Call on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon:
Don't Downgrade Disarmament at the UN
The Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) is the United Nation's institutional memory and stronghold of expertise on disarmament at the international level. Several countries have a shameful record on disarmament and would like to see the Department and its institutional memory and activity downgraded.
The new Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, is purportedly considering subsuming the Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) into the Department of Political Affairs, reducing the stature of disarmament within the UN at a time when the problems posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, as w! ell as small arms, are escalating.
Disarmament was recognized from the outset of the United Nations as an essential condition for global peace and security. The UN Charter recognized that an armed peace was not going to be a just peace, and that preparation for war was not going to bring peace. Nuclear disarmament was the subject of the very first United Nations resolution, and general disarmament is included in the mandate of the Security Council.
Characterizing the Department as of the "Cold War" era is inaccurate. The current Department is a post-Cold War phenomenon, created out of recognition that problems associated with weapons have changed but not decreased. In fact military budgets are soaring, wars are being fought over weapons and new treaty processes are forming. The disarmament agenda remains unfinished, which lies at the core of today's security challenges.
Putting the issue of disarma! ment into the Department of Political Affairs is unhelpful and unnecessary, both in terms of the UN fulfilling its mandate, and servicing inter-governmental meetings and treaty bodies. The world's disarmament machinery, norms and regime are embattled right now, and reducing the stature of the primary global institution responsible for implementation of UN decisions is the wrong course. It is important for the Department to remain its own entity with its own mandate specific to disarmament, headed by an Under-Secretary-General whose primary concern is disarmament. This allows the Department to make independent assessments with disarmament as the goal. The Department also houses years of expertise and institutional memory that is invaluable to governments and civil society, and which could be quietly lost under a different department. Having a disarmament-focused department actually allows decisions to be made more quickly than having them processed through a department dea! ling with disparate concerns that may be less familiar with the issues. The Department is sufficiently burdened with work to warrant a dedicated department, and the issue it covers is sufficiently urgent to justify expansion rather than absorption.
Among its many crucial functions, DDA:
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serves states parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the major treaty governing nuclear weapons, because that treaty does not have its own secretariat;
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serves the General Assembly during the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security when the world's governments meet and debate the most pressing disarmament and security issues;
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serves the Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral disarmament treaty negotiating body;
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maintains the Register of Conventional Arms and the Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures;- provides independent assessments to the Secretary-General and Security Council and General Assembly as appropriate; and
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provides technical assistance to governments in the process of ratifying and implementing treaties.
Demoting DDA has been proposed before, but protest from cooler heads - both governmental and non-governmental - saved the Department whose goal it is to promote the global norms of disarmament. Last time, the response from civil society was critical in turning the tide, and your help is needed again.
Take Action!
Please register your concern in writing. A sample letter in support of keeping an independent DDA is provided below for you to adapt. You can also download the letter from our website here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/sampleletterJan07.doc
Please send your letter to your government's UN mission and Foreign Ministry, and to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. You can find the addresses for your government's UN Mission and Foreign Ministry here:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/govindex.html
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's fax number is: +1 212 963-4879
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SAMPLE LETTER (Replace the address heading and title with your government's UN Ambassador's information and then Foreign Minister's information to send a letter to them as well)
DATE
His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
New York, New York
Dear Mr. Secretary-General:
I am writing to you in support of keeping an independent Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA), with its own mandate and Under-Secretary-General. I am concerned by reports that DDA might be! subsumed under the Department for Political Affairs, a shift that is unhelpful and unnecessary, both in terms of the UN fulfilling its mandate, and servicing inter-governmental meetings and treaty bodies.
Disarmament is one of the central tasks of the UN, as evidenced by the first UN General Assembly resolution calling for nuclear disarmament, and the UN Charter's vision for the the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources (Article 26). The UN must live up to its mandate and prioritize disarmament in the Secretariat, maintaining the independent DDA instead of subordinating it to other agendas.
