wfn.org | WCC: nuclear disarmament moral and legal imperative

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release PR-02-29
For Immediate Use
15 November 2002

Complete nuclear disarmament a moral and legal imperative says WCC

"NATO's ongoing commitment to the indefinite retention of nuclear weapons 
violates both moral and legal responsibility and threatens global 
security," says the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a November 14 letter 
to the foreign ministers of non-nuclear states belonging to the North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Signed by WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) 
director Peter Weiderud, the letter refers to a 1997 International Court of 
Justice decision that, in accordance with Article VI of the Nuclear 
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), "there exists an obligation to... bring to 
a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament". Thus, the WCC 
argues, "Complete nuclear disarmament is an urgent moral imperative" as 
well as "a legal obligation".

The WCC urges the ministers - who are to meet next week (21-22 November) at 
a NATO summit meeting in Prague - to set NATO "on a course of irreversible 
nuclear disarmament in accordance with the requirements of the NPT". More 
specifically, it urges them to
- reaffirm NATO's commitment to early progress toward the global 
elimination of nuclear weapons;
- commit the Alliance to reduce the alert status of nuclear weapons 
possessed by member states and pursue effective arrangements for the rapid 
de-alerting of nuclear weapons possessed by all states;
- renounce the first-use of nuclear weapons by any Alliance member under 
any circumstances and commit it to pursue equivalent commitments from other 
nuclear states;
- take immediate steps to remove nuclear weapons from the territories of 
non-nuclear-weapon states and return them to the territory of the country 
owning them.

The WCC is particularly concerned by a NATO assertion that nuclear weapons 
are "essential" to Alliance security and that its nuclear weapon states 
intend to retain their nuclear arsenals "for the foreseeable future". The 
letter also refers specifically to US positions on nuclear weapons, and 
expresses WCC concern regarding indications that "US nuclear forces will 
continue to provide assurance to security partners, particularly in the 
presence of known or suspected threats of nuclear, biological or chemical 
attacks or in the event of surprising military developments".

"There is no circumstance," the WCC letter underlines, "in which the use of 
nuclear weapons could be conceived of as contributing to human security or 
carrying out the purposes of a loving God." Pointing out that "The prospect 
of such weapons spreading to additional states or to non-state actors only 
adds to our collective peril," it reminds the NATO leaders of their "grave 
responsibility to lead the world toward the rapid and early elimination of 
nuclear weapons and to support effective multilateral mechanisms to 
permanently prevent their reemergence and spread".

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,   tel: +41 
(0)22 791 64 21

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, 
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, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by 
general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org
Web: www.wcc-coe.org

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
1