VATICAN CITY, APR 10, 2002 (VIS) - Monsignor Francis Chullikatt, deputy head of the Holy See delegation to the Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, meeting in New York from April 8 to 19, spoke at the opening session on April 8.
He noted that "the 2000 Review ... obtained a clear-cut commitment from the nuclear weapon states that systematic and progressive efforts to implement Article VI would include 'An unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament to which all states parties are committed under Article VI'."
Msgr. Chullikatt pointed to the lack of progress, indeed the "regression" regarding the 13 practical steps suggested for implementing this commitment, and said: "In fact, the prospects for future implementation are alarming." He then affirmed that "Even more serious than the lack of progress is the overt determination of some nuclear weapon states to maintain nuclear weapons in a critical role in their military doctrines."
"The Holy See has constantly recalled the fact that the strategy of deterrence can be envisaged only as a stage in the process aimed at disarmament, even of a progressive nature. So long as it is taken as an end in itself, deterrence encourages the protagonists to ensure a constant superiority over one another, in a ceaseless race of over-arming."
In concluding remarks, Msgr. Chullikatt said that "the rule of law cannot countenance the continuation of doctrines that hold nuclear weapons as essential. There can be no moral acceptance of military doctrines that embody the permanence of nuclear weapons. That is why Pope John Paul II has called for the banishment of all nuclear weapons through 'a workable system for negotiation, even of arbitration'."
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