HAW members and what a ban on nuclear weapons would mean

Global nuclear weapons ban possible?

With negotiations to ban nuclear weapons due to begin at the United Nations next month there was a talk and discussion about this subject on 7 February, organised by Hastings Against War. John Enefer reports.

Fiona MacGregor, Hastings link person to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, spoke in detail about the coming UN negotiations and previous attempts to advance nuclear disarmament. She observed that many other weapons that can cause indiscriminate deaths have been banned: biological weapons in 1972, chemical weapons in 1993, land mines in 1997 and cluster bombs in 2008.

MacGregor says: “All other indiscriminate weapons have been banned and it’s time for nuclear weapons to be treated the same as any other weapon of mass destruction”.

The issue of the UK’s possession of nuclear weapons hit the headlines recently after a Sunday Times report about a botched missile test from the nuclear submarine HMS Vengeance. A naval source said the missile veered off course and may have headed towards America.

The coming negotiations are the result of a UN vote last October in which a clear majority of nations supported the proposal of seeking a ban. The UK Government voted against the proposal.

There will be a lobby of Parliament in favour of a nuclear ban on 1 March. The UN negotiations begin in New York on 27 March.

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