The UN should not be reducing the stature of disarmament within the UN at a time when the problems posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, as well as small arms, are escalating. The DDA, which was designed to address post-cold war disarmament issues, is even more necessary in an era with increased opportunity for, but decreased attention to, disarmament. Moreover, the world's disarmament machinery, norms and regime are embattled right now, and reducing the stature of the primary global institution responsible for implementation of UN decisions is the wrong course.
It is important for DDA to remain its own entity with its own mandate and Under-Secretary-General whose primary concern is disarmament. It is also important that a department dealing with nuclear disarmament answer to an Under-Secretary-General from a non-nuclear weapon state. This allows DDA to make independent assessments with disarmament as the goal. DDA houses years of expertise and institutional memory that is invaluable to governments and civil society, and which could be quietly lost under a different department. For example, when something similar happened in the United States, and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency was moved into the State Department, technical expert! ise and institutional memory was lost, as was internal advocacy for disarmament. Finally, disarmament is very technical; having a disarmament-focused department actually allows decisions to be made more quickly than having them processed through a department dealing with disparate concerns that may be less familiar with the issues.
The Department for Disarmament Affairs must not lose its unique identity, mandate and its ability to report directly to the Secretary-General through its own Under-Secretary-General. The quantity and technical nature of the Department's work is sufficient to warrant a dedicated department, and the issue the Department covers is sufficiently urgent to justify expansion rather than absorption. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME (and organization, if relevant)
YOUR ADDRESS
October 20, 2006
His Excellency
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
to the United Nations
820 Second Avenue, 13th Floor
New York, New York 10017
Your Excellency:
We write you, and through you, to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Cities, members of the International Association of Peace Messenger Cities, deplore the testing of a nuclear weapon by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Our Association, consisting of cities designated by the General Assembly of the United Nations as Peace Messengers, was organized to mobilize municipalities globally to lobby for the total abolition of these weapons of mass destruction threatening all of humanity. The testing of a nuclear weapon has set this effort back.
We have worked to support every step to that end, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty fully recognizing that only by the
total elimination of all nuclear weapons can the world feel safe from the threat of nuclear weapons, by accident or design.
Nuclear weapons cannot, by their very nature, provide security for nations. They are a false panacea. We oppose the exacerbation of dangerous tensions through threats or actions. We urge peaceful negotiations, bilateral and multi-lateral, to solve issues between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and concerned nations, no matter how complex and demanding. We regret any action that would make such negotiations, for whatever reason, difficult and, perhaps, impossible.
The world is beset with war and conflict, with national treasuries drained, while billions of people do without the very basics of life, water, food and shelter. We call upon the leaders of all the countries involved to seize the historic moment, remove the danger of conflict and war, and meet the needs, diplomatically, of peaceful relations between the nations.
Yours in Peace,
Alfred L. Marder,
President;
Chairman, City of New Haven Peace Commission
New Haven, Connecticut USA
Mr. Hiroshi Nakada, Vice President
Mayor, City of Yokohama
Yokohama, Japan
Mr. Andre Hediger, Vice President
Mayor, City of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Mr. Brian Fitch
Secretary General
Councilman
Brighton-Hove, United Kingdom
Dear Friends from all over the world,
We are calling upon you or your organization to endorse and support the enclosed resolution passed by the General Assembly of the International Association of Peace Messenger Cities at their 19th General Assembly in Vancouver, Canada on June 26, 2006, held in conjunction with the World Peace Forum.
While over 100 million roam the earth seeking food, clothing and shelter; 2 billion people without clean drinking water; 100 million children not going to school; children dying every minute from malaria, hunger, dehydration; millions dying from AIDS; unemployment and under-employment affecting untold numbers, over ONE TRILLION US Dollars are spent annually for killing machines globally. Treasuries are drained to feed the death merchants.
