Document
Letter to H.E. Ms Rosemary Banks, Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations, 8 February, 2006
Your Excellency,
The World Council of Churches has long been an advocate for nuclear disarmament
and non-proliferation. In this we seek to represent and speak prophetically
from the churches' value for human life, human dignity and creation.
In recent years the WCC has observed the stagnation of the NPT process and
the growing stalemate at the Conference on Disarmament. It is in this climate
that we welcome the initiative proposed by your Government and members of
the First Committee at the UN on Disarmament, Peace and Security for a resolution
to move forward the work on nuclear disarmament.
The resolution would establish four open-ended ad hoc committees on priority
issues of negative assurances for non-nuclear states; how to move forward the
issue of nuclear disarmament; an international agreement banning the production
of fissile materials for nuclear weapons; and the prevention of an arms race
in outer space.
I write to you on behalf of the Commission of the Churches on International
Affairs of the World Council of Churches to urge your Government to continue
to support this proposal for a United Nations 60th General Assembly First
Committee Resolution.
Sincerely,
Peter Weiderud
Director
WCC-CCIA
