APF Comment on the death of Mikhail Gorbachev and the NPT Review

Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House Library

The death of Mikhail Gorbachev (30 August 2022) has been noted and commented on by many. While a flawed human, as we all are, he is remembered for manypositive things. In 1990 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ‘many anddecisive contributions [to] dramatic changes … in the relationship between East and
West One of those changes was to help end the ‘Cold War’ and to bring in the
1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which lessened the threat of a
nuclear war.

It is with great sadness that the reminders of his work for peace come at a time when war is again part of the news of Europe. His death also comes after the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review ended on 25 August. The four weeks of talks at the UN ended with failure to issue a final document.
The meetings opened with the Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumiolaying out his proposal to realise a world free of nuclear arms.PM Kishida said, “With the belief that maintaining and strengthening the NPT is the only realistic path toward nuclear disarmament, we will proceed with our efforts with a historical sense of mission, as the only country to have suffered from attacks by atomic bombs.” He said on Friday that the conference outcome was extremely regrettable.
Whatever approach you may hold to nuclear disarmament – unilateral or multilateral-it cannot be denied that that nuclear weapons have not disappeared and are an ever-growing threat to humankind and our world.
The NPT has three elements: (1) non-proliferation, (2) disarmament, and (3) peaceful use of nuclear energy. The war in Ukraine has brought all three into focus again, but progress if anything seems to be going in reverse.
It is time that the issue of nuclear disarmament was back in the public eye. Article 6of the NPT reads: Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.
All the current nuclear powers have signed this Treaty, including the UK, USA and Russia. The currently planned updating of nuclear facilities at Lakenheath, Suffolk are yet another reminder that we need to continue to press for implementation of the NPT rather than flouting it. Achieving this might be “a fitting tribute” to the achievements of Gorbachev.
Sue Claydon
Chair, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship