Citizens Inspections Continue to Win Momentum

The For Mother Earth peace walk from the International Court of Justice in The Hague to NATO headquarters in Brussels ended with the total of 272 arrests of Citizens Inspectors. The arrests of the international group of Citizens Inspectors followed on NATO's refusal to release any sensitive information about NATO's Nuclear Planning Group. The inspectors had walked over 200 km bringing symbolically the UN World Court's advisory opinion outlawing nuclear weapons to the front-door of NATO. During a meeting outside the Brussels headquarters spokespeople Nick Fiorenza from NATO's Press Office and Baldwin De Vidts from NATO's Legal Office seemed highly embarrased about the secrecy and illegality of NATO's nuclear deterrence. They uttered earlier statements from the Alliance that they could not give any information about the location, amount, type, targets or yield of NATO's estimated 9000 operational nuclear warheads. For Mother Earth condemned strongly the lack of transparency and stated that NATO remains obstinate in its disregard of international law.

For Mother Earth campaigner Pol D'Huyvetter declared: "The inspection shows a growing involvement of citizens demanding legal accountability to their leaders. This inspection is a strong statement to all NATO member states that the people demand a fundamental review of its nuclear strategy. We now have to push for a no-first use declaration and the de-alerting of nuclear weapons. And of course, if we see that NATO continues to hide in secrecy and illegality, we have no other choice than organising new inspections. We have to involve more internationally renown people, and should also explore if Citizens Inspectors could obtain a UN status. This last idea might however be difficult as long as the nuclear powers remain the permanent members of the UN Security Council. But the reform of the UN should also be done by ordinary citizens reclaiming it."

The inspectors were initially denied any presence in the neighbourhood of NATO headquarters by Brussels Mayor De Donnea following a prohibition of demonstration. For Mother Earth however stated in its negotiations with the Brussels police that the prohibition was in violation with the right of demonstration and free-speech, and announced its action would be strictly non-violent and upholding international law. Confronted with the resolution of 500 people walking to the main-gate of NATO the Brussels Mayor backed-off and tolerated this `illegal demonstration'. However, the police started arresting people when several inspectors decided to "go and search NATO buildings for the obscure documents themselves". At one point the police also used water-canons, while other inspectors where prevented from attending a welcoming reception which was hosted for them at the European Parliament by Magda Aelvoet, President of the Green Group. The President of the European Parliament has agreed to file an official complaint about this diplomatic incident to Belgian and Brussels authorities, while also many Brussels based embassies were contacted.

Referring to the war in Yugoslavia and the arrests a Brussels police officer declared to a reporter of Associated Press: "NATO headquarters are a war zone. We can not tolerate any interference with NATO". The inspection of NATO was covered by international press, amongst them CNN, Reuters and AP. They however failed to make in depth reports on the preparation of war crimes by NATO's Nuclear Planning Group, and mostly concentrated on the indictement of President Milosevic that same day by the Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague.

A new series of Citizens Inspections is called for October 1st, marking the end of the Nurmberg Trial in 1946.

Pol D'Huyvetter is an activist with Mother Earth. Email: pol@motherearth.org

To Javier Solana, Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,

NATO Headquarters, 1110,

Brussels, Belgium.

A Demand for NATO Nuclear Transparency

On the 8 July 1996 the International Court of Justice, drawing on international agreements such as the 1868 Declaration of St Petersburg, the 1907 Hague Conventions, the 1946 Nuremberg Principles, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and its 1977 Additional Protocols, issued its Advisory Opinion on the legal status of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. This confirmed that the principles of international humanitarian law apply to nuclear weapons, and that even in self defence these principles must not be violated.

These principles prohibit the threat or use of weapons which:

fail to discriminate between military and civilian targets
cause disproportionate harm
cause unnecessary suffering
seriously affect neutral states
cause widespread, long-lasting and severe environmental damage.

There is every reason to assume that the nuclear weapons deployed by NATO would violate these stringent legal constraints.

Evidence to confirm or refute this would include:

the number and type of nuclear weapons at NATO's disposal
their explosive power and destructive capacity
an evaluation by the NATO's nuclear planners of the capacity of these weapons, if used, to comply with the constraints of international humanitarian law
the likely targets they would be used against.

General statements on nuclear policy by NATO do not provide sufficient assurance that the Alliance is acting lawfully. As concerned citizens we have the duty to make every effort in our power to ascertain the necessary information. Therefore, an international War Crimes Inspection Team will arrive at NATO Headquarters on the morning of 27 May 1999. The members would welcome a meeting with you, or a senior member of NATO staff, with the object of furthering their investigations into this matter. We look forward to your early reply.

International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation