Project on European Nuclear
Non-Proliferation - PENN |
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Press Release
11 May 1999 |
NATO Nuclear Policies Slammed at Non-Proliferation
Treaty PrepCom
NATO nuclear weapons policy, and the recently agreed Alliance Strategic
Concept have come under strong attack from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and individual
delegations to the 3rd Preparatory Committee of the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review
Conference, currently meeting in New York. Today, NGOs will join this criticism as they
make their formal presentations to the NPT PrepCom. This condemnation of NATO comes only
two weeks after the NATO Summit approved a new Strategic Concept which leaves NATO nuclear
policy unchanged and even states that "By deterring the use of NBC weapons, they
contribute to Alliance efforts aimed at preventing the proliferation of these
weapons."
The PrepCom opened in an atmosphere of strong protest against the war in Yugoslavia, and
its future implications for NATO military intervention beyond NATO borders. China
condemned "Some countries and blocs of countries [which] still cling to the Cold War
mentality .... The tendency towards closer military alliance is growing. New forms of
gunboat policy are rampant." The
statement continued that "the strategy and policy pursued by US-led NATO,
not
only undermines international peace and security but impairs the efforts towards nuclear
disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation."
Criticism of NATO policies has been growing since Mexico first protested NATO strategy at
the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference. In 1999 the NAM has for the second year in a
row submitted a Working Paper which demands that "Nuclear-weapon States parties to
the NPT refrain from, among themselves, with non-nuclear-weapon states, and with States
not party to the Treaty, nuclear sharing for military purposes under any kind of security
arrangements." This challenges the arrangements under which non-nuclear weapon states
in NATO receive US nuclear weapons and training in their use in support of NATO military
doctrines.
Algeria, backing the NAM position, strongly criticized "... the very recent adoption
of the [NATO] Strategic Concept which reaffirms the essential importance of nuclear
weapons in security and the preservation of peace, contradicting by word and deed the
hopes cherished by many countries." Mongolia warned that the Alliances new
Strategic Concept could provoke other nuclear weapon states to adopt similar policies
while others might question the utility of the NPT.
Later today, Sharon Riggle, Director of the Centre for European Security and Disarmament,
will deliver a statement on behalf of all NGOs to the NPT PrepCom on NATO nuclear policy
and nuclear weapons in Europe. She will say that "None of the fundamental principles
of NATOs nuclear weapons policy have changed in the new strategic Concept." Ms
Riggle will then point
out that NATO has one last opportunity to adapt its nuclear policy to the new security
environment before the 2000 Review Conference, or continue with policies that "...
rely on nuclear weapons indefinitely. Either way the repercussions for the NPT will be
great."
Further details from Martin Butcher in New York on 202-487-4386.
PENN is a international network of non-governmental organizations concerned with nuclear
weapons issues.
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