Faith-based groups across Australia are uniting to call on the Australian Government to participate and support the United Nations negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons this year.
Faith-based groups across Australia are uniting to call on the Australian Government to participate and support the United Nations negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons this year.
Nuclear weapons pose an existential threat to all of humanity
Nuclear weapons pose an existential threat to all of humanity; As people of faith, we understand the gift of life that nuclear weapons are designed to destroy. Nuclear weapons are incompatible with our religious values, moral principles and international humanitarian law. We have an obligation to address this paramount peril.
There are still over 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Their indiscriminate and overwhelming destructive capacity places them beyond any political or military justification.
Some governments continue to invest billions of dollars to maintain and upgrade their nuclear arsenals. This reckless spending robs the people of resources for sustainable development.
The prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons is a moral imperative.
It is beyond time for a new legal instrument to place nuclear weapons on the same footing as the other weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical weapons, which are prohibited by treaty.
Negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons will begin at the United Nations in March 2017. This is a momentous opportunity. This negotiating process should be supported by all governments and include civil society.
The perspectives of faith-based groups and communities impacted by nuclear testing in Australia – as elsewhere – must be heard.
As communities of faith, we urge the Australian Government to support and participate in the upcoming negotiations.
Let us stand together to build peace and outlaw nuclear weapons.
