Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Signing of nuclear arms accord hailed by Irish CND as an important step

As US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev meet today (Thursday 8th April) in Prague to sign a new treaty which will commit both countries to reduce their deployed nuclear weapons by about one-third to a maximum of 1,550 each, the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has hailed the new accord as an important step in the right direction.

"A year ago in Prague, President Obama spoke of his vision of a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons; since then, the possibility of just that - a world free from nuclear weapons - has become part of the vocabulary of international affairs," said Irish CND chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar. "This treaty is an important step towards bringing that possibility closer. Many more such steps will be needed on the journey towards the goal of a nuclear-weapons-free world, and much political courage will also be needed along the way. A cut of one-third in deployed nuclear warheads, to be achieved over a seven-year period from ratification of the treaty, creates a new momentum which if continued on a similar timescale could see all such weapons de-activated within thirty years.

"The signing of this treaty in Prague is itself an important symbolic statement that the Cold War, which spawned the nuclear arms race, is being consigned to history. We hope that this will send an unambiguous message that these horrific weapons of mass destruction belong in the past, not the future.

"With President Obama hosting a 47-nation Nuclear Security summit next week, and the five-yearly Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference getting underway in New York at the start of May, there is now an unprecedented opportunity for further progress in ridding the world of nuclear weapons. As a neutral country with a strong track record on disarmament issues, we look forward to Ireland playing an important role at the review conference."