Press release - 27 May, 2005
Greenpeace today condemned the lack of collective political will on the part of nearly 150 countries who failed to reach agreement on reducing the global arsenal of nuclear arms at the conclusion of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in New York.
"Governments attending the four week conference have failed to
seizethe opportunity of reducing the nuclear threat, putting their
ownnuclear self-interests before the desire for disarmament,"
saidGreenpeace International's Disarmament specialist William Peden
at theconference.
"This meeting needed to strengthen the treaty and send a strong
signalon disarmament and on proliferation of nuclear weapons,"
Peden said."It has failed to do that and as a result the world is a
far moredangerous place."
The spectre of nuclear weapons in North Korea and Israel,
USintransigence on disarmament and its imminent threat of a return
tonuclear testing, controversy over Iran, and concerns over
nuclearweapons usable plutonium production programs in Japan and
othercountries reprocessing all played a part in the collective
failure ofthe conference.
"The conference gridlock only emphasises the need to bolster
thedisarmament side of the process," Peden said. "Unless and until
we getrid of all nuclear weapons, other countries are going to want
them -and that's the destructive dynamic we are witnessing."
Greenpeace calls on the heads of state attending the UN
MillenniumReview Summit in September to act on the challenge laid
down by UNSecretary General Kofi Annan, in his opening speech to
the conference,to take disarmament seriously.
The proposal by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to
remove USnuclear weapons from his country was a major positive to
emerge fromthe conference.
"While some countries are making the right noises and there have
beenlots of good proposals on possible ways forward at the
conference, theyhave been thwarted by countries clinging to their
own nuclearaspirations," concluded Peden.
Other contacts: Michael Kessler, Greenpeace International Media Officer, +34 660 637 053 William Peden, Greenpeace International Nuclear Disarmament Researcher +1 6462 474 017
Exp. contact date: 2005-06-10 00:00:00