Letter from Heather Williams
I request that the Committee considers the following
points in its deliberations:
1. The Non-Proliferation Treaty has been effective
in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to all states in the
world which had not tested a nuclear weapon before January 1967.
Their good faith however has been betrayed by the 5 states,
namely China, France, Russia, the UK and the US, who have not
kept to the promise they made in Article 6 to 'pursue negotiations
in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the
nuclear arms race at an early date'. Far from keeping to their
agreement these states are modernising their nuclear arsenals
and putting the continued effectiveness of the NPT in danger of
collapse.
2. The UK could take a world lead in honouring
its commitment under Article 6 and abandon plans to renew
Trident.
3. The UK should refuse to allow the US to use
the Yorkshire bases of Fylingdales and Menwith Hill for the US
missile defence system, which is leading to a new arms race.
30 August 2008
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