| The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, convening
in Helsinki, Finland, on 13-15 October 2010:
ELDR welcomes the new drive in the debate on nuclear disarmament
and arms control that has been neglected for too long. This
progress is reflected in particular in President Obama’s speech
in Prague and also in the debate on the declining importance
of nuclear weapons laid down in NATO’s new strategic concept
and in the successful conclusion of the 2010 Review Conference
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
ELDR perceives nuclear disarmament and arms control as a
cornerstone of the global security architecture. ELDR explicitly
commits itself to the establishment of a world free from nuclear
and other weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, ELDR wants
the progress in the current debate to have an impact on conventional
disarmament.
Welcomes:
The commitment of both the United States of America and other
nuclear powers not to threaten states or to use nuclear weapons
against states that do not possess nuclear weapons, and to
observe the obligations placed on them by the Non-Proliferation
Treaty. In this context ELDR particularly appreciates the
disclosure of the nuclear weapons arsenal of the U.S. before
the 2010 NPT Conference;
The signing of the new START treaty and its protocol by President
Obama and President Medvedev of Russia on 8 April 2010, with
its specified measures for the further reduction and limitation
of strategic weapons;
The ban on cluster munitions which came into effect on 1
August 2010. This has been an important intermediate step
in the process of global disarmament, and ELDR urges all non-signatory
states to join this agreement without delay.
Appreciates:
The results of the 2010 NPT Conference. This applies in particular
to the endorsement of non-proliferation, and the elaboration
of a precise action plan for a world free from all kinds of
nuclear weapons;
The recently-initiated discussion on the question of future
arrangements of nuclear participation, and on the declining
significance of all kinds of nuclear weapons in the upcoming
new strategic concept of NATO.
Therefore:
Calls for explicit measures for nuclear disarmament, and
the strengthening of non-proliferation;
Urges NATO member states to include the commitment to a world
free from nuclear weapons and the reduction of the role of
all kinds of nuclear weapons in the new strategic concept
of NATO;
Requests NATO member states to provide in the new strategy
a stronger role for NATO in the areas of arms control, disarmament
and non-proliferation.
Appeals to the United States of America to ratify the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) following other NATO members;
Requests the international community to develop a regulation
regarding the verifiable cessation of production of weapons-capable
fissile material;
Urges the international community to take joint political
efforts to settle the conflict caused by the nuclear programmes
of North Korea and Iran;
Underlines the significance of creating nuclear-free zones
and territories free from weapons of mass destruction, for
example in the Middle East, as proposed in the 2010 NPT action
plan;
Requests, in parallel with nuclear disarmament, bold steps
to strengthen conventional arms control in Europe by protecting
and updating the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE).
Furthermore, political efforts should be made to encourage
the reintegration of Russia into this process. The new momentum
on disarmament of weapons of mass destruction should also
benefit and promote conventional disarmament.
See also:
ELDR
Congress. Resolutions
YABLOKO
and the European Liberal Family
Arms
Control
Nuclear Safety
Russia's ABM
Initiatives
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