Sir Geoffrey Palmer: Powerful statement needed on nuclear disarmament

The risks posed to the world by nuclear weapons have increased since the 1980s. Photo / Supplied

Surrounded by mountains of thick green bush and magnificent seascapes Hiroshima today does not look like a place visited by a nuclear disaster. It is a modern, attractive city of more than 1.2 million people.

During an official visit to Japan in 1987 Margaret and I received a conducted tour of the Peace Park. At that time New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy attracted admiration in Japan where the media did not think their Government's anti-nuclear policy was as pure as New Zealand's.

I returned this year on the anniversary of the attack for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Leadership Network. This group was established in 2011 by the former Foreign Minister of Australia, Gareth Evans. Thirty-one of us signed on to the Hiroshima Declaration.

The risks posed to the world by nuclear weapons have increased since New Zealand was advancing its anti-nuclear policy in the 1980s.

North Korea's nuclear weaponry causes tensions in South Korea, Japan and between Japan and China. How to ensure that the Korean peninsula is free of nuclear influences remains a pressing issue.

Since our last meeting in Jakarta a year ago, nuclear disarmament has gone backwards. The 9th Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York earlier in the year failed. The world still has 16,000 nuclear weapons and they are strongly concentrated in the Asian Pacific powers, with the United States and Russia having over 90 per cent of the world's stockpile. Further, China, India and Pakistan all have significant and growing arsenals. Some nuclear powers are spending big money updating their nuclear weaponry.

In the spirit of the place where we were meeting, we agreed to support and develop the humanitarian initiative on the nuclear issue that has been growing. It was backed by 155 United Nations members in the General Assembly in October 2014.

The December 2014 Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons swelled further support for that approach. Recollecting the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice our group declared that it is in the interests of the very survival of humanity that nuclear weapons are never again used under any circumstances. We also agreed that a new treaty should be drafted, simple, stark and clear.

Our strategy was to break out from the unfortunate paralysis that dogs efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and outlaw their use. Our recommendation was designed to be an advocacy vehicle for governments and civil society organisations in order to reinforce the understanding of catastrophic humanitarian impact of any weapons use.

At the Hiroshima meeting it was hoped that the humanitarian pledge could lead to the negotiation and adoption of a comprehensive and universal nuclear weapons convention, backed by effective verification and enforcement mechanisms absolutely prohibiting not only the use of nuclear weapons but their possession, manufacture or acquisition by any other means by state, or non state actors. There needs to be a commitment to the principle of no first use by all the nations who have nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation talks in New York broke down in April. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has not entered into force.

The complexity of the international agreements that surround the topic means the situation is difficult for anyone to understand. Security experts are talking to each other over a complex web of treaties and doctrines that do not work in a language that people and the media can follow.

But what lay people can follow is the horrendous impact on civilisation if any of these weapons are ever used again. A clear powerful statement that they are unlawful in all circumstances is a good place to start. People everywhere can understand that.

No doubt the nuclear weapons states would not want to sign up to such a convention but given the support for the humanitarian initiative at Vienna, it may be possible to bring heavy pressure on them to finally admit they have weapons they can never use.

I understand 113 countries have signed the Humanitarian Pledge, previously the Austrian pledge, that came out of the Vienna Conference last year. New Zealand is not one of them. Let us hope New Zealand signs up.

• Sir Geoffrey Palmer returned to Hiroshima for the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb.