A GROUP of former heads of state and arms control experts has called on the US and Russia to begin reducing their nuclear arsenals to 1,000 warheads each to pave the way for worldwide nuclear disarmament.
At its summit in Paris yesterday, the Global Zero campaign said such an accord by the US and Russia – which between them possess 95 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons – could be the first step on the route to agreement by all nuclear powers to abolish atomic weapons by 2030.
The campaign was launched last year to press for the gradual elimination of the world’s nuclear arsenals. It includes former heads of state, military leaders and international security specialists.
Under its proposals for phased disarmament over 20 years, a deal between Washington and Moscow would be followed by all other nuclear powers – the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel – committing to freeze their atomic weapons programmes.
The plan also envisages multilateral negotiations to set down a comprehensive verification and enforcement system, followed by a legally binding “global zero accord” for the gradual elimination of nuclear weapons by 2030.
The summit took place against the backdrop of important diplomatic moves towards a new nuclear arms control regime.
Negotiations between the US and Russia on a new arms reduction agreement are believed to be in their final stage, while in May more than 40 national leaders will travel to Washington for US president Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit. “It’s fair to say the idea of disarmament has achieved real traction in the international debate,” said Richard Burt, a former US diplomat and nuclear arms specialist.
Mr Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev sent messages of support to the Paris summit, where participants included former US national security adviser Tony Lake, former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, Queen Noor of Jordan and dozens of former political leaders.
“A world without nuclear weapons: as president, this is one of my highest priorities,” Mr Obama said in his message to the gathering, while Mr Medvedev affirmed that “our common task consists in undertaking everything to make deadly weapons of mass destruction a thing of the past”.
Former president Mary Robinson, who took part in the conference, said the “zero” target “has to be achievable, because we are in a very dangerous place”.