The UN General Assembly passed Resolution 59/71 calling for a Special Session, however, the working group is stalled without a chairman. Only a global outcry, a universal demand, can move the process forward.
Our petition is on our website. We urge you to link up to this petition, asking those on your mailing list to add their names. We will bring the signed petition to the United Nations for the September session.
We can do it, together.
Yours in Peace,
Alfred L. Marder
President, IAPMC
SPECIAL SESSION ON DISARMAMENT
INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR DISARMAMENT
Disarmament is the very heart of the struggle for peace. Armaments develop lives of their own, enriching the merchants of death, ensnaring workers as their only means of livelihood. They are the tools of policies of imperial design and dominance. Armaments sole purpose is to kill. Battlefields no longer exist. Conventional weapons and nuclear weapons are designed to kill civilians.
Today the United Nations points out that over ONE TRILLION US$ DOLLARS are spent ANNUALLY on arms and rising, draining the people’s national wealth while endangering humanity. Sustainable development becomes mere rhetoric since the cupboard is bare. Billions of people suffer for lack of food, water, shelter, medicine, while the death merchants, richer than Midas, comb the earth for sales, inveigling compliant leaders to buy into the web.
Opposition to the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza or in Lebanon while ignoring the basic demand of disarmament and not raising the consciousness of present generations that the entire issue of conventional and nuclear weapons must be placed on the table, only guarantees that the cycle will continue, always on a higher plane due to the technological advances of how to kill more and more.
The General Assembly of the United Nations passed Resolution 59/71 calling for a Special Session on Disarmament 4. It set up a working group that was scheduled to report back to the 2006 Session. The working group was not able to secure a Chair, did not meet, thus, failed to report. There is a move to bring the issue up this coming session, driven by the Non-aligned Movement, 116 nations who will meet in September in Havana, Cuba.
The International Association of Peace Messenger Cities (IAPMC), in Vancouver, Canada, at their 19th General Assembly called for a Special Session and an International Decade for Disarmament. (enclosed resolution.) The peace movement, historically, has mobilized around previous Special Sessions. These sessions deal with both conventional and nuclear weapons. A Special Session will allow for mobilization in New York that will bring international attention to the death merchants and killing machines.
We cannot ignore that the raging wars and internal conflicts are waged with conventional weapons. We cannot ignore that the trade in weapons, both legal and “illegal” is truly a most profitable business in killing machines. It cannot prosper without the complicit agreement of governments. Calling only for transparency in the trade, merely provides an inventory. Marking a weapon only shows where it was manufactured.
The peace movement is a disarmament movement. The sustainable development movement is a disarmament movement. The human rights movement is a disarmament movement. The environmental movement is a disarmament movement. One cannot succeed; one is not realizable without the other. That is the reality.
We urge your organization to endorse and actively support the campaign. It corresponds to the needs and hopes of peoples everywhere, all of humanity seeking peace and justice. Together, we can bring their voices to bear on the United Nations.
Remarks of Salt Lake City Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson
Washington, D.C. January 27, 2007 (anniversary of Iraq invasion)
As Americans, we share common values--values of honesty, compassion, and, whenever possible, non-violence. We also recognize the moral responsibility we have to raise our voices in support of those values when they are under assault. There is no morality without the willingness to act. That's why we are here today.
Much is said about "family values." In our families, we have learned, and we teach, the values of telling the truth, of helping those who are in need, and of never resorting to violence, except as a last resort. Tragically, those fundamental values have been horribly betrayed, leading to this devastating time in our nation's history.
Who among you loves your country so much that you have come here today to raise your voice out of deep concern for our nation? Who among you embraces the fundamental values underlying our Constitution so dearly that you have come here today to let the world know that we, as Americans, abhor the kidnapping, disappearance, and imprisonment of people without any semblance of due process . . . that we, as Americans, abhor unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping . . .that we, as Americans, abhor the torture of human beings . . .and that we, as Americans, will always stand up and fight against an outrageous, tragic, so-called pre-emptive war that violates international law, that has alienated many of our long-time allies around the world, and that was sold to the American people and the world at large on the basis of blatant lies?
