Nuclear Disarmament

by Rev. Paul Lansu
Pax Christi International Senior Policy Advisor

The continued existence of over 14.575 nuclear weapons[i] held by a handful of countries is one of the greatest moral challenges of our time. The Catholic Church has taken critical positions right from the beginning in 1943 questioning the possible violent use of nuclear energy. In the midst of the Cold War (1982), the Holy See has taken the position of a conditional acceptance of nuclear deterrence. The current Church teaching since 2014 is condemning the possession and threat to use nuclear weapons. Nuclear deterrence has been classified as illegal and immoral. This latest has always been the position of Pax Christi International.

This reflection on nuclear disarmament is written in the context of Pope Francis planning a pastoral visit to Japan in November 2019, becoming the first pontiff to do so since John Paul II nearly 40 years ago. Pax Christi International is having its World Assembly in Hiroshima, Japan, in May 2020. A major focus of this Assembly will be on nuclear disarmament.

Catholic Social Teaching as a framework

Catholic social thinking (CST) provides a critical framework from where to search values and norms and to contribute to justice, peace and care for the Creation. The Churches have always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and interpreting them in light of the Gospel. The social ideas of the Church, which have developed over decades, offer an almost inexhaustible richness of points of reference for peace work. Especially concerning the four most prominent (international) areas of attention: peace/security, human rights, development and environment. Within the broader political framework, international law and especially international humanitarian law are applicable.

A persistent task in the constant peace work of Pax Christi International is the goal of complete nuclear disarmament or global zero. Our world has been confronted with the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 and since then the arms race in nuclear weapons, with ups and downs, did not stop. For nuclear weapon states, modernizing their arsenal is now a priority.

Pax Christi International and especially its national sections have been acting in the framework of the worldwide nuclear disarmament movement. Advocacy and campaigning has been done, mostly within national and international coalitions, towards the national political authorities and the international governmental organisations not at least the United Nations – but at the same time towards the Holy See or the Vatican which is also a sovereign state, one of the 193 states today. The Vatican has a diplomatic presence in most of the countries and apostolic missions at the multilateral organisations.[ii] That means that the thinking of the Holy See is also formulated in the context of international (humanitarian) law. The Holy See has been warning of the increasing dangers to humanity posed by nuclear weapons. Pax Christi International has been monitoring and influencing the thinking or teaching of the Holy See on nuclear weapons over the past decades.

Papal peace witnesses

Contemporary popes have continuously upheld the importance of collective responsibility as an essential part of the equation for establishing a world free from nuclear weapons. The concern for peace and disarmament entered into the social teaching.

Since World War II, all the Popes have consistently called for the abolition of these evil instruments of warfare that create both a false sense of security and foster distrust and disharmony. Papal peace witnesses support a world free from nuclear weapons. The contributions of all contemporary popes have been focusing on the moral evils manifest in nuclear weapons when directing their efforts to rid the world of these human-generated existential threats.

Based on scientific findings the Holy See urged the banning of the testing and deployment of nuclear weapons already in the 50’s. All weapons of mass destruction in the context of possible ABC warfare (atomic, bacteriological and chemical warfare) has been condemned. The Vatican advocated for international treaties to ban ABC weapons.

The Magna Carta of Pax Christi International is the 11 April 1963 Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris or Peace on Earth,[iii] a few months after the Cuba Crisis of October 1962[iv]. This was the first encyclical addressed to all people of good will. Pope John XXIII called for the banning of nuclear weapons and mentioned several reasons why to do so: (1) the problematic possibility of accidental deployment; (2) the cost of arms racing while poverty exists in the world; (3) a condemnation of what is characterised as the misplaced notion that any balance of power in armaments could bring positive peace inclusive as a plausible justification for acquiring atomic weapons; and (4) the climate of fear created by nuclear weapons. Encyclicals are the most authoritative forms of teaching given by the Bishop of Rome.

The complete elimination of nuclear weapons is mentioned In Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Modern World of 7 December 1965[v]. The nuclear arms race is an utterly treacherous trap for humanity and one that injures the poor to an intolerable degree. Indeed, the immense resources spent on nuclear weapons could be devoted to the implementation and achievement of what we call today the “Sustainable Development Goals,”[vi] especially the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, which are basic factors of instability in our world.

Pope Paul VI wrote the encyclical Populorum Progressio on 26 March 1967,[vii] which addressed the urgent need for integral human development as a response to both direct and structural violence. He urged governments to work for an end to all weapons of mass destruction.

