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Now is the Time: ARCTIC Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

HOT PLANET, COLD WARS Physicians for Global Survival Canada Toronto - October 2, 2010 _________________________ Adele Buckley Arctic Security WG of Canadian Pugwash, Pugwash Council. Now is the Time: ARCTIC Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

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Now is the Time: ARCTIC Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

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  1. HOT PLANET, COLD WARS Physicians for Global Survival Canada Toronto - October 2, 2010 _________________________ Adele Buckley Arctic Security WG of Canadian Pugwash, Pugwash Council Now is the Time: ARCTIC Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

  2. The ArcticOverlap of the two great security threats of the 21st century – CLIMATE CHANGE & NUCLEAR WEAPONS

  3. What is a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone? Principles that the United Nations* has set for NWFZs • Non-possession • Non-deployment • Non-manufacture, including delivery systems • Non-use of Nuclear Weapons • NWFZ treaty - verifiable and of unlimited duration • The decision to create a NWFZ should be initiated within the region and arrived at freely by the states that make up the region • NWFZ treaty - Nuclear weapon states have to be involved so they will agree, and (subsequently) ratify protocols that recognize the treaty and offer negative security assurances * UNGA 1975

  4. Seven Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones • Antarctica Treaty (1959) • Tlatelolco Treaty (1967) Latin America and the Caribbean • Treaty of Rarotonga (1985) South Pacific • Treaty of Bangkok (1995) Southeast Asia • Pelindaba Treaty (1996) all of Africa • Treaty of Semipalatinsk (2006) Central Asia • And also Mongolia, a nuclear-weapon-free state

  5. The United Nations: a very important actor in NWFZ creation • Article VII of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and numerous UN resolutions affirm the right of states to establish NWFZ’s in their territories • The 2010 NPT Review Conference received the Declaration and recommendations for the Second Conference of States Parties and Signatories of Treaties that Establish NWFZs and Mongolia (April 30, 2010). This included the recommendations of the Civil Society Forum, United Nations April 29, 2010. • The above declaration is annexed as information pertaining to this presentation

  6. NWFZs are becoming more prominent as part of overall Arms Control • UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, at the NPT Review, 2010, has endorsed the NWFZ as a confidence building measure • Ban Ki-Moon in his 5-Point Proposal on Nuclear Disarmament supports a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) – a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons

  7. NWFZ – a contribution to Global Zero • Builds confidence; builds a global norm • Builds a culture of peace • NWFZ is part of the bigger picture “…the territories of the powers which possess these terrible weapons of mass destruction will be something like contaminated islets subject to quarantine”* *Alfonso Garcia Robles, Nobel laureate, Mexican diplomat

  8. TODAY’S SITUATION IN THE ARCTIC

  9. Climate Change <<->> Polar Ice Melts & Arctic climate affects the global climate • A major adaptation is needed in the way of life for Arctic indigenous peoples • There will be environmental refugees from coastal regions; requiring adaptation from a culture of the sea to a culture of the land • Traditional knowledge, gained over 100s/1000s of years about land, water, snow, marine conditions, wildlife must be valued and utilized • Youth must be educated to full participation in the new frontier; must be capable of employment in senior technical and management positions • Strategies and policies of adaptation must be jointly developed by Arctic peoples and their governments. Sustainability and environmental protection must be paramount • Territorial jurisdiction requires inclusion of indigenous peoples in plans for increased military presence

  10. International law (UNCLOS) will resolve sovereignty claims on continental shelveswww.dur.ac.uk/ibru/resources/arctic

  11. ARCTIC GOVERNANCE PLAN • International collaboration • Avoid militarization of the Arctic • International treaties covering many issues relevant to the Arctic: negotiation in the near term • Settle sovereignty claims • Support adaptation • Expand science research • Develop new technology for this new frontier • Develop new means of governance • Set a global example for innovations in governance

  12. International CollaborationTOOLS for GOVERNANCE • Arctic Council: Its mandate must enlarge, including security, still retaining decision making only for circumpolar nations and peoples • Establish a Scientific Committee on Arctic Research (as in the Antarctic) • UNCLOS1 rules on ocean area sovereignty, based data about the seabed • Economic resources: sufficient funding must be allocated by governments; multinationals that benefit from Arctic resources or transpolar shipping must contribute • Agreements: regional, national, pan-Arctic, bilateral, multilateral, international. The idea of Arctic NWFZ to be introduced conceptually • An Arctic Treaty; negotiations could begin now, embedding NWFZ 1 UNCLOS United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea

  13. The Arctic Council • The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental circumpolar forum to collaborate on • Arctic issues generally, except security • Environmental protection and sustainable development • Circumpolar nations are the members and indigenous peoples are permanent participants • Other participants • Observers: several countries • NGOs: an extensive list

  14. Circumpolar nations add new military hardwareClockwise: Russia – submarine; Russia – surface warship; Norway – armed Arctic patrol vessel; Norway – 4 ice capable vessels of this class ; Norway – armed Arctic patrol vessel[Rob Huebert, Univ. of Calgary – Arctic Security Challenges & Issues- Ottawa, 01/28/10]

  15. Ice capable conflict and surveillance vesselsClockwise: Sweden/Finland- Arctic exercise 2009; Canada-Northern exercises; Canada – Arctic Offshore patrol vessel; Denmark –armed, ice capable inspection vessel [Rob Huebert]

