Responsibility and the Non Proliferation Treaty

I remember Gareth Evans in 2008, the former Australian Foreign Minister speaking on the anniversary of the Non Proliferation Treaty. The mood was sombre as the world has not freed itself of the fear that is behind the proliferation of weapons. When I studied South Asia at university India was touted as desiring regional hegemony. They indeed joined the nuclear club as a power chip at the table of the Security Council. So the chess games we are seeing around the world, in my view, does not lead us to peace, they appear to continue with the same mind sets, whilst we await a nation to make a mistake. Interesting that day I had a short radio interview with Gareth and asked him about the idea of a Children’s Parliament. I had created a non adversarial/problem solving parliament or forum for children. I wanted to see if leaders envisaged empowering children now so they can be wiser and cooperative leaders in the future. He had heard of youth parliaments typically in alignment with the Westminster system. The one I designed was small groups of children who would inspire, challenge and empower each other without getting caught up in power struggles which I feel wastes much energy that could be focussed on solutions. Instead of trying to compete we learn to cooperate and use creative thinking skills, problem solving, conflict resolutions skills so we can unblock barriers and work together with shared focus. I feel this is relevant today and the future of the planet.

I find it interesting that Australia is selling uranium, even for so called ‘peaceful purposes’. In Japan we saw what happens to nuclear reactors when tsunamis and earthquakes hit the country and the fallout of nuclear radiation that spreads and continues contaminating for millions if not billions of years. We are in times of increasingly environmental instability, that in itself asks for responsibility in trade. The shared humanity which in the first instance considers protecting our neighbours, rather than selling a product that is potentially damaging to them and other countries. Yet the decoupling of trade from human rights could have been extended to ‘life’ or ‘values’, it was a point at where responsibility, empathy and compassion was removed from trade. This is the professionalism with goals of profit decoupled from the human feeling for others. Some regard this emotion or feeling as unprofessional, I consider it central to a world that cooperates in best interest. The consciousness I am referring to could be summed up in the phrase being our brothers and sisters keeper. As values decline and money takes the place of god, we seem to have no limits to negative growth. Negative growth is my term as it doesn’t benefit society. In economic terms it is a decline in growth or net profit. I see this as important to the reality of sustainability.

In reality those engaged in profiting at all costs undermine their own security in the end. So as a universal mode of activity, it is self defeating. What you put out comes back. Some call it karma.

The sign of great power is to be defenseless and vulnerable. To let go of weapons and defence is the first step to peace. It takes questioned beliefs and courage to step out of ones comfort zone and confront their own demons.

Here is information from Wikipedia about the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. On 11 May 1995, the Treaty was extended indefinitely. A total of 190 parties have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China (also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council). More countries have ratified the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement, a testament to the Treaty’s significance.[1] Four non-parties to the treaty are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan and North Korea have openly tested and declared that they possess nuclear weapons, while Israel has had a policy of opacity regarding its own nuclear weapons program. North Korea acceded to the treaty in 1985, but never came into compliance, and announced its withdrawal in 2003.

The NPT consists of a preamble and eleven articles. Although the concept of “pillars” is not expressed anywhere in the NPT, the treaty is nevertheless sometimes interpreted as a three-pillar system, with an implicit balance among them:

1. non-proliferation,
2. disarmament, and
3. the right to peacefully use nuclear technology.[2]

The NPT is often seen to be based on a central bargain: “the NPT non-nuclear-weapon states agree never to acquire nuclear weapons and the NPT nuclear-weapon states in exchange agree to share the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology and to pursue nuclear disarmament aimed at the ultimate elimination of their nuclear arsenals”.[3] The treaty is reviewed every five years in meetings called Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Even though the treaty was originally conceived with a limited duration of 25 years, the signing parties decided, by consensus, to extend the treaty indefinitely and without conditions during the Review Conference in New York City on May 11, 1995.

At the time the NPT was proposed, there were predictions of 25-30 nuclear weapon states within 20 years. Instead, over forty years later, only four states are not parties to the NPT, and they are the only additional states believed to possess nuclear weapons.[3] Several additional measures have been adopted to strengthen the NPT and the broader nuclear nonproliferation regime and make it difficult for states to acquire the capability to produce nuclear weapons, including the export controls of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the enhanced verification measures of the IAEA Additional Protocol. However, critics argue that the NPT cannot stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons or the motivation to acquire them. They express disappointment with the limited progress on nuclear disarmament, where the five authorized nuclear weapons states still have 22,000 warheads in their combined stockpile and have shown a reluctance to disarm further.[dubious – discuss] Several high-ranking officials within the United Nations have said that they can do little to stop states using nuclear reactors to produce nuclear weapons.[dubious – discuss][4][5]

Leave a Reply

Mohandas Gandhi

“God has no religion”

Archives
Categories