Limits of nuclear deterrence

During the Cold War, the Holy See gave limited acquiescence to the military strategy of nuclear deterrence on the strict condition that it would lead to disarmament measures. In a Message addressed to the General Assembly of the United Nations 7 June 1982,[viii] Pope John II saw nuclear deterrence as very limited in time and it should lead to nuclear disarmament, which not happened. Major powers have instead persisted in their reliance on nuclear deterrence and begun the modernization of their nuclear arsenals.

During the Cold War, most of the Pax Christi sections worked hard to approach their national bishops’ conferences, which resulted in pastoral letters from the bishops on war and peace, especially on nuclear disarmament. Nuclear disarmament was at the top of most politicians’ agenda and the international peace movement including Pax Christi International were able to mobilize large sections of the population in favour of disarmament. That period is in stark contrast to today’s day where many young people are of the opinion that a nuclear weapon must be part of their furniture!

Pope John Paul II mentioned on several occasions the importance of non-proliferation of nuclear arms and a complete ban on nuclear testing via effective and binding international agreements. The Non-Proliferation Treaty[ix] will soon be fifty years old, and no comprehensive negotiations for nuclear disarmament have ever taken place. It is the opposite, some Nuclear-Weapons States are modernisation their nuclear weapons.

Pope Benedict XVI situated an imperative for nuclear disarmament within the framework of a socio-ecological duty to care for the planet.[x] All efforts should be encouraged to ensure progressive disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons, whose presence alone threatens the life of the planet and the ongoing integral development of the present generation and of generations yet to come. In his first World Day for Peace Message Benedict stated, that in a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims.[xi]

Humanitarian approach

Pax Christi International was present at the Third Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna, 7 – 9 December 2014. The Holy See takes on a leading role in abolishing nuclear weapons by focussing on the humanitarian consequences of weapons of mass destruction. In his message, Pope Francis questioned the doctrine of nuclear deterrence that was developed during the Cold War: “Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states.”[xii] The Holy See affirmed the immorality of the use of nuclear weapons as well as the immorality of their possession, thereby clearing the road to nuclear abolition. Pope Francis repeated in many of his message the condemnation of nuclear deterrence.

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Thanks to the efforts of the Holy See, a significant number of non-nuclear states, diplomats and civil society groups were able to produce under the auspices of the United Nations the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted at the UN Headquarters on 7 July 2017 [xiii]. The Treaty prohibits the use, threat of use, development, testing, production, manufacturing, and possession of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have no legitimate role in politics. A major role has been played by ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) in which Pax Christi International and several of its national sections have been co-operating intensively.

Delegates of Pax Christi International have been present at the International Symposium on the Prospects for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament in the Vatican, November 2017. Pope Francis made clear at the Symposium that nuclear escalation is morally unacceptable. The Holy Father voiced concern over the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental effects of nuclear weapons use. The threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned [xiv].

Pope Francis was the first pope to call for a ban on nuclear weapons that extends to their possession based upon their supposed values as deterrents. The teaching of Pope Francis is completely in line with the policies of Pax Christi International.

Action is needed

The time has come to embrace the abolition of nuclear weapons as an essential foundation of collective security. A major task still to be done is encouraging all Governments of States who adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to sign and ratify. Nuclear-Weapon States needs to end their production and modernisation programmes of increasingly sophisticated and destructive weapons. Billions are wasted each year to develop and maintain stocks that will supposedly never be used. Moreover, existing treaties such as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)[xv] have to be respected.

Pope Francis’ visit to Japan in November 2019 and the World Assembly of Pax Christi International in May 2020 in Hiroshima could be a renewed time for action. It is expected that Pope Francis in listening careful to the Hibakusha[xvi] and the victims of the nuclear bombings of 1945 and that he is pleading again strongly in favour of a complete ban of all nuclear weapons.

We need a worldwide dialogue, including both the nuclear and non-nuclear States and the burgeoning organizations that make up the civil society, to ensure that nuclear weapons are banned finally to the benefit of our common home. It is hoped that a renewed awareness can be created in which Churches, NGO’s, academia, think tanks, and popular movements can be committed to a world without nuclear weapons.

The role of Pax Christi International is vital to not let hope die, to not let cynicism and realpolitik take over. Pax Christi International believes that an ethic rooted in solidarity and peaceful coexistence is necessary for the future of humanity.

