wfn.org | Appeal to NATO

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
23 April 1999

WCC CALLS FOR THE DISMANTLING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has called on non-NATO nuclear
weapon states to join in efforts for the rapid elimination of nuclear
weapons. The WCC's appeal supports an initiative by the Conference of
European Churches (CEC), the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) and
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA) on
the occasion of NATO's fiftieth anniversary and the summit to be held in
Washington, USA, on 24-25 April. During the summit, NATO will review
its strategic concept.

CEC, CCC and NCCCUSA wrote to the ministers of Foreign Affairs in
March and early April, urgently requesting them to revise "NATO's
present assertion that nuclear weapons "fulfil an essential role' and are
the "supreme guarantee of the security of the allies'." The WCC endorses
this appeal and has now extended it to include non-NATO nuclear
weapon states.

In letters to diplomatic missions in Geneva, the WCC calls on the Russian
Federation, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the People's Republic of
China and India, which are not members of NATO, likewise to adopt the
three recommendations addressed to NATO.

The appeal issued by CEC, CCC and NCCCUSA, and supported by the
WCC, calls on NATO "to ensure that the new NATO strategic concept:

- affirms NATO's support for the rapid global elimination of nuclear
weapons and commits the Alliance to take programmatic action to
advance this goal;

- commits NATO to reducing the alert status of nuclear weapons
possessed by NATO members, and to pursuing effective arrangements
for the rapid de-alerting of all nuclear weapons possessed by member
states; and

- renounces the first-use of nuclear weapons by any NATO members
under any circumstances, and commits NATO to the pursuit of equivalent
commitments from other states possessing nuclear weapons."

The WCC has also written to the National Council of Churches in
Pakistan, the National Council of Churches in India, the Hong Kong
Christian Council and the Russian Orthodox Church, encouraging them to
take appropriate steps in their countries to support the appeal.

Contact:  Karin Achtelstetter, Media Relations Officer 

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 338, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
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