Shropshire Star

Letter: Concerned government has still not abolished nuclear weapons

September 26 is the first International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons that the United Nations General Assembly adopted in December 2013.

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The resolution that declared it underlined the support expressed "for taking urgent and effective measures" to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons, and called on the international community to urgently commence negotiations for the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons.

It also called on "civil society to commemorate and promote the international day through all means of educational and public awareness-raising activities".

In May 2010, the review conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which 189 states are parties, agreed by consensus to achieve the "peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons".

Despite this decision even after four years, there are still more than 16,000 nuclear warheads worldwide deployed or stockpiled, and an enormous amount of states' budgets are spent on maintaining or modernising these weapons.

I am concerned that the UK Government has still not decided to abolish its nuclear weapons and instead states that it wishes to renew Trident to ensure that Britain's nuclear weapons would remain effective into the 2060s. Britain does not seem to have caught up. The Cold War era is over and the overwhelming majority of the UN member states are calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. There is growing recognition in the international political arena of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and a will to create a global consensus for the elimination of them.

Britain should play its part and attend the coming conference in Vienna in December and work constructively to support a convention to eliminate all nuclear weapons.

It is up to all of us to pressure the UK Government to turn away from weapons of mass murder that not only terribly undermine our real security but also our morality and humanity. We can all think of better uses for our tax money to be spent on.

Angie Zelter, Knighton, Powys

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