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