Costa Rica Appeals to NZ to Draft Nuclear Treaty

Costa Rica appeals to New Zealand to promote draft nuclear abolition treaty

The Costa Rican government has appealed to the New Zealand government to join them and others in supporting the United Nations Secretary-General's initiative to promote a proposed global treaty to abolish nuclear weapons.

The appeal comes just before two key international meetings at which progress could be made - a Nuclear Security Summit hosted by US President Obama this week, and the 2010 Review Conference of States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty being held at the United Nations from 3-28 May.

Costa Rican President Elect Laura Chinchilla, in a letter to New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Minister for Disarmament Georgina te Heuheu, calls for collaboration between the two governments, noting that "Costa Rica and New Zealand are small countries with similar backgrounds and economies based on agriculture, tourism and a common value for universal education," and that both are "active in advancing cooperative security, human rights, disarmament and development internationally at the United Nations and other key forums."

The letter highlights the proposal "to fully implement the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty through multilateral negotiations leading to the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons under a Nuclear Weapons Convention." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for such negotiations in a five-point plan for nuclear disarmament released at the United Nations in October 2008, and supported unanimously last year by the 150 parliaments, including New Zealand's, comprising the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Mr Ban also circulated a draft nuclear abolition treaty (a Nuclear Weapons Convention) to all governments as a guide to negotiations. The draft convention was prepared by a group of experts led by New Zealander Alyn Ware, and was submitted to Mr Ban by the governments of Costa Rica and Malaysia. Last week Mr Ban, speaking from the former Soviet nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk, called on the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington to take action on this proposal.

Costa Rican legislator Dr Edine von Herold arrived in New Zealand today to deliver President Chinchilla's letter to the government and to meet with officials, parliamentarians and disarmament experts to discuss the possibility of collaboration to promote the draft treaty. Dr von Herold will speak in Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland. Her visit is sponsored by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, a cross-party global network of legislators headquartered in New Zealand and the United States.

ENDS

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