Restoring the Human Connection: The First Step to ... - SGI-USA

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In my view, this is where young people can play a leading role.For our part, the SGI will continue to work with other NGOs and with UNprograms and agencies in promoting disarmament education, harnessingthe power and passion of youth to energize and expand the network ofcitizens seeking to rid the world of nuclear weapons.In addition, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Josei Toda’s declaration, theToda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, which I founded togive institutional form to his vision, is planning an international conferenceon nuclear abolition to be held in San Francisco in September. The findingsof this conference will be compiled into a report for distribution to the UNand national governments, in the hope that this will stimulate furtherdiscussion on the path toward nuclear-free security.Preventing and reversing proliferationMy second group of proposals concerns measures to prevent the furtherspread of nuclear weapons.We must first work to ensure that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) enter into force at the earliest possible stage. Since its adoption bythe General Assembly in 1996, the CTBT has remained in limbo becausesome countries whose ratification is required for it to enter into force,including the United States, have failed to do so. As a result, doubts havebeen cast on the ultimate practicability of the CTBT.However, its moral force alone has had a definite inhibiting effect, asindicated by the absence of nuclear testing in the past few years. Not onlyhave the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, allnuclear-weapon states, declared moratoriums on nuclear testing, but so28
have India and Pakistan as well. As a result, until North Korea conductedits test last October, there had been no testing of nuclear weapons duringthe eight-year period from 1998.Even if entry into force is not an immediate prospect, surely we should belooking for ways to move the CTBT toward full operation, such as bringingit into force provisionally upon ratification by a specified number ofnations.We also need a stronger institutional framework to prevent the diversion ofprograms for the peaceful use of atomic energy into the development ofnuclear weapons.Last September, the IAEA held a Special Event on Assurances of NuclearSupply and Non-Proliferation, coinciding with its annual GeneralConference in Vienna. The meeting examined proposals for multilateralcooperation under IAEA auspices to guarantee a supply of nuclear fuel forpeaceful applications. The IAEA will now start work formulatingrecommendations for such a scheme, aiming for adoption at the meeting ofthe Board of Governors. I strongly urge states to look beyond their narrowinterests to reach consensus on the most effective system for preventingfurther proliferation of nuclear weapon development capabilities.I also call for debate at summits and other forums on “no first use” pledgesby nuclear-weapon states and further formalization of negative securityassurances, by which such states pledge to neither launch nor threaten tolaunch nuclear strikes against non-nuclear-weapon states. Such measurescould help transform the international climate regarding the desirability ofnuclear weapons, reducing the number of potential nuclear aspirants.Negative security assurances are particularly vital to securing theeffectiveness and integrity of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZ).29
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Page 4 and 5: participated in a wide range of eve
Page 6 and 7: therefore vital that these states t
Page 8 and 9: Dealing with North Korea—both its
Page 10 and 11: was an expression of his optimism a
Page 12 and 13: infinitely small and insignificant.
Page 14 and 15: adjustment, it should be possible t
Page 16 and 17: The inhabitants of the world of ang
Page 18 and 19: sorrow.For those upholding a faith,
Page 20 and 21: they urge us are the same, the mora
Page 22 and 23: will help achieve a change in the d
Page 24 and 25: they possess nuclear weapons, worki
Page 26 and 27: At present, under the Moscow Treaty
Page 30 and 31: Last September, five nations—Kaza
Page 32 and 33: expansion of the scope of the treat
Page 34 and 35: Characterizing Japan as one storefr
Page 36 and 37: On October 2, 1960, I embarked on m
Page 38 and 39: world’s population to be denied a
Page 40 and 41: In January of 1975, I visited the U
Page 42 and 43: Among the political leaders and hea
Page 44 and 45: It is now thirty-five years since t
Page 46 and 47: second such summit following the De
Page 48 and 49: NOTES1 Toda, Toda, vol. 4, 565.2 Bo
Page 50 and 51: ——. 2005. “Toward a New Era o

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