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print versionCoalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP)
The CNDP hereby joins the various streams of global peace movements striving for complete abolition of nuclear weapons from the face of the planet in heartily welcoming the adoption of the ’Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ by the UN with 122 nations voting for the motion and one (Netherlands, a NATO member) voting against and another one (Singapore) abstaining.
It also notes with satisfaction that the finally adopted draft is a significant improvement over the first draft, released earlier on May 22.
It is all the more noteworthy given the fact that all the nine states possessing nuclear weapons, including India, had deplorably boycotted the process of adoption and also tried to torpedo it.
The CNDP specifically regrets that India opted to stay away from the process of adoption considering that it had been an early champion of the demand for abolition of nuclear weapons, as seen in the the Action Plan proposed by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi before the UN, back in 1988.
It further expresses its strong disapproval of the joint statement issued by the US, UK and France, three permanent members of the UNSC, emphatically dissociating themselves from and decrying outright the treaty in the immediate wake of its adoption.
That makes the tasks before the global peace movements all the more challenging and arduous.
It, however, fully concurs with the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres in acknowledging that the "treaty represents an important step and contribution towards the common aspirations of a world without nuclear weapons.â€
And considers this development as a watershed moment in the ongoing struggles for global nuclear disarmament.
At this historic moment, the CNDP strongly urges the Government of India to join this Treaty, at the soonest, using the avenues that have been incorporated in the same.
Admiral (rtd.) L Ramdas
Achin Vanaik
Lalita Ramdas
Sukla Sen
10 07 2017
