United Nations Considering
Two Resolutions That
Would Advance the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons; Support Needed
for New Agenda Coalition
and Malaysian Resolutions
by Alice Slater*, October 28, 1998
The New Agenda Coalition (NAC) and Malaysia have
submitted two resolutions in the United Nations which will advance
the goals of Abolition 2000. The NAC Resolution, organized by
the Eight Nation Intitiative of Ireland, Sweden, South Africa,
Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, New Zealand, and Slovenia, calls on the
nuclear weapons states " to demonstrate an unequivocal commitment
to the speedy and total elimination of their respective nuclear
weapons and without delay to pursue in good faith and bring to
a conclusion negotiations leading to the elimination of these
weapons, thereby fulfilling their obligations under Article VI
of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)."
The Malaysian government has called for the commencement
of "multilateral negotiations in 1999 leading to an early
conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention." The two resolutions
are complementary, and both work to further the Abolition 2000
agenda.
IT IS CRITICAL THAT WE GAIN THE SUPPORT OF OUR
GOVERNMENTS FOR THESE IMPORTANT INITIATIVES!
The co-sponsors of the NAC resolution are Benin,
Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland, Lesotho, Liberia, Malaysia,
Mali, Mexico, New Zealand-Aotearoa, Nigeria, Peru, Samoa, Slovenia,
Solomon Islands, South Africa, Swaziland, Sweden, Thailand, Togo,
Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The co-sponsors of the Malaysian resolution are
Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, Darussalam, Burundi, Columbia,
Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana,
Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Lao People's
Democratic Republic, Losotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia,
Mynamar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay,
Peru, Philippines, Samoa, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Singapore,
Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Thailand, United
Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
If your government is NOT listed on both of the
resolutions above, please activate your grassroots networks to
send letters urging your government to vote in favor of the resolutions.
(If they are on the list of sponsors, thank them for their efforts.)
Time is short! Voting on all the NAC resolution
may occur between November 6-13.
Please send copies of your letters to the Abolition
2000 office, 1187 Coast Village Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794,
fax (805) 568-0466 or e-mail a2000@silcom.com.
*Alice Slater is President of the Global Resource Action Center
for the Environment (GRACE).
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