Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Letter to Signatories

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Dear Head of State/Foreign Minister/Ambassador,

Since 1945 there have been 2051 nuclear tests on our planet. This adds up to an average of one nuclear explosion every 10 days for the past 58 years. These atomic tests have caused enormous human suffering in the form of cancers, birth defects and social upheaval, and environmental destruction without precedent. The effects have been felt especially by Indigenous People, who have seen their lives and homelands sacrificed for what officials have misleadingly called safe nuclear tests and activities. We need to prevent any new atomic tests in the future. We need to prevent any new atomic tests in the future.

The 2003 Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty will be held in Vienna in September.

As a member of the world civil society/a representative of a non-governmental organisation, I urge you to use this opportunity to express your support for this vital tool for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and to take action to secure the ratifications necessary for CTBT entry into force. We urge you to take initiatives to the hold-out states and appeal to them to sign and/or ratify the CTBT as soon as possible.

We recommend that as a signatory of the CTBT you consider imposing unilateral economic sanctions upon any country that tests or considers testing in the future, including refusing to buy products from testing countries, urging your citizens not to purchase products from testing countries or to visit such countries, opposing membership by such countries in international committees or councils where a vote is a prerequisite of membership and supporting resolutions in the UN Security Council, in the UN General Assembly and in regional organizations calling for multilateral economic sanctions against such countries and voting against loans and other economic assistance by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund to such countries.

Mr. Tadatoshi Akiba, the Mayor of Hiroshima stated last April 30, 2003 at the NPTPrepCom in Geneva: "The time has come to impose economic sanctions on any nation that insists on maintaining nuclear weapons. The time has come to use demonstrations, marches, strikes, boycotts, and every nonviolent means at our disposal to oppose the destruction of millions of our brothers and sisters, the destruction of our habitat and the extermination of our species. The time has come to fight, nonviolently, for our lives." For full text www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/npt-speech.html

We believe this time has come. We urge you to speak at the conference on behalf of your government and, at every appropriate opportunity, we respectfully urge you to call on the remaining CTBT hold-out states to take prompt action toward ratification. The political opportunity presented by the Conference should also be used to urge those states with active nuclear weapon research programmes and test sites to take actions that would reinforce the CTBT and support its goals, such as maintaining their existing test moratoria pending CTBT entry into force, refraining from activities at test sites that might be construed as CTBT violations, halting research, development and production of new nuclear warheads or modifying of existing bomb designs to give them new military capabilities.

Mr/s. ___________, public opinion polls conducted around the world indicate overwhelming support for the CTBT and the total elimination of all nuclear weapons. In 1996, the International Court of Justice declared that the use or threat of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the principles of international law. In addition, all countries have a legal obligation (under Article VI of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty) to pursue negotiations leading to the abolition of all nuclear weapons. The CTBT has long been held as the first crucial step towards the nuclear disarmament goal. Should the CTBT not enter into force, all the enormous efforts on the part of governments and NGOs would be lost, and international security will be severely diminished.

We would appreciate it if you could inform us about your initiatives.

Sincerely,