Faced with the stillness of the nuclear states, only the citizens mobilization will open the door to disarmament

The Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, held at the UN in New York, has not been able to meet the new requirements on nuclear disarmament. The leaders of the nuclear states are heavily responsible for refusing to seize the opportunity to relieve the world from nuclear arms.

However, the international system of non-proliferation remains, and the real risk of a break-up of the NPT has been turned down. Something at least has been achieved. The arrogant attitude of the nuclear powers, which have preferred the status quo instead of undertaking to abolish nuclear weapons in a very close time, has not allowed however to debate article 6, which obliges them to work hard for nuclear disarmament. Nevertheless some progress has been achieved on some IAEA's new means and on the conditions of withdrawal of the NPT.

Yet, we are far from what we expected. The majority of the States parties, the hundreds of NGOs that attended the Conference and most of the citizens of the world were waiting for real advances toward disarmament and effective measures against proliferation.

About sixty French pacifists, including a delegation of 40 people from Mouvement de la Paix, participated in the works of this conference and met a number of ambassadors. Their disappointment measures up to their anger because of such irresponsibility. The problem that we are now confronted with is the non-respect showed by nuclear powers of their commitments, particularly of 13 commitments undertaken in 2000 during the 2000 Review Conference, but also of their refusal to take into consideration the proposals made by non-nuclear States, which on the contrary respect the commitments that they have undertaken within the framework of NPT.

Therefore the whole non-proliferation system has been weakened.

If the United States are mainly responsible for putting a curb to the NPT, we are sorry to have to admit that also France has its own responsibilities. Our country, which cannot actually break the NPT through the modernization of its nuclear armament potential - in particular the FOST base located in Ile Longue - and the same time defend nuclear disarmament in New York, has not taken the initiatives that the world expected.

The only alternative to escape this block is to alert the peoples and the public opinions all over the world so that the 170 Heads of States that will meet in September 2005 in New York answer to the appeal of UN's General Secretary Kofi Annan, who "challenges the leaders to seize this opportunity of undertaking bold commitments and taking up the urgent challenges to which the Conference of examination has not been able to answer." A new agenda has to be scheduled without waiting for the 5 years planned by the Treaty.

In the meantime, confronted with this difficult situation, Mouvement de la Paix is going to use all its energy to encourage the re-mobilization of the French public opinion within the framework of the national campaign for nuclear disarmament which gathers already about fifty French associations, and in the world within the framework of the various networks in which it participates.

To begin with, Mouvement de la Paix will make efforts to contribute to the success of the meeting of NGO-national representation common work scheduled for June 22 at the National Assembly. It will call for mobilization on 8 and 9 August during the commemoration of the 60th anniversary since Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and it will encourage the citizens to participate in the events that will take place in Japan, where Mouvement de la Paix will send 150 participants. On this occasion, Mouvement de la Paix will organise the Third International Youth Meeting for Peace Culture and the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Saint-Ouen, 2nd June 2005