OUR WORK >> BY CONCERN

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Nuclear, biological and chemical arms are perhaps the most inhumane of all weapons. They are rightly called weapons of mass destruction and weapons of terror. Nuclear weapons are indiscriminate in their effects. They result in widespread and massive devastation, and cause long-lasting radioactive damage.

Designed to terrify as well as destroy, these weapons can, in the hands of either states or terrorists, cause destruction on a vastly greater scale than any conventional weapons. They have the potential to kill thousands of people in a single attack, and their effects may persist in the environment and within human bodies, in some cases indefinitely.

As long as any state possesses such weapons – especially nuclear arms - others will persist in acquiring them. As long as such weapons remain in a state’s arsenal, there is a risk that these weapons will be used one day, either by design or accident. Such use of these weapons would be catastrophic.

The principle of the non-proliferation of nuclear arms, together with measures of nuclear disarmament and the prohibition of nuclear tests, are intimately interconnected objectives that must be met as soon as possible by means of effective controls at the international level.

The prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as the prevention of nuclear terrorism, is a high priority of Pax Christi International. Nuclear weapons should be outlawed and the threat and the numbers of existing nuclear weapons should be reduced to zero.

Chemical and biological weapons are equally indiscriminate. Relatively cheap and simple to make, compact and easily transported, they have been called the “poor man’s bomb”. The ban on the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical and biological weapons, as well as the provisions that require their destruction, complete the international regulatory norms aimed at banning such baleful weapons.

Highlights

• Participation of Pax Christi International in ecumenical delegations at the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) meetings in Vienna, Geneva and New York.

• Publication of an Advocacy Package on Nuclear Disarmament.
Campaigning for a Nuclear Weapon Free World.

• Pax Christi International issued a position statement on nuclear disarmament entitled "Towards Global Zero of Nuclear Weapons Now. An Appeal to the USA: Make Use of the Momentum! Yes, you can!"

• Campaigning on international and European level towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons. More information is available here.

• Annual presence with submissions at the Meeting of Experts of the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.