Update 4

The parliamentary speeches and releases regarding the US Nuclear Posture review which were cited in PNND Update 3 are now on the PNND website archive.pnnd.org

2. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (and sign-on letter to US Senate)

In a recent article The President, the Constitution and the ABM Treaty, Peter Weiss, President of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, argues that the US Congress has authority to prevent US withdrawal from the ABM. Weiss notes that the constitutional status of treaties is that they are supreme law of the land and the President has an obligation to faithfully execute them. This ncludes congressional approval of termination. He cites Judge Gasch in a precedent case Goldwater v Carter challenging President Carter’s decision, in December 1978, to terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1954 between the United States and Taiwan,

"The President," Judge Gasch said, referring to the treaty at issue, "cannot faithfully execute that treaty by abrogating it any more than he can faithfully execute by failing to administer. He alone cannot effect the repeal of a law of the land which was formed by joint action of the executive and legislative branches, whether that law be a statute or a treaty...the President's notice of termination must receive the approval of two-thirds of the United States Senate or a majority of both houses of Congress for it to be effective under our Constitution."

See: (http://www.lcnp.org/disarmament/abmtreaty3.pdf or http://www.lcnp.org/disarmament/abmtreaty3.htm)

An international sign-on letter to the US Senate urging action to prevent the US Administration withdrawing from the ABM Treaty is accessible at http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.04/0417lantiabmletter.htm

To date this has been signed by parliamentarians from 10 countries including the US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, Ukraine, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.

To sign-on contact FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign at nonukes@foesyd.org.au

Guardian article regarding UK Early Day Motion on India/Pakistan and nuclear war

MPs in historic call for Kashmir peace

Staff and agencies

Wednesday July 17 2002

The Guardian

A record number of MPs have signed a petition calling on the governments of India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully the dispute over Kashmir and prevent an outbreak of nuclear war.

A total of 492 MPs from all parties have expressed their concern over the tensions, which after a brief period of calm were heightened again last weekend by a gun and grenade attack which killed 28 Hindus.

The Commons early day motion signed by the MPs "urges the governments of India and Pakistan to seek to resolve their differences peacefully and to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict".

Labour MP Malcolm Savidge, who tabled the motion, said he hoped the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, would pass on parliament's concerns when he visits India and Pakistan later this week.

Mr Savidge today wrote to the high commissioners of India and Pakistan in London to draw attention to parliament's concerns.

MPs from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, as well as every member of the minor parties, have signed the motion - the highest ever number to do so, surpassing the 482 who voiced concern over war disability pensions in 1964.

Mr Savidge said: "The record amount of signatures shows the strength of feeling across the political divide on this issue.

"Even though there has been a reduction in tensions in the last few weeks there is still a grave fear that a major war could break out between the two countries and that it could very easily be nuclear.

"The attack last weekend will add to that fear.

"Obviously the consequences if that were to happen would be devastating, not just for the subcontinent but for the rest of Asia."

The motion has been supported by 286 Labour MPs, 130 Conservatives, 52 Liberal Democrats, six Ulster Unionists, five Democratic Unionists, five SNP members, four Plaid Cymru, three SDLP and one Independent.

Mr Savidge first tabled the motion in January this year following an attack on the New Delhi parliament believed to have been carried out by suspected Islamic terrorists.

The attack brought a million Indian and Pakistani troops face to face over the disputed Kashmir border and led to a bitter exchange between Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, and the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Fears that the two countries, who both hold atomic weapons, could descend into nuclear conflict reached a peak in May when the UK and US governments warned their nationals to leave India.

Although intervention from Mr Straw and the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, helped to dissipate the war rhetoric, the foreign secretary is still keen to remain engaged in a dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad.

He is expected to meet Mr Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee later this week.

Asahi Shimbun article on the PNND

Asahi Shimbun, July 18, 2002

A Parliamentarian Network for Nuclear Disarmament Will Start on July 24th. Twelve Convenors from across Political Parties Stress Importance to Send Messages to Overseas.

Supra-partizan members of the National Diet have formed a "Parliamentarian Network for Nuclear Disarmament, Japan," and will have its Inaugural General Assembly on July 24, 2002. They express a sense of urgency that there are increasing dangers of terrorists' resort to weapons of mass destruction while states would use or threaten to use nuclear weapons in retaliation. They also stress importance to send foreign policies of their own initiatives out of a country devastated by nuclear weapons.

A citizens' think-tank for peace "the Peace Depot," which is based in Yokohama, Japan and chaired by Hiromichi Umebayashi, has been calling on parliamentarians for the establishment of such network because it believes that the way of thoughts of Parliamentarians are critical for nuclear disarmament.

Twelve convenor parliamentarians in all, from LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan), Komei-to (Clean Party), CPJ (Communist Party of Japan), SDP (Social Democratic Party, Japan), and Greens Japan are calling on all the Diet members to join the Network.

An "unequivocal undertaking" to accomplish the total elimination of nuclear arsenals was agreed at the 2000 NPT Review Conference. Based upon such development, an International NGO "the Middle Powers Initiative" called for establishing a parliamentarians' network to support that end last year. It is reported that there are already 136 member parliamentarians from 26 countries around the world. The Japanese network is meant to work as a branch of the international network.

In 1981, amid the Cold War, a supra-partizan organization "the Association of the Parliamentarians to Promote International Peace" was established in Japan. It aimed at "stopping arms race and attaining disarmament," and participated in the UN Special Sessions of Disarmament and peace ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It enjoyed 230 Diet members' participation in mid-80s and ex-prime ministers became its president. However, it grew inactive after the end of the Cold War.

One of the convenors, Mr. Taro KONO, LDP comments, "To me, the nuclear disarmament policy of Japan is unsatisfactory. We need fora where parliamentarians can speak out internationally from their own initiatives." Mr. Katsuya OKADA, DPJ says, "The nuclear policy of the United States is drastically turning around in a dangerous direction. We want to send strong messages from Japan, an atomic-bombed country." (end)

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