News
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is urging the NATO summit in Chicago 20-21 May to “lead by example” and withdraw NATO nuclear weapons still deployed in Europe more than two decades after the close of the Cold War.
A statement issued today by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reiterates a key policy recommendation raised repeatedly with NATO officials by the WCC, the Conference of European Churches, the Canadian Council of Churches and the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. since long before the summit.
The ecumenical organizations express concern at the perception that the summit is prepared to postpone key decisions. “Rather than taking action,” the statement observes, “advance reports indicate that the summit will make the removal of its nuclear arms from Europe and other confidence-building measures dependent on Russian reciprocity.”
Tveit warns NATO that the expectation of “such reciprocity is a recipe for deadlock.”
Read the WCC general secretary's statement on the Chicago NATO summit
WCC engagement for nuclear arms control
Ecumenical letter to NATO leaders, 11 March 2011
Discussion paper on the issue of tactical nuclear weapons of the Russian Federation
