Appeal to the Next President Goes Global
By Rick Wayman

Click for Spanish version Vaya aquí para la versión española

At the beginning of 2008, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation launched an Appeal to the Next President of the United States, calling for US leadership for a nuclear weapons-free world.

Thousands of people in the US have already signed the Appeal, eager to show the next President that a world free of nuclear weapons must be an urgent priority in his or her administration.

Now the Appeal is going global in recognition of the profound impact US nuclear weapons policy will have on all the people of the world. Led by Nobel Peace Laureates the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, individuals and groups from all over the world have begun signing the Appeal.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Director for Latin America, Rubén Arvizu, launched the Appeal in Mexico in mid-March. Working with contacts in the media, civil society and the general public, Mr. Arvizu has begun to gain popular support for the Appeal throughout Latin America.

Strong popular support for nuclear disarmament has existed in Latin America for decades. The Treaty of Tlatelolco, signed by 24 Latin American countries in 1967, obligates Latin American parties not to acquire or possess nuclear weapons, nor to permit the storage or deployment of nuclear weapons on their territories by other countries.

Costa Rica has taken a leading role in creating and promoting the model Nuclear Weapons Convention. Such a Convention would ban all nuclear weapons worldwide and lay out a step-by-step, verifiable plan for total abolition.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Appeal calls for the next US President to take seven practical steps toward achieving a nuclear weapons-free world:

  1. De-alert all nuclear weapons;
  2. Commit to No First Use;
  3. No new nuclear weapons;
  4. Ban nuclear testing forever;
  5. Control nuclear material;
  6. Negotiate a Nuclear Weapons Convention;
  7. Reallocate resources for peaceful purposes.

The Appeal to the next US President is available for anyone to sign online at www.wagingpeace.org/appeal. Paper forms are also available for download in English and Spanish.

Rick Wayman is Director of Programs at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. To sign the Appeal to the Next President calling for US leadership for a nuclear weapons-free world, visit www.wagingpeace.org/appeal.

Related Articles: