INTERNATIONAL
SEMINAR, 1-4 SEPTEMBER, 2000, UPPSALA, SWEDEN
PRESS RELEASE  14 September 2000
Conference calls for Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones with
Emphasis
on South Asia, Northeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe
UPPSALA (Sweden):
An International Seminar, attended by more than 50 scholars, experts,
activists and diplomats from six continents, has called for Nuclear Weapons-Free Zones
(NWFZs) to be established all over the world as transitional steps towards complete
nuclear abolition. It underscored the urgency of such zones particularly in South Asia,
Northeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe.
The Seminar, held between September 1 and 4 at Uppsala, was inaugurated by United
Nations Undersecretary General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, who delivered
the keynote address. It deliberated on the moral, political, legal and security imperative
of nuclear weapons abolition, highlighting the need for both comprehensive and incremental
measures of disarmament.
‘At a time when some 30,000 nuclear weapons remain, NWFZs offer one of the few
activities open to non-nuclear-weapon States not just to quarantine themselves from the
nuclear contagion, but to pool their efforts to resist it,’ said Mr Dhanapala.
The Seminar participants were unanimous that a decade after the Cold War,
the world faces
a stark choice: achieve complete nuclear abolition, or face a second Nuclear Age with new
generations of even more horrifying nuclear and other high-tech weapons. NWFZs, which ban
the manufacture, deployment and transit of nuclear weapons in specific regions, and make
them safe from nuclear attacks and threats from the nuclear weapons-states, are an
important step towards nuclear abolition. Treaties to establish NWFZs have so far been
reached in respect of Latin America (1967), South Pacific (1985), Africa (1996) and
Southeast Asia (1997).
‘It is imperative that the treaties come into force fully and that the Nuclear Powers
strictly adhere to their protocols,’ said Olle Nordberg, Executive Director of the
Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, the Seminar host and one of its five international
co-sponsors.
‘But it is even more crucial that the concept of NWFZs is
itself radically transformed: from a measure of non-proliferation to a pro-active means of
nuclear disarmament, i.e. thinning out, removal and actual dismantling of nuclear weapons
where they already exist’, Mr Nordberg said.
After reviewing recent developments in
disarmament negotiations, as well as the working of the existing NWFZs, the Seminar
discussed at length the possibilities of such a transformation at a conceptual and
practical level, especially as regards five specific zones.
In Central Asia, the emergence of a zone treaty, which seemed imminent,
now faces some political obstacles. These need to be overcome.
In Northeast Asia, with Japan and the two Koreas at its centre, an NWFZ
would offer the best guarantee of security without nuclear weapons while ensuring that no
country crosses the nuclear threshold. ‘This is an eminently sensible proposal,’
said Hiro Umebayashi of Japanese civil society group, Peace Depot.
In volatile South Asia, which witnessed a nuclear breakout with the Indian
and Pakistani tests of 1998, an NWFZ could prevent the deployment of nuclear weapons.
‘The demand for such a zone has been made for over 20 years in UN resolutions,’
said Achin Vanaik and Praful Bidwai, Indian anti-nuclear campaigners and initiators of the
seminar. ‘Today a South Asian NWFZ is more relevant than ever.’
In the Middle East, the establishment of a zone free of Israel’s
nuclear weapons, and all other weapons of mass destruction would be a key component of
regional security. Said Fawzy H. Hammad, former chairman of Egypt’s atomic energy
commission: ‘All the participants from our region agree that a zone free of all
mass-destruction weapons is a realistic step forward.’
In Central and Eastern Europe, an NWFZ would defend the post-Cold War
peace gains now threatened by NATO expansion and facilitate withdrawal of remaining
tactical nuclear weapons. Fiona Dove, director of the Amsterdam-based Transnational
Institute, another Seminar co-sponsor, said: ‘A Central European NWFZ would greatly
enhance security and impel NATO de-nuclearisation in Europe’.
NWFZs have an advantage over other transitional measures towards
disarmament. They involve a concerted effort by a whole region towards a common security
structure. They carry the potential to include non-signatories to the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. They do not suffer from the infirmities of
the NPT, which does not impose effective disarmament obligations upon the nuclear states.
The Seminar participants emphasised the tremendous public education as
well as disarmament potential of NWFZs. They welcomed declarations of nuclear weapons-free
cities and local authorities. ‘Such nuclear-free areas have great moral and political
value although lacking legal force’, said Masa Takubo of Gensuikin (Japan Congress
against A- and H-Bombs).
The Seminar also discussed the issue of verification of NWFZ agreements
and concluded on the basis of expert opinion that fairly reliable and accessible
technological means exist to verify that all concerned states comply with their
obligations.
Seminar participants, who included a variety of civil society groups and
campaigning organisations, underscored the relevance of the long-standing demand for a
Nordic NWFZ and the concept of ‘single-state’ NWFZs being advocated for
countries as varied as Austria, Mongolia and Sweden.
The participants dedicated themselves to campaigning for NWFZs in
different forums, global, regional and national. In the Uppsala Declaration they adopted
(attached below), they outlined a programme of future activities, including regional-level
campaigns, publications and creation of a Website.
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