At the beginning of February, US President Trump and – following suit – Russian President Trump declared their withdrawal from the INF Treaty banning medium-range nuclear weapons. The treaty is expected to expire in August. On this occasion, and at the 31st anniversary of the entry into force of the INF Treaty, on June 1, 2019 German peace groups call for a Day of Action against Nuclear Arms Race. All organizations and alliances calling for the INF Day of Action are partners in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons ICAN, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017:
Arguments not Armaments – Disarmament creates Security!
On 1st June 1988, the treaty on ‘intermediate-range nuclear forces’ (INF) as negotiated between US president Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Secretary General Mickhail Gorbachev came into effect. Both sides had agreed to abolish their arsenal of intermediate-range nuclear missiles, a major step in decreasing the threat of nuclear war in Europe and parts of Russia.
In recent months the US and Russian governments have accused each other of violating the terms of the INF treaty through newly developed weapons. In early February 2019 US president Donald Trump unilaterally annulled the treaty. Following suit, the Russian president Vladimir Putin withdrew from the treaty as well. After the six month termination period the treaty is in threat of final dissolution. A costly arms race might ensue. The deployment of new intermediate-range missiles in Europe might be possible.
We demand from the US and Russian governments:
- to save the INF treaty with its mutual means of checks and verification missions.
- to elongate New-START beyond 2021, which ensures limits to strategic nuclear arsenals and carrier systems (intercontinental, submarine, long range bombers) of both states.
- to start negotiations on general nuclear disarmament and to include other states with nuclear weapons in those negotiations.
- to sign and ratify the 2017 Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty together with all other nuclear powers and to negotiate a new convention on the eradication of nuclear weapons.
From the German government we demand:
- to lobby the US and Russian governments on the above points.
- to abandon plans for the deployment of new bombers in Büchel (Rhineland-Palatinate) as part of the nuclear sharing.
- to ensure the withdrawal of all US nuclear warheads from Germany.
- to ensure that there will be no new intermediate-range missiles deployed in Germany and Europe.
- to sign and ratify the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty.
Stop the arms race! Disarmament creates security!
Join the INF-Action-Day on 1. June 2019!
German Peace Society, United War Resisters (DFG-VK, svg@dfg-vk.de)/ International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Germany (ICAN Germany, presse@ican.berlin) / International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Germany (IPPNW Germany, wilmen@ippnw.de) / Büchel is everywhere – nuclear-weapons-free. Now! (atomwaffenfrei-Kampagne,blach@dfg-vk.de)
Information on the INF Day of Action is available at: www.inf-vertrag-retten.de
Source: https://inf-vertrag-retten.dfg-vk.de/inf-vertrag-retten-start
Press Statement of the Organizers: https://www.ippnw.de/presse/artikel/de/friedensgruppen-rufen-zum-aktionstag.html