The Wire

International NGO’s have issued an international appeal calling on the Australian Government to take the lead in pressing for the worldwide dismantling of nuclear weapons. Simultaneous events were organised by hundreds of Non Government Organisations, Parliamentarians and Nobel Prize winners in London, Geneva, New York, San Franciso and Hiroshima. Organisers called for the nuclear armed states, including the United States, Russia, India and Pakistan, to take their nuclear weapons off ‘Launch on Warning’ status, which allows nuclear warheads to be deployed instantly. The world-wide event preceedes the upcoming review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or the NPT, which will be held at the UN Headquarters in May. When the original Treaty was ratified in the 1970’s, the United States, along with other nuclear armed states, agreed to, “undertake to pursue negotiations in good faith” to end the arms race, and to seek establish a treaty to completely disarm”. Democrats Leader, Senator Lyn Alison, is supporting the campaign, and she’s speaking here with Belinda Lopez.