Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament strongly welcomes today's passing of the new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty by the US Senate, by a margin of 71 votes to 26, with the support of thirteen Republicans as well as President Obama's Democrats. Until recent weeks it had seemed likely that Republicans would try to block the passage of the treaty.

The treaty was signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev in April, and will reduce deployed strategic nuclear weapons on either side to 1,550 or less, and missile delivery systems to 700 or less over a seven-year period. With President Medvedev's party holding a large majority in the Russian Duma, it is expected that Russia will also shortly ratify the treaty.

Welcoming the Senate's approval of the pact, Irish CND chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, said, "This is a positive step towards reducing the horrific threat posed by nuclear weapons. Both countries still retain the capacity to destroy all life on earth, but cutting the number of deployed weapons reduces the possibility of accidents or unauthorised launches on either side.

"Today's vote recaptures the positive momentum created by the signing of the treaty last April, and the successful conclusion of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May in New York. Nevertheless, it remains one step in the right direction, but many more steps are needed. Arms reduction, even a significant measure like this agreement, does not constitute disarmament. We need to see further concrete measures on the part of the US and Russia, and from Britain, France and China, who have signed up to a binding commitment to disarm fully under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"All states, including those outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty framework, should be working towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention, which would universally ban these unimaginably destructive weapons in the way that chemical and biological weapons, landmines and cluster munitions are successfully outlawed. As a neutral country with a strong record on disarmament issues, we believe that Ireland has the potential to play a key role in this regard, just as it did in relation to gaining agreement on a cluster munitions convention at an international conference in Dublin in 2008."