfilling prophecy through inadvertent hype whilst nervous fingers hover over metaphorical buttons should be a matter of warning to all.
Just last month, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that these risks are multiplied by nuclear forces remaining on hair-trigger alert, with launch procedures being streamlined potentially with the use of Artificial Intelligence eroding human control.
The Statement being presented today therefore makes a number of recommendations to States Parties to the NPT to reduce the risk of nuclear war, including to:
- Affirm the proclamation made at the G20 Summit in Bali and subsequent G20 Summits that “the threat or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
- Begin P5 consultations on the possibilities of bilateral, plurilateral and/or multilateral no-first-use agreements as proposed by China;
- Establish an open-ended working group (OEWG) on nuclear-risk reduction which could include consideration of policies and approaches to prevent any initiation of nuclear war.
Honourable Delegates all of us – from nuclear weapons maintaining states and from all other states contributing to these discussions – must maintain a steadfast highpoint of debate raising the potential for annihilation of us all
As a Member of the Scottish Parliament, representing a constituency just over 30 miles from the base containing all of the UK Government’s nuclear arsenal, I can tell you that our Parliament has held three debates on nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament all of which resulted in votes calling for an end to nuclear weapons being sited in our land and waters.
As a Co-President of PNND, I have endorsed – Nuclear Taboo from Norm to Law, as presented by my colleague John Hallam to the NPT last year and also of Turn Back the Doomsday Clock the parliamentary appeal which my colleague Baroness Sue Miller of Chilthorne Domer will introduce here at this PrepCom. Both of these appeals include similar recommendations to the ones in the statement I present today.
We also call on the USA, Russia, China, France and the UK to halt their programs to develop and deploy new nuclear weapons – all of which are stimulating a new nuclear arms race. We draw your attention to widespread opposition to these programs, including the initiative of PNND Co-President Senator Ed Markey in the US Senate to cancel the US program for a new generation of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (the Sentinel program) and the letter from 700 Scientists to US President Biden on July 8 this year supporting the call to cancel this program.
It is the belief of the majority of the people of Scotland and of the significant multi-party majority of their representatives across our Parliament, that nuclear-risk-reduction by itself is insufficient. Comprehensive nuclear disarmament must also be undertaken in order to eliminate the threat of nuclear war and to ensure peace and security for all of the peoples and nations across the world now and into the future.
Delegates, I believe that this view from Scotland is also held by the great majority of people across the world.
I believe that it is our duty to stand up and call for this to be delivered, rather than the increasing nuclear weapons’ arsenals which we see some states spending vast sums on whilst our fellow human beings face starvation and a lack of education across the world.
I encourage you to read the full statement which is uploaded on the Abolition 2000 and NoFirstUse Global webpages.
Thank you all.