Lessons from Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Create Nuclear Free Zone

August 6, 2010

As the world marks the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire repeated calls this week for global nuclear disarmament and the creation of a nuclear free Middle East.

The Middle East continues to be one of the world’s most politically volatile regions. In his 2010 Nobel acceptance speech, President Obama warned of the dangers of an arms race in the region, saying that “those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.”

Maguire called on the international community to urgently consider the creation of a nuclear free Middle East that would give hope to the process of elimination of nuclear weapons around the world. Israel is believed to be a nuclear power, and the possibility of further proliferation beginning with Iran would threaten world security.

“There are many concerned that Iran might go down the road of nuclear weapons, but the best way to dissuade Iran from building nukes is to come clean on Israeli nuclear weapons and make the entire Middle East a nuclear free zone,” said Maguire.

Maguire also called on nuclear armed states to reduce their arms budgets and stockpiles. She criticized the UK’s decision to invest 100 billion pounds in its nuclear program as a breach of the NPT goal of disarmament and a failure to lead non-nuclear states by example.

“The problem with this approach of ‘doublespeak’ by those who have signed the NPT is that it sends out the wrong signals to those countries who do not have a nuclear weapon and gives no real incentive for them to refrain from joining the nuclear club,” said Maguire.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council backed the idea to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons free zone during the 2010 NPT Review Conference held in New York this May. The states have called for a conference in 2012 to further discuss the proposal.