International activists from different environmental/peace movements are organizing non-violent direct actions to publicise the Advisory Opinion of the UN International Court of Justice and to uphold international law on the following dates and places :
July 8th - NATO Summit Madrid
August 6th - NATO HQ Brussels
August 9th at 'sites of crime'
The plans for the official start of this campaign, the action on the 8th of July, its motivation and some background information.
Next July 8 is the first anniversary of the historic decision by
the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) on how international law
applies to nuclear weapons. The ICJ, asked for an advisory opinion by
the United Nations General Assembly, decided that 'the threat with
or use of nuclear weapons is generally contrary to the rules of
international law and could find no circumstance in which they could
lawfully be used'.
On this first anniversary of the ICJ-decision all of the NATO leaders, meeting in Madrid for the NATO Summit, will be startled to receive a visit from a Spanish Notary with a summons. They will be told that unless they carry out radical legal surgery on NATO's nuclear weapons policy in accordance with international law, they will be confronted with a new campaign of non-violent direct action to remind them of their obligations under international law.
The activists are co-operating with members of the International
Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms and members of Abolition
2000, a global network of NGO's which is working towards a Nuclear
Weapons Convention to prohibit testing, manufacturing and
stockpiling of nuclear weapons, an aim supported by most
governments, the public and the International Court of Justice
which stated on July 8th 1996 that " there exists an obligation to
pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading
to nuclear disarmament", referring to Article 6 of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In April during the NPT Review PrepCom at the United Nations in New
York, the Abolition 2000 Network has presented a draft of the Nuclear
Weapons Convention to UN delegates, NGO's and disarmament policy
makers.
From April 7- 18, governments have met at the UN for the
first in a series of meetings of the 185 states party to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT, signed in 1970, is
an agreement between non-nuclear states, which pledge not to
acquire nuclear weapons, and nuclear weapon states, which agree
under Article VI of the Treaty to negotiate for nuclear
disarmament . The April meeting provided an opportunity to press
the nuclear weapon states to implement their Article VI obligation
by beginning work on a Nuclear Weapons Convention, as well as push
for a review of Article IV which guarantees all countries the use
of 'the peaceful atom'. We learned how states can acquire nuclear
weapon technology through the civilian atomic energy programs,
while nuclear energy is not only expensive, there are also problems
with reactor safety and nuclear waste..
Our actions plans for in August 1997.
August 1 to 11th international peacecamp in Belgium
August 6th - NATO HQ Brussels
August 9th at 'sites of crime' round the Globe.
From August 1 to 11 the activists are preparing a international peacecamp with non-violent direct action training in Belgium. They will make the last preparations for a news conference and a non-violent direct action at NATO HQ in Brussels next August 6th, with the 52nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
On Saturday August 9th, the anniversary of Nagasaki, activist-
groups are organising non-violent direct actions at different
'sites of crime' around the globe, i.e. nuclear weapon laboratories
and depots.
Three soundbytes:
'With this new campaign to uphold international law to abolish nuclear weapons we want to put further pressure on the politicians of NATO members to start immediate multilateral negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention'
states Pol D'Huyvetter, campaigner at For Mother Earth International in Belgium, and initiator of this campaign.
'After all the vain promises and treaty violations by nuclear weapon states, I have the moral obligation to call for civil disobedience. The politicians have to take international law serious and comply with it, otherwise we don't need to bother making it'.
'The upcoming non-violent direct actions are not only a means, they are also an aim. They are an example of active non-violence, of civilian defence, which we put forward as an alternative to military defence and doctrine. The latest example was practised successfully in Gorleben last week when thousands of citizens blocked a rad-waste transport to protest the nuclear policy of the German government. We have to remind the politicians that we want to free the world of the madness of wars and money which dominates everything. Let the people work together towards more democracy and solidarity, and move into the new millennium with a convention to free the world of nuclear weapons'
states D'Huyvetter.
International contact address for NWAD is:
A-days (Non-Violent Direct Action Network),
For Mother Earth,
Gent Ecologisch Centrum,
Maria Hendrikaplein 5,
9000 Gent,
Belgium,
phone/fax: +32-9-242.87.51,
e-mail:
international@motherearth.org,
URL: http://www.motherearth.org
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