The failure of nuclear weapons states to agree deadlines for action on disarmament will make the world a more dangerous place, warn Welsh church leaders.
The Nuclear Non Proliferation (NPT) Treaty Review Conference which has been taking place in New York, ended yesterday with the refusal of nuclear powers to agree timeframes for future discussions.
In a joint statement, the Anglican Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan (pictured) and the President of the Free Church Council of Wales, Rev Martin Spain, said world leaders appeared to be paying “lip service” to a nuclear weapons ban.
They said:
“Nuclear weapons are a legacy of the cold war era and have little relevance to the threats that we face today. There is a growing recognition that having one set of rules for some nations, and a different set of rules for everyone else is unsustainable. Moving towards the elimination of nuclear weapons is not only morally right but the best possible guarantee for our nation’s security.
“In failing to agree a timeframe for further discussions, world leaders appear simply to be paying lip service to the concept of nuclear disarmament. We didn’t expect the conference to produce a detailed plan for banning nuclear weapons, but we were looking for a commitment to move forward on the issue. The International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and a whole host of others, from NPT state parties, former ambassadors and NGOs have all produced versions of a road map that could take us to zero nuclear weapons. The nuclear states stand alone in shying away from discussion of the detail.
“If the nuclear armed powers do not go further to demonstrate that they are prepared to relinquish nuclear weapons, then the existing international commitments on non-proliferation could unravel, leaving us all in a much more dangerous and insecure situation. The call to work towards a world free of nuclear weapons comes not only from the majority of the world’s government but also overwhelmingly from people of all nations.”
The Welsh church leaders are part of an alliance of UK churches calling for a world free of nuclear weapons. Earlier this week, members of the alliance delivered a petition with more than 2,000 signatures to the Prime Minister at Downing Street on Wednesday. The petition urged the UK to declare a ‘no first use’ policy and to support the process for negotiation of a new international agreement leading to the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
The alliance includes the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the United Reformed Church, the International Affairs Department of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland and the Archbishop of the Church in Wales.
