‘Accelerate verifiable nuclear disarmament,’ USCCB committee chair urges

May 18, 2015

As the United Nations hosts a review conference on the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace told Secretary of State John Kerry that “it is critically important that the United States do its part to ensure” the conference’s success.

“For most Americans, there is an assumption that the nuclear threat receded with the end of the Cold War,” Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, New Mexico, wrote in a letter dated May 12 and released three days later.

“Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth,” he continued. “In a multi-polar world where there are risks of nuclear proliferation and even nuclear terrorism, it is imperative that the world move systematically and relentlessly toward nuclear disarmament and the securing of nuclear materials.”

Bishop Cantú added:

The United States and other nuclear weapons possessing states bear a particular responsibility for nuclear disarmament and despite the success of the New START Treaty in further reducing the numbers of weapons, there has not been enough progress. We urge bold and concrete commitments to accelerate verifiable nuclear disarmament, including taking weapons off “launch on warning” status to prevent a catastrophic accident, deeper cuts in nuclear arsenals, ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to bring it into force, serious negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty and other prudent measures.

 

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Further information:

• U.S. Nuclear Disarmament Leadership Needed, Says USCCB’s Committee Chair (USCCB)
• Letter Regarding The Ninth Review Conference Of The Treaty On The Non-Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons (USCCB)
• 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) (UN)
• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Wikipedia)