We are here because we value compassion, truth, and human rights so much that we want the world to know how embarrassed we are, how sad we are, how outraged we are that our president and a complacent Congress, with the aid and assistance of a dismal mainstream news media, have caused millions of people so much pain and tragedy. That is not what we, as Americans, stand for. That is not what our country stands for. And we want the world to know it.
We are here today as true patriots.
Blind obedience to bad leadership is not patriotism.
Maligning the patriotism of others who stand up out of concern for the betrayal of our most cherished values is not patriotism.
To sit back and let others fight for a return to decency, for a return to the rule of law, and for a return to the values of truth, compassion, and human rights is not patriotism.
And sending our servicemen and servicewomen into harm's way, without an honest justification, without competent leadership, and without a coherent plan is not patriotism.
As Theodore Roosevelt, a truly great Republican president, said: To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. Consistent with those wise words of Theodore Roosevelt, we are here today to tell, and to demand, the truth. That's what patriots do. That's what people exercising their moral responsibility do. We forfeit our humanity when we refrain from saying "No more" to wrongdoing.
Patriotism is love of our country and of the values we, as Americans, most passionately embrace.
We are here because we love our country.
We are here because we are alarmed that the values underlying our constitution--the values we share as compassionate, freedom-loving people--have been under attack by a dishonest, war-mongering, human rights-violating president.
But we must keep in mind: This is not just about a reckless president who has taken our nation so far astray.
This is not just about his incredibly arrogant, defense-contractor-lackey vice-president, who assured us while selling this war that we would be welcomed by Iraqis with open arms as liberators.
This is not just about his secretaries of state, both of whom admitted, a few months before 9/11 and before they were assigned to make the case for the invasion of Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and had not rearmed after the first Gulf War.
And this is not just about his former incredibly incompetent secretary of defense who assured us, before the war commenced, that it would take perhaps six days, perhaps six weeks, but he doubted six months to bring the war to a conclusion.
No, this is also about our obsequious Congress and about most of the people in our nation who could have insisted, before the invasion of Iraq, that our country follow international law, rather than acting as a go-it- alone international outlaw cowboy, mistaken about the facts, lying to the international community, and clumsily conducting an immoral war that has led to nowhere but chaos, tragedy, and greater hatred and hostility. As mayor of the capital city of the reddest state in the nation, I am proud to join with millions of good, patriotic Americans who are standing up and willing to raise their voices against this madness.
We are here today to say, "No more!"
No more Iraq war.
No more God-is-on-our-side religious nonsense to justify this immoral, illegal war.
No more torture of human beings.
No more denial of the right of habeas corpus.
No more kidnapping of people and sending them off to secret prisons in nations where they will be tortured.
No more glorification of torture by the entertainment industry.
No more centrally-owned, hysteria-driven, corporate news media complicit in selling the Bush administration's lies to the American people.
No more unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.
No more dependence on foreign oil.
No more wars to provide a fix to oil-addicted American consumers.
No more failure to support clean, domestically produced alternative sources of energy.
No more manipulation of national intelligence for political purposes.
No more manipulation of our news media with false propaganda.
No more authoritarian assertions of power by the president.
No more silence by the American people.
We have a tremendous opportunity to come together as a nation--not as red or blue, not as black or white, not as rich or poor--but as a people who share the common values underlying our Constitution and the formation of this great nation. Now is the time to take a stand and speak up. Personal responsibility calls upon each of us to assert a basic, common morality.
Do we support the assertion of power by one man to engage in warrantless wiretapping of American citizens?
Do we support the torture of our fellow human beings?
Do we support the kidnapping, disappearance, and brutal imprisonment of people without charges being brought against them?
Do we support the killing, maiming, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on the basis of lies and ever-changing justifications?
