A global campaign for a nuclear weapons convention by 2010
Op-ed for August 6th the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima

By Mr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima (1) & co-signed by 69 Belgian Mayors on August 2nd 2005 (list at bottom of text):

Sixty years ago at 8:15 a.m. the sun was radiant in a blue and silent sky when the U.S. B-29 Enola Gay bomber appeared as a shining silver bird above the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Seconds later it dropped the uranium bomb ‘Little Boy’ which detonated 580 meters above the city. The bomb instantly created a blinding flash and fireball that raised temperatures on the ground to approximately 4000 degrees Celsius. Never before had a bomb of 15,000 tons of TNT equivalent been dropped above a city with hundred of thousands of people. It immediately turned the city into a living nightmare, where thousands of people were burned alive, thousands of others killed by the enormous blast that crushed most buildings. The city was soon changed in a ghost town, with severely burned people and enormous suffering everywhere. Hardly any medical help was available, as hospitals, doctors and nurses were among the victims of the atomic bomb.

Soon it became clear that this was more than a bigger bomb. It was the first bomb to spread radiation, a silent killer that would haunt many of the survivors for years and decades to come. It is estimated that 80,000 people died in the living hell of Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, while another 50 to 70,000 people died by the end of 1945. This short account should be sufficient to illustrate the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.

Three days after Hiroshima, a plutonium bomb destroyed Nagasaki, and within three years the human race was engulfed by a nuclear arms race, and the mere development and testing of thousands of nuclear weapons has had an enormous, devastating impact on the environment.

Today the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates there are 13,470 operational nuclear warheads in the world. If one includes the number of inactive warheads, the total global inventory is some 27,600 warheads, enough to incinerate and obliterate all life on earth many times over.

The uranium mines, the enrichment and reprocessing plants, mountains of radioactive waste and especially the more than 2000 nuclear tests have created an enormous environmental and health disaster. Dr. Rosalie Bertel, a well-respected US scientist, has estimated that "the global victims of the radiation pollution related to nuclear weapon production, testing, use and waste conservatively number 13 million”

The NPT cornerstone for nuclear disarmament in deep crisis
The Non-proliferation Treaty of 1968 promised us a way out of the nuclear arms madness. In order to stop new states acquiring nuclear weapons, the official nuclear weapon states agreed to negotiate a treaty banning all nuclear weapons. At the 2000 Review Conference a series of very practical and realistic steps were accepted which, if implemented, would lead us to a nuclear-free world. However, since then, we have seen rapid erosion of the NPT, the U.S. pushing forward with development of new warheads, unilaterally withdrawing from the ABM-treaty, and refusing to ratify the Comprehensive nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Meanwhile, North-Korea withdrew from the treaty and Iran is strongly suspected of nuclear ambitions. To no one’s surprise Russia followed the trend and announced a modernisation of its arsenal. And, of course, nobody was surprised that the latest NPT Review Conference last May in the UN in New York ended in failure.
The delicate balance between horizontal and vertical proliferation is being further undermined. How can we stop horizontal proliferation to countries like Iran without systematically moving towards complete nuclear elimination of British, Chinese, French, Russian and U.S. arsenals on the other hand?
Today, democratic forces in western countries are challenged by the unwillingness among the official nuclear weapon states to comply with the Article VI commitment they accepted when they ratified the NPT in 1970. Article VI leaves no room for doubt or interpretation: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”
It is here that we as Mayors for Peace ask the Belgian government to take a leading role, together with some other western governments, to move the world out of the nuclear deadlock. The great majority of the world’s population is on our side, and more than 110 governments in the global South are already gathered in six official nuclear weapon free zones, making most of the southern hemisphere officially free of nuclear weapons (2).

Today, we invite the Belgian government to support and take initiative to promote the long-awaited start of multilateral negotiations leading to a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC), a treaty banning the development, testing, production, stockpiling, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons and providing a phased plan for their complete elimination. The Model NWC was submitted to the United Nations by Costa Rica and is distributed by the UN Secretary-General as a UN Document. (3) Every year the UN General Assembly adopts resolutions in support of nuclear disarmament. Unfortunately these resolutions calling for the world leaders to fulfill their responsibility to rid the world of the threat of nuclear weapons are routinely ignored by Western media. They seem to persist in playing a perverse role in the promotion of the use of double standards by portraying North Korea as a villain while feigning complete ignorance of British, French and U.S. refusals to comply with their disarmament commitments. The same can be said for all NATO’s member states, who continue to rely on the nuclear deterrent as part of their common security policy.

Therefore, the Belgian government can take a very practical step within NATO by asking for the withdrawal of the secret number of U.S. nuclear weapons deployed on its territory. The U.S. deploys an estimated 480 tactical nuclear weapons on NATO bases in six European countries, a nuclear force larger than the entire Chinese nuclear stockpile. The U.S. is the only nuclear weapon state to deploy nuclear weapons outside its own territory. The NATO base at Kleine Brogel in north-east Belgium has a capacity to store up to 20 US B61 nuclear bombs, each of which has a lethal power that exceeds the power of the Hiroshima bomb by up to 14 times. In 1945 140,000 people died in Hiroshima because of that single atomic bomb.

On April 21st the Belgian Senate approved a resolution asking for the withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe. The House is expected to approve a similar resolution. In Belgium almost half of the mayors have joined the 2020 vision for the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2020 (4). Today, August 6th , 2005 will become known as the day when Belgian mayors support the call of the Belgian Parliament to advocate a balanced approach to the non-proliferation regime.

