The
Hans Blix Report, 2006
Current
World Situation Regarding Nuclear Weaponry
Blix’s Comment: “If the United States takes the lead, the world is likely to follow. If it does not take the lead, there could be more nuclear tests and new nuclear arms races.”
 | Nuclear,
biological and chemical arms are the most inhumane, indiscriminate,
and long-lasting of all weapons. |
| While any state has them, others will want them, with high risk of
eventual use. |
|
Stocks of nuclear weapons remain high, many still
actively deployed. |
|
WMDs cannot be uninvented but can be outlawed and
even eventually eliminated. |
|
Non-proliferation efforts have stalled; new
proliferation threatens. |
|
The 2005 NPT Review Conference failed and the World Summit was unable to agree on a single line about any WMD issue. |
|
Pursue disarmament and non-proliferation through
a cooperative, rule-based international order. |
|
Revive meaningful negotiations, through all
available intergovernmental mechanisms, on three main objectives:
(a) to reduce danger of present arsenals, (b) to prevent
proliferation, (c) to outlaw of all WMD. |
|
States, individually and collectively, should
consistently pursue policies designed to ensure that no State feels a
need to acquire WMDs. |
|
Governments, intergovernmental organizations, and nongovernmental actors begin preparations for a world summit on disarmament, non-proliferation, and terrorist use of WMDs to generate new momentum for concerted action. |
2. Reduce
the Danger of Current Arsenals
| Secure all WMD and related material from theft or other acquisition by terrorists. |
| Take nuclear weapons off high alert status to reduce risk of launch by error. Reduce strategic weapons; put non-strategic weapons in centralized storage; withdraw such weapons from foreign soil. |
| Prohibit production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and phase out production of highly enriched uranium. |
| Diminish role of nuclear weapons by: (a) no-first-use pledges, (b) assurances of no use against non-nuclear-weapon states, and (c) not developing nuclear weapons for new tasks. |
3. Prevent
Proliferation: No New Weapon Systems, No New Possessors
| Prohibit tests by bringing Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force. |
| Revive fundamental commitments of all NPT parties: the 5 nuclear weapon states to negotiate toward disarmament, non-nuclear states to refrain from developing nuclear weapons. |
| Recognize that countries not party to the NPT also have a duty to participate in disarmament process. |
| Continue negotiation with Iran and North Korea to achieve their effective and verified rejection of nuclear-weapon option, while assuring their security and accepting peaceful uses of nuclear energy. |
| Explore international arrangements for assurance of supply of enriched uranium for fuel with arrangement for safe disposal of spent fuel. |
4. Work
Toward Permanently Outlawing All WMDs
| Accept principle that nuclear weapons should be outlawed, as are biological and chemical weapons; explore political, legal, technical, and procedural options for doing so. |
| Complete implementation of present regional nuclear-weapon-free zones; work to establish such zones elsewhere, especially in the Middle East. |
| Achieve universal compliance with and effective implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and improve cooperation among industry, scientists, and governments to reinforce ban on development and production of biological weapons; keep abreast of developments in biotechnology. |
| Prevent an arms race by prohibiting any stationing or use of weapons in outer space. |
Summarized from Weapons
of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms,
by the Independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission headed by Hans
Blix, former UN weapons inspector for Iraq, financed primarily by the
Swedish Government and the Simons Foundation of Canada and other
contributors, Stockholm, Sweden, 1 June, 2006.
For complete report see: www.wmdcommission.org.