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[i] https://www.ploughshares.org/world-nuclear-stockpile-report

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See_Representative

[iii] http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_11041963_pacem.html

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis

[v] http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html

[vi] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

[vii] http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum.html

[viii] https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/pont_messages/1982/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19820607_disarmo-onu.html

[ix] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Non-Proliferation_of_Nuclear_Weapons

[x] https://easttexascatholic.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/pope-at-audience-calls-for-complete-nuclear-disarmament/

[xi] https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/social-justice/in-truth-peace-the-first-lesson-of-benedict-xvi-on-peace-war-and-terrorism.html

[xii] http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20141207_messaggio-conferenza-vienna-nucleare.html

[xiii] http://www.icanw.org/treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons/

[xiv] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2017-11/pope-to-disarmament-conference–world-without-weapons-not-imposs.html

[xv] http://www.ipb.org/ipb-statements/ipb-statement-inf-treaty/

[xvi] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibakusha

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Photo credit: CNN

Nuclear Disarmament, Peace

Sanctions and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

January 16, 2019February 18, 2019 Editor

by Doug Hostetter
Pax Christi International UN Representative, New York

(The following was presented at the Global Peace Forum on Korea, Columbia University, September 29, 2018, New York City.)

When I was first asked to speak about sanctions and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the Global Peace Forum on Korea, I thought that I would cite the experts on effect of the sanctions on the people of the DPRK, like the recent United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report that indicated that 41% of people within the DPRK are undernourished, and 70% are vulnerable to food insecurity and child-stunting equals about 39.4% in all children in the DPRK[1].

I had planned that I would also mention the other ways in which sanctions are changing the country. In addition to less nutrition, there is also less access to healthcare. Many major humanitarian NGO’s have been forced to leave the DPRK, including the Global Fund, which over the past eight years gave more than 100 million dollars for life saving treatments of tuberculosis, AIDS, and malaria to patients in the DPRK[2]. I would point out that the sanctions have created banking obstacles so great that even serious UN efforts have been unable to provide banking channels for UN agencies and NGOs that do humanitarian programs in the DPRK.

I had intended to go into some detail about the absurdity of the sanctions on the DPRK. Security Council Resolution (s/RES/2397 -22 December 2017, paragraph 7) states:

“Decides that all Member States shall prohibit the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to the DPRK … of all industrial machinery (HS codes 84 and 85), transportation vehicles (HS codes 86 through 89), and iron, steel, and other metals (HS codes 72 through 83).”[3]

The sanctions have even been interpreted to include fingernail clippers and simple water filters, which the Mennonite Central Committee has tried unsuccessfully to send to pediatric hospitals in the DPRK. I had even considered pointing out that the UN sanctions on the DPRK could be considered collective punishment on the people of the DPRK, which, during time of war, is a war crime under the Hague Regulations of 1899 and subsequent Geneva Conventions, most recently, article 33 of the Geneva Conventions IV of 1949[4]. (This is another compelling reason to end the Korean War.)

On reflection, however, I decided that it would be simpler and more useful to look at the issue of efficacy, to see whether sanctions have actually been effective in achieving desired results, or if other measures might in fact be more successful in accomplishing those goals.

Security Council Resolution 1718[5] is quite clear that the goal of the sanctions was to discourage the DPRK from pursuing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and to encourage the DPRK to return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

So, let us compare the accomplishment of the sanctions to the accomplishments of dialogue.

The UN Security Council significantly increased sanctions against the DPRK with Security Council Resolution 1718 on 14 October 2006, five days after the DPRK detonated its first nuclear explosion. In the past 12 years, the UN Security Council has passed more than ten resolutions sanctioning the DPRK, each resolution more draconian than the previous one. During those last 12 years of sanctions, the DPRK has detonated five additional nuclear tests, and has continued to improve the power of their missiles from intermediate range rockets in 2006, to intercontinental missiles today, capable of reaching the United States.

Now let us look at the accomplishments of persuasion in just the last nine months. Chairman Kim Jong-Un, in his New Years speech on January 1, 2018 stated:

“We will open our doors to anyone from south Korea, including the ruling party and opposition parties, organizations and individual personages of all backgrounds, for dialogue, contact and travel, if they sincerely wish national concord and unity. . . As for the Winter Olympic Games to be held soon in South Korea, it will serve as a good occasion for demonstrating our nation’s prestige and we earnestly wish the Olympic Games a success. From this point of view we are willing to dispatch our delegation and adopt other necessary measures; with regard to this matter, the authorities of the north and the south may meet together soon. Since we are compatriots of the same blood as South Koreans, it is natural for us to share their pleasure over the auspicious event and help them.”[6]

Chairman Kim’s New Year’s statement was welcomed by President Moon Jae-in, who immediately invited the DPRK to send athletes from the north to join the Olympics, and even filed a joint women’s hockey team for the 2018 Olympic Games. Since then, there have been numerous meetings at various levels between the DPRK and ROK, as well as a joint meeting in Singapore between President Trump and Chairman Kim on June 12^th earlier this year.

