Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Why WILPF Has Worked Tirelessly Alongside Thousands of NGOs Over the Past Fifty Years for a Comprehensive Test Ban

A culture of peace is one of WILPF's founding principles. The Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was founded in 1915 with
the aim of abolishing war, the causes of war, and to promote a culture of
peace and non-violence. Since that time, the stakes of war have risen
dramatically; no people can leave in peace, free from the threat of war, so
long as any country holds the threat of nuclear annihilation as central to
their narrow concept of national security. How can there ever be a culture
of peace when a few men have the power to destroy millions of lives with a
single weapon?

Marginalized people experience the nuclear age differently. Atomic testing
has caused immeasurable amounts of human suffering in the form of cancers,
birth defects, social upheaval and environmental destruction. These
effects have been felt especially by indigenous peoples, who have seen
their lives and homelands sacrificed for the creation of these ecocidal,
genocidal and suicidal weapons. Like most aspects of a militarized
society, women experience a nuclear culture differently than men. Women
see firsthand the direct result of a planet contaminated by nuclear
development. Women give birth to boneless babies in the South Pacific,
women repeatedly miscarry in Utah, Nevada and Kazakhstan and women have
been some of the strongest, most vocal opponent of nuclear weapons since
the idea was born in 1942.

WILPF believes that diplomacy and multilateralism is the only way to
disarmament. Through confidence-building measures, the strengthening of
verification systems and regimes, and strict adherence to international
law, nuclear disarmament is possible. The past fifty years has witnessed
the birth of a variety of international disarmament machinery: the General
Assembly First Committee, the Conference on Disarmament, the Special
Sessions on Disarmament, and the Disarmament Commission to name a few. The
quantity of international disarmament bodies indicates the universal
understanding that diplomacy is the only way to international security.
The meeting here in Vienna is another critical chink in the international
disarmament regime. Non-proliferation across the globe will remain an
impossible dream so long as the current Nuclear Weapons States- and nuclear
capable states- continue vertical proliferation. Without committed,
irreversible, and progressive disarmament, the proliferation genie will not
be kept in its bottle much longer.

WILPF believes in a truly comprehensive test ban, including the cessation
of all types of nuclear testing. It is somewhat disappointing that the
CTBT does not expressly forbid qualitative improvements to nuclear weapons
arsenals through subcritical testing and experimentation. While
recognizing claims that these tests are a part of maintaining current
stockpiles, even this action is contrary to international norms and
customary law. Ongoing subcritical testing conducted by the US, UK, Russia
and possibly China, violate the spirit of the CTBT. WILPF calls upon these
states to cease their subcritical testing practices immediately. A special
emphasis should be put on the UK and Russia, who have ratified the CTBT,
yet undermine its efficacy by continuing to conduct these tests.

WILPF calls on states party to the treaty to use their influence on states
outside the treaty, to sign and ratify the CTBT immediately.This idea
has been suggested in the past, and should be continued, with ongoing
efforts monitored by the CTBTO Secretariat. WILPF will continue to work
with other NGOs to emphasize the necessity of immediate entry-into-force in
order to promote global security.

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