Organisations worldwide urge UN Security Council to go to zero on nuclear weapons

In a letter sent in the last week to the United Nations Security Council concerning its scheduled meeting of 24th September on nuclear disarmament, 148 organisations worldwide have urged it to come up with a plan to 'go to zero' on nuclear weapons, and to take decisive steps to that goal.
 
The letter has been signed by major global disarmament organisations including IPPNW, the Global Security Institute, the World Security Institute, former UN under-secretary - General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala, Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign, The Womens International League for Peace anf Freedom (WILPF), national - based disarmament organisations and parliamentarians from Australia, NZ, the UK, Canada, the US, Japan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, El Salvador, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.
 
These organisations and parliamentarians collectively represent tens of millions of people.
 
According to organisers of the letter:"This is truly the voice of people of the world, saying 'NO' to nuclear weapons. We have urged the UN Security Council, when it sits for its historic session on 24 September:
 
- To conduct its deliberations in the light of the knowledge that the use of as little as 0.5% of global nuclear arsenals will have catastrophic global climatic effects, while the use of US and Russian nuclear arsenals, which remain in a configuration in which they can be launched in minutes, will terminate not only civilisation but most living things;
 
- To make its topmost priority the development of a plan to achieve global zero nuclear weapons as a matter of the utmost urgency and to take decisive steps to achieve that goal.

The September 24 sitting of the UNSC, chaired by President Obama, represents a historic opportunity. The consequences of the actual use of nuclear weapons are such that we cannot afford to fail. The stakes - human survival - simply could not be higher."

The letter was coordinated by John Hallam of People for Nuclear Disarmament Sydney's Nuclear Flashpoints project, with help from major disarmament organisations worldwide.

Download the full letter here.