Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Greenpeace calls for nuclear -free NATO
Greenpeace calls for nuclear -free NATO
NATO/Brussels, 16 April 2005:
Greenpeace will join with Bombspotting activists today to make "citizen inspections" of three military facilities in Belgium in a symbolic action aimed at pressuring NATO member states to renounce their nuclear weapons arsenal.
The inspections will take place at Kleine Brogel Air base which houses nuclear weapons, NATO's Brussels Headquarters and its SHAPE military headquarters in Mons/Bergen. Activists will dress as 'walking missiles' or carry huge Eyes of Mass Inspection as part of the inspection.
"Six European countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Italy and UK) currently have an estimated 480 American air-launched nuclear bombs based on their territories," said Greenpeace International's Nicky Davies. "The NATO nuclear weapons states (US, France and UK) possess a combined force of over 10 000 nuclear weapons. The threat of nuclear weapons proliferation is greater now than it has been for years because countries have given up waiting for the nuclear weapons states to keep their promise to disarm under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and are now embarking on nuclear weapons programmes of their own.
"At a time
when NATO members are urging countries like Iran to abandon
their nuclear ambitions, we have the hypocritical situation
in which non nuclear NATO states play host to US weapons.
"Greenpeace calls on NATO to disarm and become a
nuclear-free alliance as a first step towards the global
abolition of nuclear weapons."
There is growing political and public unease amongst a number of European countries towards hosting US nuclear weapons, with Belgium among them.
"The Belgian government avoids raising the NATO issue but at the same time lives with the reality that at home almost all of the political parties approve the idea of decommissioning nuclear weapons based in Belgium," said Greenpeace Belgium's Wendel Trio.
"Greenpeace calls upon the Belgian Senate to back the call to remove NATO nukes from its soil when a key resolution comes before it later this month," Trio added.
The citizen weapons inspections have grown out of frustration at the continued secrecy of nuclear weapon states over nuclear weapons deployment. The desire of activists to uphold International Law, which declares the threat and use of all nuclear weapons to be illegal, has led to citizen inspections at nuclear related sites around the world.
/Greenpeace is an independent
campaigning organisation that uses non-violent creative
confrontation to expose global environmental problems to
force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful
future./
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
Carbon Market Watch: Going For Green - Is The Paris Olympics Winning The Race Against The Climate Clock?
New Zealand Defence Force: NZDF Working With Pacific Neighbours To Support Solomon Islands Election
UN News: Ceasefire The Only Way To End Killing And Injuring Of Children In Gaza
ICHRP: US-Japan-Philippines Trilateral Summit Makes The Philippines A Battlefield For US-China Conflict
East West Center: Environmental Journalist Alexander Kaufman Receives East-West Center’s Inaugural Melvin M.S. Goo Writing Fellowship
Compassion in World Farming: Octopus Farm Must Be Stopped, Say Campaigners