International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation

Bulletin 19 - News

Brazilian-Argentinian Pugwash Meeting

The following gives a preliminary report of a Pugwash meeting that was held in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 8 and 9, 2001.

The main topics of this two day Consultation were:

New Doctrines for the use of nuclear weapons;

The exclusion of nuclear weapons from the Southern Hemisphere;

Perspectives after the terrorist attacks of last September 11^th.

The Consultation took place as three main work-group sessions on the topics, and highlighted by the seminar "Teaching Peace and Disarmament", presented by Dr. Kate Dewes, who kindly accepted our requested for this talk besides contributing for the Consultation.

Two special features that characterize the relevance of this Consultation should be highlighted:

1)   During her short visit, Dr. Dewes has established strong collaboration links with science educators and teachers for peace education projects.

2)   The crisis caused by the September 11^th terrorist attacks in the US, and the current American and British attacks on Afghanistan, provoked a very special coverage of the Consultation by the Brazilian media and the State press. The number of TV networks that came to cover the event was surprising: Four of the most important Brazilian networks and two of the most prestigious newspapers of the city of Rio de Janeiro were present!

The records of the work-group sessions have been taken and shall be used to prepare the final report. The main contributors to the Consultation have decided to elaborate a declaration in order to support international initiatives that are being considered at present to secure the exclusion of weapons of mass destruction - in particular, nuclear weapons - from the Southern Hemisphere and adjacent areas.

The main points that were discussed in this Consultation and that shall be considered for a declaration by participants are the following:

"We are investigating the possibility of holding a meeting for interested non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government representatives in New York during the April 2002 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee meeting for the 2005 NPT Review Conference, in order to pursue ideas to support governments' efforts to implement the Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas UN resolution." In particular, identifying and focusing the main and intermediate steps which would lead to a significant improvement of the present situation in these regions, as well as the means of reaching them.

The world as we know it is running out of time for attaining peaceful solutions for their multiple conflicts. We no longer have the luxury of prolonging our deliberations. Let us seize the moment to consolidate existing free zones of the Southern Hemisphere and adjacent areas into a broader agreement additional to the existing Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions. The South and adjacent areas should stand free of all weapons of mass destruction.

We support the initiative of the United Nations, proposed by New Zealand and Brazil and approved by 159 nations, for a Southern Hemisphere and adjacent areas free from nuclear weapons. An agreement should be contemplated by the existing Nuclear Weapon Free Zones to solve their differences. The establishment of a region free from nuclear weapons should include the colonial possessions in the region, in particular those of nuclear weapon states, with the corresponding verification mechanism. The prohibition of nuclear weapons should cover both their deployment and introduction by any means, or their transit by land, sea or air.

A revision of existing national and regional nuclear free zones should be conducted on matters related to: a) port calls and transit of ships and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons; and (b) the definition and implications of the deployment concept, in both cases aiming at the optimization of the means for strengthening existing restrictions. Means should be discussed to press the nuclear weapon states to adhere to and respect the terms of the declaration referring to the Nuclear Weapon Free (NWF) South. One means to be discussed could be to link the mentioned adherence and respect to the ongoing validity of existing treaties considered not beneficial for the region (for instance: TIAR; Argentina as an extra-NATO ally, etc.) The improvement of means of verifying the fulfillment by the nuclear weapon states of their commitments should be considered in the declaration.

The declaration should also stress the need of measures to ensure that none of the states belonging to the agreement allows the installation of means aimed at supporting, facilitating and allowing the interception of incoming weapons of mass destruction nor of defense systems based on weapons of mass destruction. The declaration should make it explicit that this agreement should be submitted for signature and ratification to all states included in the Bangkok, Pelindaba, Raratonga and Tlatelolco treaties, but it should be kept open for signature and ratification to every other state willing to adhere to it."

The main points of the work-group sessions were:

1. New doctrines for the use of nuclear weapons

Discussion on the report by the Federation of American Scientists Low-Yield Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapons (www.fas.org), which concludes that such nuclear weapons would be ineffective against deeply buried targets, and that use of such weapons would be extremely irresponsible and counter productive.

2. The exclusion of nuclear weapons from the Southern Hemisphere

Review on the current security crisis in the Northern Hemisphere. Recognition of the need for Southern Hemisphere and Adjacent Areas governments to take the initiative in nuclear disarmament, in order to counter the danger of terrorism being used as a pretext to use nuclear weapons, and to discard treaties.

The consultation was reminded that, in the 1982 Falklands War, the UK probably brought nuclear weapons into the South Atlantic, and that there were strong rumors that a contingency plan existed for a Polaris submarine to be prepared to launch nuclear strikes against Cordoba and then Buenos Aires if British forces faced defeat.

Observation that Diego Garcia remains a US base in the Southern Hemisphere from which nuclear weapons could be deployed. However, a recent British court case ruled that the eviction of indigenous islanders in 1971 was illegal, and they are currently suing the US for compensation and pressing the UK government to allow them to return. This situation needs to be highlighted in pursuing a declaration by governments.

NGOs should investigate ways to use the Southern Hemisphere initiative to introduce an "Ottawa Process" on nuclear weapons (learning from the successful campaign to ban landmines in 1997), whereby the political will could be generated among a group of SH governments to start negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

Attention was drawn to a New York Times article on 24 September America's Sovereignty in a New World by Robert Wright, in which he argued that the 11 September attacks by terrorists would force the US to consider leading an initiative to control nuclear weapons through an enforceable global treaty like the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In planning a meeting during the NPT PrepCom in New York in April 2002, NGOs should review the achievements of the global conference on nuclear free zones in Uppsala, Sweden in September 2000.

Strategies need to be devised to encourage states within regional Nuclear Weapon Free Zones, NWFZs, to renew dialogue with contacts in countries that have not yet ratified the treaties, such as Cuba, Tonga, and St Kitts-Nevis. (Cuba signed Tlatelolco Treaty on 25 March 1995, Tonga signed the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty on 2 August 1996, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau are yet to sign this treaty.)

States within regional NWFZs should be encouraged to adopt national legislation (similar to New Zealand, Mongolia and Austria) which in turn will help strengthen existing NWFZs.

In light of the 1996 World Court Advisory Opinion, NWS should be challenged about describing transit of nuclear weapons and other hazardous nuclear materials as being 'innocent passage' even in peacetime.

Nuclear deterrence doctrines should similarly be challenged as immoral, illegal and undermining security.

3. Perspectives after the September 11^th attacks

Appraisal of a never-ending "chain reaction" process triggered by the current "War against Terrorists". Observation on the analogies of this process with current drawbacks of the "War against Traffic" taking place in the City of Rio de Janeiro, showing the need of concurrent global scale actions addressing pending grave social and political questions in many regions of the planet.

The vast number of alternative approaches open to terrorist attacks was discussed to show that there are physical limits (financial and others) for deterrence strategies against these attacks.

The danger of alternative revisions of current nuclear-weapon strategies due to these terrorist attacks was also pointed up.

An appeal for a different approach based on "a massive transformation in the state of awareness of humankind" was presented as a manifesto.

For further information, please contact Fernando de Souza Barros, Professor at the Physics Institute of the Federal University of Rio the Janeiro, Instituto de Fisica-UFRJ, CP68528, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; fsbarros@if.ufrj.br.