  16. Avoid militarization in support of territorial claims – instead, collaborate Needed – multilateral collaboration- for example: • Search and rescue • Environmental problems, e.g. oil spill • Surveillance of shipping lanes __________________________ The current level of threat is low. Now is the time for political collaboration. Check our report- “Ridding the Arctic of Nuclear Weapons A Task Long Overdue”

  17. SETTING OUT ON THE PATH TO AN ARCTIC NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE-ZONE

  18. Benefits to the broader goals of Arms Control and Disarmament • Planning and negotiating for a NWFZ is a confidence building measure. It complements the efforts of governments and civil society groups who are working on other facets of arms control and disarmament. • NWFZ helps to build co-operative security mechanisms that facilitate a global nuclear-weapon-free regime

  19. Unique Benefits of an Arctic NWFZ to goals of Arms Control and Disarmament • An Arctic NWFZ treaty would create the controls that would greatly diminish or eliminate the possibility of terrorists transporting nuclear material or nuclear bombs by Arctic sea lanes. • An ANWFZ supports the Global Security Initiative for control of nuclear material, and nuclear waste, especially in the lands of the Russian Arctic

  20. THE MAIN CHALLENGES • Many circumpolar nations are part of NATO, a nuclear alliance. • Arctic nations U.S. and Russia are nuclear weapon states • Arctic territory (land) in the United States is free of nuclear weapons; the Russian Federation relies upon the Arctic region in basing, deployment and transit of nuclear weapons • Security policy: planning of the Arctic circumpolar states does not, to date, include an Arctic NWFZ

  21. MEETING THE CHALLENGES starting the NWFZ treaty negotiations • Nations must proceed with urgency, being mindful of the need to assist the Arctic peoples – indigenous and non-indigenous – for preservation of the environment, security from conflict, and adaptation to climate change. • Arctic peoples must be at the negotiating table • Each nuclear weapon-free zone is specific to the geography and politics of the participating sovereign states [flexibility in negotiation is implied] For example: rules for transit of nuclear weapons vary from zone to zone.

  22. Alternate starting pathways to Arctic NWFZ • UN General assembly resolution supported by Arctic non-nuclear weapon states • Nordic NWFZ • Nordic and Canadian NWFZ • Entire countries, or just north of Arctic Circle? • Land first, then sea, then air OR sea first, then land, then air • U.S. and Russia might find changes in the Arctic would be a useful way to continue the agreed arms cuts in the New START treaty

  23. What is the likely path for Canadians and the Government of Canada? • Civil society groups, educators, and individual citizens press for ANWFZ, part of support [at last] for a “northern vision” • Canadian government could assume an international leadership role for an Arctic NWFZ, as concrete evidence of its stated policy of support for nuclear disarmament • OF NOTE: (1) NNWS in the Arctic, including Canada, have already fulfilled important criteria AND (2) Membership in NATO need not be a hindrance to formation; other NWFZ nations are also in nuclear alliances

  24. Canadian Pugwash Campaign Goal • Keep the ANWFZ proposal at the forefront in interaction with all nuclear and Arctic non-nuclear governments until such time as these governments are committed to carrying the process forward Establishment of an Arctic Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone is a confidence building step toward a world free of nuclear weapons

  25. Partial list of support for an Arctic NWFZ • Leaders in international Pugwash • Circumpolar Pugwash groups:-Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden • Amb. Jayantha Dhanapala:-President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs • Senator Roméo Dallaire: Parliament of Canada • Several members of the Parliament of Denmark • Interaction Council (former Prime Ministers and world leaders) – meeting of April 2010 • Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation (Canada) • World Future Council (United Kingdom) • Nordic Council –Nordic NWFZ proposal submitted • Soon - PNND, Canada – motion in House of Commons

  26. Start of a “TO-DO” List • Civil society groups and individuals can and should visit their MPs and write to the Government of Canada in support of Arctic NWFZ [as recommended by Donald Sinclair, DG, and Yves Brodeur, ADM, International Security Branch, DFAIT - personal communication to A. Buckley] • “…encourage the Government of Canada • to engage in negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention • to deploy a major world-wide Canadian diplomatic initiative in support of preventing nuclear proliferation and increasing the rate of nuclear disarmament” [from Senator Hugh Segal’s motion in the Senate, passed on June 2, 2010] • Arctic circumpolar nations should present a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly , 2011, in support of a NWFZ for the Arctic [recommendation of Jayantha Dhanapala, President, Pugwash Conferences]

  27. Contact information Canadian Pugwash Arctic Security WG • Adele Buckley adele-buckley@rogers.com • Michael Wallace michael.wallace@ubc.ca • Steven Staples sstaples@rideauinstitute.ca • Erika Simpson simpson@uwo.ca Subscribe to Arctic Security Group (arctic-security@googlegroups.com) www.arcticnwfz.cawww.pugwashgroup.ca Report: Ridding the Arctic of Nuclear Weapons, A Task Long Overdue (M. Wallace & S. Staples)

  28. The last word • “Canada must take this issue very seriously. Creating an Arctic nuclear-weapon-free zone will be a long process. Now is the time to launch this initiative, while the Arctic is being shaped, because this opportunity will not exist for long.” Hon. Roméo Antonius Dallaire, Senate of Canada

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