COUNTERPLAN/NUCLEAR ABOLITION

SOLVENCY: WE CAN SIMPLY BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS LIKE WE DO SLAVERY AND OTHER THINGS

WE CAN OUTLAW NUCLEAR WEAPONS JUST AS WE HAVE OUTLAWED SLAVERY

Skeptics and moderate arms control advocates question whether nuclear abolition is possible or desirable. If the nuclear genie is already out of the bottle, they wonder, how can these countries safely disarm? While nuclear weapons cannot be disinvented, they can be outlawed, just as chemical and biological weapons have been outlawed. We should remember that only a hundred and fifty years ago slavery was an accepted practice; today, it is outlawed. Likewise, world opinion on nuclear issues has been changing. It's time to make nuclear weapons illegal so that all weapons of mass destruction are stigmatized and banned by the international community.

ANSWER IS A NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONVENTION, ALREADY APPROVED BY THE UN

Activists continue to push for important measures such as the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, long seen as a linch-pin to further disarmament by restricting nuclear weapons development. But they also have their eyes on a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) that would commit nations to concrete steps and a clear timeline for nuclear abolition. Already, the United Nations has voted in favor of a resolution calling for negotiations to begin on a NWC (the US opposed it), prompted by eight nations who formed a New Agenda Coalition for Disarmament to push for a nuclear weapon free world.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAN BE BANNED — CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPON BANS SHOW IT IS POSSIBLE

Chemical weapons and biological weapons have both been banned, so it is perfectly possible to agree a convention which outlaws and controls nuclear weapons, including control of their different parts and nuclear materials. As the Chemical Weapons Convention has shown, it is realistic to call for a convention outlawing a class of a weapon of mass destruction, and to draw up effective enforcement and verification procedures.