USA: Statement on fifth anniversary of Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Source: Pax Christi USA

The Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons released a statement in recognition of the fifth anniversary of the entryinto force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons:

We hope for its further expansion through additional ratifications, now that a majority of the world's countries have signed the Treaty. In July 2017, the Vatican was the first nation-state to sign and ratify the Treaty as part of its "unwavering commitment to the total elimination of nuclear weapons."

We condemn the fact that the nuclear weapons powers have never honoured their long-held obligations under the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty to enter serious negotiations leading to global nuclear disarmament.

In contrast, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was a great step toward the light of peace. The nuclear-armed states have a moral obligation to hear the voices of the majority of the world, and to listen to those who face the threat of annihilation due to the reckless decisions of any one of their nine leaders.

Russia's nuclear sabre-rattling over Ukraine makes this clear, while ongoing crises in the Middle East further escalate the risks. Meanwhile, the nuclear weapons powers are engaged in massive "modernization" programs, designed to keep nuclear weapons forever.

The international legal force of the nuclear weapons ban treaty is limited to those states that have formally ratified it. But its moral power does not recognize boundaries between nations, nor lines on a map. The moral power of this Treaty is global and universal. We hope and pray that it will exert moral pressure on the nuclear weapons states to finally honor their disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

On the fifth anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, we specifically call upon world leaders to demonstrate measurable progress toward nuclear disarmament. Eight decades of nuclear threats are far too long, as evidenced by the horrors documented by the atomic bombing museums in Japan.It is long past time for the nuclear weapons powers to begin to make tangible progress toward that end.

As our close colleague Robert McElroy, Cardinal of Washington, DC, declared last August in Hiroshima on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing: "We refuse to live in a world of nuclear proliferation and risk-taking. We will resist, we will organize, we will pray, we will not cease, until the world's nuclear arsenals have been destroyed."

Most Reverend John C Wester
Archbishop of Santa Fe, USA

Most Reverend Paul D Etienne
Archbishop of Seattle, USA

Most Reverend Peter Michiaki Nakamura
Archbishop of Nagasaki, Japan

Most Reverend Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama
Bishop of Hiroshima, Japan

Most Reverend Joseph Mitsuaki Takami
Archbishop Emeritus of Nagasaki, Japan

The Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons comprises the dioceses of Santa Fe, NM; Seattle, WA; Hiroshima, Japan; Nagasaki, Japan; and others.

For more information, visit: www.pwnw.org/ewp/purpose/