It is time for leaders who can move us toward peace--leaders who will pursue peace and constructive relations as aggressively as the Bush administration and Congress have pursued violence, hostility, and hatred. Let us all join together, admit our nation's tragic mistakes of the past, and pursue constructive engagement with all peoples and all nations in the pursuit of a more compassionate, peaceful world. This is a new day. We can unify in our insistence upon the truth, upon peace-making, upon more humane treatment of our brothers and sisters around the world. We will continue to resist the lies, the deception, the outrages. We will insist that peace be pursued, and that, as a nation, we help those in need. Let us join together to break the cycle of hatred, of intolerance, of violence.
Let us build a better nation, and a better world, together.
Time to Make a Bold Decision for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons
Vienna, 30 April 2007
Statement to the First PrepCom of the 2010 NPT Review Conference
Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo)
As a movement in the only country having suffered the atomic bombings, we are working to make known to the world the full dimensions of the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so that the people around the world, as well as their governments, commit themselves to totally abolishing nuclear weapons. Although nearly 62 years have passed since the bombings, the two bombs are still tormenting about 260,000 surviving victims and claiming their lives day by day. These tragedies must not be repeated anywhere. The international politics has heavy responsibility to make concrete steps to ensure this.
On May 20, 2000, on the eve of the 21st century, the NPT Review Conference adopted a final document containing an important agreement that it was an “unequivocal undertaking” of the nuclear weapons states to “accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals.” Nearly 7 years have passed since then, but the “undertaking” is not fulfilled. There are still close to 27,000 nuclear warheads deployed or stored in the world and even nuclear attacks are often suggested. The development of new generations of nuclear weapons are being planned, the continuation of nuclear weapons deployment decided upon, while the danger of nuclear proliferation is heightening, as seen in the North Korea’s recent nuclear testing.
We categorically oppose the development of nuclear weapons by any country or under any circumstances whatsoever. As evidenced by the history of nuclear arms race since 1945, it renders the already dangerous nuclear situation even more dangerous, contrary to providing security of any sort.
At the same time, it is clear that the nuclear weapons states have a primary responsibility to break the current deadlock. If nuclear weapons states continue to place their nuclear arsenals in “sanctuary” by claiming that theirs are a “guarantee of security”, or if they condone even a possession of nuclear arsenals by certain countries which they deem friendly while threatening those which they deem dangerous with possible nuclear attack, this attitude, far from resolving the problem of nuclear proliferation, will further aggravate the situation, as evidenced by the present tragic situation in Iraq.
The true cause of the problem on the nuclear weapons issues lies in the double standard that allows the current division of nuclear “Haves” and “Have-nots”. It is imperative to remove this root-cause by totally banning every step of nuclear weapons development from research, manufacturing, testing, stockpiling through using nuclear weapons for all states. If the diversion of the nuclear materials and technologies from “peaceful use” into military purpose is the problem, the military use itself should be banned universally and with priority.
Both at the United Nations and the NPT Review Conferences, many efforts have been made to save the human race from the danger of nuclear calamity. We call on all the governments that have promoted the elimination of nuclear weapons to further intensify their effort in coming together to attain a single objective of starting negotiations for a total ban on nuclear weapons. We also call on all nuclear powers, regardless of their status to NPT, to make or renew the commitment to completely eliminating their nuclear arsenals, as it was done in May 2000, and to set about taking concrete steps.
We hope that the work of the First Preparatory Committee will be successful in ensuring that next NPT Review Conference will open a clear prospect for the elimination of nuclear weapons, without repeating the failure of the last Review Conference. Towards the 62nd Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days in August this year, many grassroots peace groups are preparing actions around the world with their common goal of finally liberating the human race from the danger of nuclear annihilation. With NGOs and the governments together, we hope that a real process towards a nuclear weapon-free world will start at this first PrepCom of the 2010 NPT Review Conference.