Today we need the Belgian government to move with urgency and make strong new alliances for a world where children will be freed of the threat of a new nuclear holocaust as was experienced by the people of the Japanese city of Hiroshima 60 years ago.

André Martens, Burgemeester van Berlaar
André Van Genechten, Burgemeester Meerhout
Anne Marie-Lizin, Burgemeester Huy
Antoine Denert, Burgemeester Kruibeke
Bart Brughmans, waarnemend burgemeester vanBrasschaat
Brigitte Simal, Burgemeester Villers-le-Bouillet
Bruno De Lille, Schepen van internationale solidariteit van de Stad Brussel
Carl Devlies, waarnemend Burgemeester Leuven
Christian Krings, Burgemeester Sankt Vith
Daniel de Laveleye, Burgemeester Ohey
Danny Claeys, Burgemeester Nazareth
Diane Verbist-Vandewijngaerden, Burgemeester Heist-op-den-Berg
Dirk Claes, Burgemeester Rotselaar
Dirk De Vis, Burgemeester Ham
Elio Di Rupo, Burgemeester Mons
Filip Gijssels, Burgemeester Kaprijke
Freddy Deghilage, Burgemeester Saint-Ghislain
Freddy Vranckx, burgemeester van Lubbeek
Frank Beke, Burgemeester Gent
Georges Rovillard, Burgemeester Fontaine l'Eveque
Hans Eyssen, Burgemeester Holsbeek
Harry Hendrickx, Burgemeester Malle
Hugo Casaer, Burgemeester Beersel
Ignace De Baerdemaeker, Burgemeester Laarne
Ingrid Pira, Burgemeester Mortsel
Ivan Delaere, Burgemeester Pittem
Jacques De Ruyck, Burgemeester Deinze
Jan Verheyden, Burgemeester Tessenderlo
Jan Peumans, Burgemeester Riemst
Jan Peeters, Burgemeester Herentals
Jean Dutrieux, Burgemeester Ecaussinnes
Jean-Luc Dehaene, Burgemeester Vilvoorde
Jean-Marie Cheffert, Burgemeester Ciney
Jean-Pierre Brouhon, Schepen Elsene/Ixelles
Jean-Pierre De Groef, Burgemeester Machelen
Jef Kersemans, Burgemeester Oud-Turnhout
Joel Riguelle, Burgemeester Berchem-Ste-Agathe
Johan Delmulle, Burgemeester Wortegem-Petegem
Jos Ansoms, Burgemeester Wuustwezel
Katrien Schryvers, Burgemeester Zoersel
Leo Peeters, Burgemeester Kapelle-op-den-Bos
Lieven Latoir, Burgemeester Sint-Lievens-Houtem
Luc Dehaene, Burgemeester Ieper
Luc De Ryck, Burgemeester Temse
Luc Martens, Burgemeester Roeselare
Luc Peetermans - Burgemeester Herselt
Luc Vuylsteke de Laps, Burgemeester Hove
Lutgard Vanderborght, Burgemeester Opwijk
Marc Wijnants, Burgemeester Linter
Marc Wackenier, Burgemeester Alveringem
Marcel Hendrickx, Burgemeester Turnhout
Marcel Mondelaers, Burgemeester Beringen
Michel Jadoul, Bourgmestre de Berloz
Michiel Van Daele, Burgemeester Tielt
Nicole Debois - Lebrun, Bourgmestre de Walcourt.
Patrick Janssens, Burgemeester Antwerpen
Patrick Marnef - Burgemeester Boom
Patrick Moenaert, Burgemeester Brugge
Patrick Moriau, Bourgmestre Chapelle-Lez-Herlaimont
Patrik Vankrunkelsven, Burgemeester Laakdal
Paul Buekers, Burgemeester Herk-de-Stad
Paul Claes, Burgemeester Pepingen
Paul Rotthier, Burgemeester Mol
Paul Vanhie, Burgemeester Ledegem
Philippe Mahoux, Burgemeester van Gesves
Philippe Mettens, Burgemeester Flobecq
Raf Drieskens, Burgemeester Neerpelt
Raf Truyens, Burgemeester Hechtel-Eksel
Rob Mennes, Burgemeester Schelle
Roland Crabbe, Burgemeester Nieuwpoort
Stany De Rechter, Burgemeester van Stekene
Stefaan De Clerck, Burgemeester Kortrijk
Theo Kelchtermans, Burgemeester Peer
Tony Beerten, Burgemeester Heusden-Zolder
Willy Kuijpers, Burgemeester Herent
Willy De Waele, Burgemeester Lennik
Willy Minnebo, Burgemeester Zwijndrecht
Willy Taminiaux, Burgemeester La Louvière

Notes:

(1) Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba is also the President of the Mayors for Peace network, with over 1,000 mayors member in more than 110 countries
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english/

(2) NWFZ: http://www.opanal.org/NWFZ/NWFZ's.htm

(3) Model Nuclear Weapons Convention introduced by Costa Rica http://www.abolition2000.org/groups/nwc/index.php

(4) On July 11th 235 Belgian mayors on a total of 589 had signed up to the 2020 Vision and became member of the Mayors for Peace network.
Members http://www.motherearth.org/m4p/list_nl.php