5 April 2005: For immediate release
Press invitation to UK launch, Room W1 in the House of Commons at 12 noon
In a statement released today, 32 Nobel prizewinners, and 237 non-governmental organisations and parliamentarians from around the world have urged that strategic nuclear weapons systems be ‘stood down’ from Launch on Warning status, in order to lessen the risk of accidental nuclear war. The statement is being launched across the globe. The main guest speaker at the UK launch is longstanding anti-nuclear campaigner and CND Vice-President Bruce Kent. Kate Hudson, Chair of CND, will also speak alongside other appeal signatories and MPs. The speeches will be followed by a Question and Answer session. Jeremy Corbyn MP will be hosting the event.
The Statement is being released in the lead-up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York May 2-29 and is aimed at raising the profile of the issue of nuclear weapons operating status at that Conference. The taking of nuclear weapons systems off alert has been called for repeatedly by the European Parliament, the UN General Assembly, and was a key recommendation of the Canberra Commission in 1996, and of the Atlanta Consultation, chaired by President Carter in January of 2005.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said,
“This year is the 60th anniversary of the devastating and immoral nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We need no keener reminder of the horror of nuclear weapons. A number of terrifying ‘near misses’ have taken place, and it is absurd that the nuclear powers continue to play Russian roulette with our lives. Taking nuclear weapons systems off alert is an important first step toward the elimination of nuclear arsenals worldwide, as required by article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We must move towards the abolition of these immoral and illegal weapons now.”
Those who have signed the statement include the Dalai Lama, Jose Ramos Horta, physicist Joseph Rotblat, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Oscar Arrias Sanchez, and Betty Williams. A number of Nobel prizewinning organisations including the International Peace Bureau and IPPNW have also signed. A total of 53 parliamentarians have signed the appeal, from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, and Italy.
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Notes to Editor:
1. For further information interviews and copies of the statement, please contact Ruth Tanner on 020 7700 2350 or email pressoffice@cnduk.org <mailto:pressoffice@cnduk.org>
2. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.
3. UK Organisations and individuals who have supported the appeal
Dr Kate Hudson, Chair, Sam Akaki, Parliamentary Officer, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), UK
Jenny Maxwell, West Midlands Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Birmingham, UK,
Reuben Ralph Say, Woking Action for Peace/CND, Woking, Surrey, UK,
Caroline Gilbert, Patricia Pulham, Michael Pulham, Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND)
Jill Stallard National Secy, CND Cymru, Nantagredig, Cynghordy, Llanymddyfri, Wales, UK,
George Farebrother, World Court Project, Lond, UK,
Dr David Lowry, Fmr Director, European Proliferation Information Centre (EPIC), London,
Di Mc Donald, Nuclear Information Service, (NIS) Southampton, UK,
Ken Coates, Chair, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation,
Angie Zelter, Trident Ploughshares UK,
Richard Bramhall, Low-Level Radiation Campaign, Llandridod, Powys, UK,
Lindis Percy/Anni Rainbow, CAAB, Yorks, UK,
David Bowe, MEP,
Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, Green Member of the European Parliament for S.E. England
Alan Simpson MP,
David Chaytor MP, Member for Bury North,
Frank Cook MP, Westminster,
Llew Smith MP, Blaenau, Gwent, Wales,
John Mc Donnel MP, Labour, Hayes and Harlington, Middlesex,
Harry Cohen MP, House of Commons, UK,
John Austin MP, Labour, Erith and Thamesmead, UK,
Baroness Susan Miller, House of Lords, Lond,
4. Both the European Parliament and the Australian Senate endorsed the appeal in motions concerning the Nuclear Nonproliferation Review Conference on March 10th.
5. The appeal has been coordinated by the Association of World Citizens in San Francisco USA and by Friends of the Earth Australia in Sydney, with assistance from many other groups worldwide including CND, Abolition-2000, the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), and Mayors for Peace.
6. The appeal is to be released in Melbourne, Geneva, Hiroshima, San Francisco, New York (at the UN), and London on April 5th. (For contact details times and places see below).
London – 12 noon on Tuesday 5th April in Room W1 in the House of Commons, by CND.
Contact Ruth Tanner CND Press and Communications Officer direct line 020 7700 2350 switch 020 7700 2393 mobile 07968 420859
Melbourne – 10.30am April 5th, Executive Lounge, Allan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry St Carlton (Cnr Barry St and Grattan St).
Contact: John Hallam 61-2-9567-7533 h61-2-9810-2598 Dimity Hawkins 61-3-8344-1637 0431-475-465 Katrina (Democrats) 0408-056-167
San Francisco – Doug Mattern, Association of World Citizens, 1- 415 541 9610.
New York – Selma Brackman, 1-212-228-5836
Hiroshima – Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, City Hall Hiroshima, 5 April,