Replace Nuclear Deterrence with Common Security! Civil society statement to the 2023 NPT Prep Com

Posted: 30th July 2023

Join the Call to Nuclear Reliant States:
Replace Nuclear Deterrence with Common Security!
Civil society statement to the 2023 NPT Prep Com

Nuclear armed and allied countries have accepted an obligation under the NPT to eliminate nuclear weapons. However, instead of implementing this obligation they are continuing a nuclear arms race, costing over $100 billion per year and increasing he risk of nuclear war by crisis escalation, miscalculation, accident or intent. In January this year, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reflected this by setting the Doomsday Clock this year to 90 Seconds to Midnight.

Campaigns to highlight the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and the illegality of their threat and use have helped to develop restraint on actual use – nuclear weapons have not been detonated in armed conflict since 1945. But these campaigns have had little if any impact on the production, possession and deployment of nuclear weapons.

The nuclear reliant states are not implementing their disarmament obligation because they continue to rely on nuclear deterrence for their security, especially from the threat of aggression.

In order to shift security policies away from nuclear deterrence, UNFOLD ZERO and other non-governmental organizations have prepared a joint statement to the 2023 NPT Pep Com entitled Common Security v Nuclear Deterrence, proposing that the States Parties to the NPT establish a subsidiary body to explore common security alternatives to nuclear deterrence, and make recommendations on the transition from nuclear deterrence to non-nuclear security.

The statement highlights, in particular, the important role and positive examples of the International Court of Justice in resolving international conflicts and replacing the ‘law of force’with the ‘force of law’, and calls on all States to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court.

125 organizations have endorsed the statement so far. We encourage your organization to endorse if it has not already done so. It will be presented to the NPT Prep Com on August 2 by John Vlasto, Chair of the World Federalist Movement Executive Board.
 Endorse (as an organization) Common Security v Nuclear Deterrence