56 former leaders and ministers from states allied to the United States and their nuclear weapons have signed an open letter calling on their governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Those who have signed the letter some from Albania, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey. Among those to have signed are former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon and two former NATO secretaries-general Javier Solana and Willy Claes
The risk of a nuclear weapon detonation today — whether by accident, miscalculation or design — appears to be increasing, with the recent deployment of new types of nuclear weapons, the abandonment of longstanding arms control agreements, and the very real danger of cyber-attacks on nuclear infrastructure.
Open letter from former ministers and leaders
The letter says that there is “no doubt” that a new nuclear arms race is under way, adding that a “race for disarmament is urgently needed”.
The open letter was coordinated by the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) of which Christian CND is a proud partner. ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for working on the Ban Treaty, which will come into force once 50 states have joined. So far 45 have done so, including Malta who confirmed the move at the United Nations earlier this week.
The Treaty was agreed by the United Nations in July 2017 after negotiations last several months. 122 states voted in favour of the Treaty at the final stage and since then many votes at the United Nations have confirmed the position of the international community in opposing nuclear weapons. The Treaty will ban nuclear weapons on the ground of their humanitarian consequences, in the same way that chemical and biological weapons have previously been banned.
Please join us as we thank God for this initiative and praying that it would lead to greater engagement among those states who are part of nuclear-armed alliances.
