Submission from Mrs K Ruskin
The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has not been
effective in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. This is
because the nuclear weapons states have failed to pursue negotiations
to bring about nuclear disarmament and a treaty on general and
complete disarmament. At the same time they have ignored the development
of nuclear weapons by non-nuclear states and sometimes even encouraged
it—notably by India, Pakistan and Israel.
The United States, in particular, turns a blind
eye to states which it regards as its allies and which have developed
nuclear weapons since the signing of the NPT. Furthermore, it
failed to pressurize these states to become signatories of the
NPT. In contrast, together with the European Union and the UK,
the US is exerting its diplomatic and economic power to force
Iran—a signatory to the NPT—to stop enrichment of
uranium. Iran is legally entitled to develop a civil nuclear industry
and the IAEA has no evidence to support the US contention that
Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons. At the same time no pressure
is being brought upon Israel to sign the NPT and relinquish its
nuclear arsenal. Israel is the greatest threat to peace in the
Middle East and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that
its repeated aggressions could lead the world into a nuclear war.
The biased approach of the western powers is
the reason why the NPT has failed to achieve its ultimate objectives—the
abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide and general and complete
disarmament. It is to be hoped that your Committee will use its
influence to encourage the UK Government and, through it, the
other nuclear states to enter into meaningful negotiations to
secure the aims of the NPT.
24 September 2008
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