Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 22. februar 2006 / Time Line February 22, 2006
Version 3.521. Februar 2006, 23. Februar 2006
02/22/2006
CND Condemns UK/US Nuclear Weapons Test
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has condemned tomorrow's scheduled
"sub-critical" test of nuclear weapon components at the Nevada Test Site. The
test, a joint venture of Britain's Atomic Weapons Establishment and the USA's
Los Alamos National Laboratory, will provide data for the US nuclear weapons
programmes. The data collected from this test can be used both to verify
existing weapons and also to model new warheads. The UK is currently considering
replacing its Trident nuclear weapon system, due to expire in 2024, with a new
generation of nuclear weapons.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said, "At a time
when the US, UK, and others claim to be trying to prevent Iran from acquiring
nuclear weapons, they themselves are conducting tests designed to possibly build
more nuclear weapons. By engaging in this nuclear test, the US and UK are
demonstrating to the world that they are not truly committed to achieving
nuclear disarmament."
The US and UK are jointly conducting this test under the 1958 Mutual Defence
Agreement (MDA), which has among its goals to improve each party's "atomic
weapon design, development, and fabrication capability" (note 1).
Ms Hudson said, "Our government must immediately stop engaging in these
nuclear tests, which contravene the spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Not only do such tests threaten to cause massive environmental damage, they also
make the world a more dangerous place by paving the way for a new generation of
nuclear weapons."
Note: 1) Mutual Defence Agreement, Article II, Section B
In an authoritative legal opinion released on 26 July 2004, Rabinder
Singh QC and Professor Christine Chinkin of Matrix Chambers concluded that "it
is strongly arguable that the renewal of the Mutual Defence Agreement is in
breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
02/22/2006
Small arms - big problems 
UN Security Council: update report no. 6
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/site/c.glKWLeMTIsG/b.1418313/k.6F07/
update_report_no_6BRsmall_armsBR22_February_2006.htm
Key Facts
Recent conflicts have been increasingly fuelled by the availability of small arms. The direct impact they have had on the maintenance of peace has presented new problems for the Security Council in discharging its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. The Council has highlighted the importance of this issue by addressing small arms as one of the thematic issues that regularly appear on the Council's agenda, beginning in 1999 (see, for example, the first Council debate on small arms S/PV.4048). In the 2005 World Summit outcome document (A/RES/60/1), world leaders highlighted their concerns of the issue, and the document reflects the possibility of an emerging international consensus, at a minimum, on the need for regulation of illicit arms transfers.
Previously, the General Assembly had invited the Secretary-General to establish a panel of governmental experts on small arms in 1995 (A/RES/50/70 B). Debates have followed within the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission, and UN agencies.
Worldwide, more than 640 million small arms and light weapons and 16 billion rounds of ammunition are in circulation today, with an additional 8 million new weapons entering the market each year. They are estimated by the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva to be responsible for more than half a million deaths each year, including 300,000 in armed conflict. Of the 49 major conflicts in the 1990s, small arms were the key weapons in 47 of them. Small arms and light weapons have been sufficient to destabilise states and entire regions, increase the lethality and longevity of conflicts, obstruct relief programmes, undermine peace initiatives, exacerbate human rights abuses and hamper development. In his 2005 report, "In Larger Freedom," the Secretary-General noted that "the accumulation and proliferation of small arms and light weapons continues to be a serious threat to peace, stability and sustainable development."
 |
 |