Since January of 2018, the DPRK has suspended all nuclear testing and missile launches, demolished its only nuclear testing sight, and destroyed its rocket engine testing site. The DPRK has also returned the remains of US military service personnel killed in during the Korean War. The ROK and DPRK have worked together to establish a liaison office in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the DPRK, have established a program for reunifications of Korean families who were separated by the war, and just last week held another inter-Korean summit, the third this year, in Pyongyang. These are only a few of the major changes that have been initiated as the result of dialogue. It is hard to remember that it was only one year ago, at the opening of the Seventy-Second General Assembly, that President Trump and Chairman Kim were threatening each other with nuclear annihilation.

Since the beginning of time people have been arguing which is stronger, hard power or soft power: the use of force, or the arts of dialogue. There is an ancient Greek fable which tells of an argument between the north wind and the sun as to who was the more powerful. They argued for many days, each boasting of their superior strength and finally deciding to settle the argument by a contest. A pilgrim was traveling below so they decided that each would try to remove his coat. The north wind went first, blowing a gale force wind which nearly tore away the coat, but the pilgrim grabbed his cloak, and the harder the north wind blew, the more tightly the pilgrim wrapped his coat around himself. When it was the sun’s turn, the wind and the clouds disappeared, and the sun beamed its kind warmth on the pilgrim, who immediately took off his coat.

In the past 12 years, we have witnessed the abject failure of the use of sanctions and military threats to get the DPRK to dismantle its programs for nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles. It is now time for us to give support to dialogue, already begun by Chairman Kim, President Moon and President Trump, which has produced many positive results , but need to be continued to end the Korean War, lift the sanctions, normalize the relations between the US and the DPRK and establish a Korea Peninsula Nuclear Free Zone – a Korea Peninsula free of nuclear weapons and protected from threat of nuclear attack by international treaty[7].

____________

[1] UN Resident Coordinator for DPR Korea. “DPR Korea Needs and Priorities March 2018.” UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, April 11, 2018. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-peoples-republic-korea/dpr-korea-needs-and-priorities-march-2018.

[2] Seung, Kwonjune J. “Why Is the Global Fund Pulling out of North Korea?” NK News – North Korea News. May 02, 2018. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://www.nknews.org/2018/05/why-is-the-global-fund-pulling-out-of-north-korea/.

[3] UN Security Council, Security Council resolution 2397 (2017) [on strengthening measures regarding the supply, sale, or transfer to the DPRK], 11 September 2017, S/RES/2397 (2017), available at: https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/s/res/2397-%282017%29 %5Baccessed 17 September 2018

[4] “Practice Relating to Rule 103. Collective Punishments.” Treaties, States Parties, and Commentaries – Geneva Convention, 1864 – 3 -. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule103

[5] [5] UN Security Council, Security Council resolution 1718 (2006) [on recalling its previous relevant resolutions], 14 October 2006, S/RES/1718 (2006), available at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1718%20%282006%29 %5Baccessed 17 September 2018

[6] “Kim Jong Un’s 2018 New Year’s Address.” NCNK. January 01, 2018. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://www.ncnk.org/node/1427.

[7] See also Pax Christi International’s statement of 12 June 2018: https://www.paxchristi.net/news/statement-todays-historic-meeting-between-donald-trump-and-kim-jong-un-key-points-be-included.

Photo credit: CNN

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[1] UN Resident Coordinator for DPR Korea. “DPR Korea Needs and Priorities March 2018.” UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, April 11, 2018. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-peoples-republic-korea/dpr-korea-needs-and-priorities-march-2018.

[2] Seung, Kwonjune J. “Why Is the Global Fund Pulling out of North Korea?” NK News – North Korea News. May 02, 2018. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://www.nknews.org/2018/05/why-is-the-global-fund-pulling-out-of-north-korea/.

[3] UN Security Council, Security Council resolution 2397 (2017) [on strengthening measures regarding the supply, sale, or transfer to the DPRK], 11 September 2017, S/RES/2397 (2017), available at: https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/s/res/2397-%282017%29 %5Baccessed 17 September 2018

[4] “Practice Relating to Rule 103. Collective Punishments.” Treaties, States Parties, and Commentaries – Geneva Convention, 1864 – 3 -. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule103

[5] [5] UN Security Council, Security Council resolution 1718 (2006) [on recalling its previous relevant resolutions], 14 October 2006, S/RES/1718 (2006), available at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1718%20%282006%29 %5Baccessed 17 September 2018

[6] “Kim Jong Un’s 2018 New Year’s Address.” NCNK. January 01, 2018. Accessed September 27, 2018. https://www.ncnk.org/node/1427.

[7] See also Pax Christi International’s statement of 12 June 2018: https://www.paxchristi.net/news/statement-todays-historic-meeting-between-donald-trump-and-kim-jong-un-key-points-be-included.

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