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Nuclear weapons an outdated and false way to national security – Ban Ki-moon

National budget priorities still tend to reflect the old paradigms.
Massive military spending and new investments in modernising nuclear weapons have left the world over-armed – and peace under-funded.

Time to explode the myth that nuclear weapons bring security
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Time-to-explode-the-myth-that-nuclear-weapons-brin-30189402.html Ban Ki-moon August 31, 2012  Last month, competing interests prevented agreement on a much-needed treaty that would have reduced theappalling human cost of the poorly regulated international arms trade.

Meanwhile, nuclear disarmament efforts remain stalled, despite strong and growing global popular sentiment in support of this cause.

The failure of these negotiations and this month’s anniversaries of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki provide a good opportunity to explore what has gone wrong, why disarmament and arms control have proven so difficult to achieve, and how the world
community can get back on track toward these vitally important goals.

Many defence establishments now recognise that security means far more than protecting borders. Grave security concerns can arise as a result of demographic trends, chronic poverty, economic inequality, environmental degradation, pandemic diseases, organised crime,
repressive governance and other developments no state can control alone. Arms can’t address such concerns.

Yet there has been a troubling lag between recognising these new
security challenges, and launching new policies to address them.
National budget priorities still tend to reflect the old paradigms.
Massive military spending and new investments in modernising nuclear weapons have left the world over-armed – and peace under-funded.

Last year, global military spending reportedly exceeded US$1.7
trillion – more than $4.6 billion (Bt144.3 billion) a day, which alone
is almost twice the United Nations’ budget for an entire year. This
largesse includes billions of dollars more for modernising nuclear
arsenals decades into the future.

This level of military spending is hard to explain in a post-Cold War
world and amid a global financial crisis. Economists would call this
an “opportunity cost”. I call it human opportunities lost. Nuclear
weapons’ budgets are especially ripe for deep cuts.

Such weapons are useless against today’s threats to international
peace and security. Their very existence is destabilising: The more
they are touted as indispensable the greater is the incentive for
their proliferation. Additional risks arise from accidents and the
health and environmental effects of maintaining and developing such
weapons.

The time has come to reaffirm commitments to nuclear disarmament, and
to ensure that this common end is reflected in national budgets, plans
and institutions.

Four years ago, I outlined a five-point disarmament proposal
highlighting the need for a nuclear weapon convention or a framework
of instruments to achieve this goal.

Yet the disarmament stalemate continues. The solution clearly lies in
greater efforts by states to harmonise their actions to achieve common
ends. Here are some specific actions that all states and civil society
should pursue to break this impasse:

_ Support efforts by the Russian Federation and the United States to
negotiate deep, verified cuts in their nuclear arsenals, both deployed
and undeployed.

_ Obtain commitments by others possessing such weapons to join the
disarmament process.

_ Establish a moratorium on developing or producing nuclear weapons or
new delivery systems.

_ Negotiate a multilateral treaty outlawing fissile materials that can
be used in nuclear weapons.

_ End nuclear explosions and bring into force the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

_ Stop deploying nuclear weapons on foreign soil, and retire such weapons.

_ Ensure that nuclear-weapon states report to a public UN repository
on nuclear disarmament, including details on arsenal size, fissile
material, delivery systems and progress in achieving disarmament
goals.

_ Establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other
weapons of mass destruction.

_ Secure universal membership in treaties outlawing chemical and
biological weapons.

Pursue parallel efforts on conventional arms control, including an
arms trade treaty, strengthened controls over the illicit trade in
small arms and light weapons, universal membership in the Mine Ban,
Cluster Munitions and Inhumane Weapons Conventions, and expanded
participation in the UN Report on Military Expenditures and the UN
Register of Conventional Arms.

_ Undertake diplomatic and military initiatives to maintain
international peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons,
including new efforts to resolve regional disputes.

_ And perhaps above all, we must address basic human needs and achieve
the Millennium Development Goals.

Chronic poverty erodes security. Let us dramatically cut spending on
nuclear weapons, and invest instead in social and economic
development, which serves the interests of all by expanding markets,
reducing motivations for armed conflicts, and in giving citizens a
stake in their common futures. Like nuclear disarmament and
non-proliferation, such goals are essential for ensuring human
security and a peaceful world for future generations.

No development, no peace. No disarmament, no security. Yet when both
advance, the world advances, with increased security and prosperity
for all. These are common ends that deserve the support of all
nations.

Ban Ki-moon is the secretary-general of the United Nations.

August 31, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war