Monday, 29th August 2011
U.N. must stop Iranian & North Korean nuclear plans, says leading MEP
Commenting ahead of his speaking appearance at a major international conference, ‘Nuclear Dilemmas: Present & Future’, a leading MEP has called on the international community to renew its focus on stopping the nuclear plans of Iran and North Korea.
Struan Stevenson, MEP for Scotland, who has campaigned for over a decade to raise awareness of the legacy of Soviet nuclear testing in Kazakhstan, will tell the conference that the record there shows that nuclear weapons technology falling into the hands of ruthless regimes can have a devastating effect on both international security and the health and well-being of local populations.
‘Nuclear Dilemmas: Present & Future’ is the fourth annual international convention on nuclear non-proliferation, and will be held on Tuesday 30 August at the Peace Palace, The Hague, in The Netherlands. It has been organised to mark the United Nations International Day against Nuclear Tests, held on 29 August each year.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Struan Stevenson said:
“I have seen the horrors inflicted by nuclear weapons at first hand, having worked extensively in East Kazakhstan in an area known as The Polygon, where, between 1949 until 1990, the Soviet Union tested many hundreds of nuclear bombs, using the local population as human guinea pigs.
“The Polygon is a lesson to mankind on the long-term destructive impact of nuclear weapons. Leaders of countries like Iran and North Korea, who believe that dabbling with nuclear weapons technology is a target worth achieving, should think again. They should visit the Polygon and see for themselves the suffering that radioactive fallout can cause.
“The world should be warned; nuclear proliferation must be stopped at all costs. We must never allow dangerously aggressive and unstable countries like Iran and North Korea to develop a nuclear weapons capability. They would put their own populations and the whole world at risk”.
ENDS
Notes:
1. Struan Stevenson is a Conservative MEP for Scotland. In 2010 he was appointed by the Kazakh Presidency of the OSCE as the Personal Representative of the Chairman in Office with responsibility for the Ecology and Environment of Central Asia.
2. Struan Stevenson visited Ground Zero – the site of the Soviet nuclear tests in Kazakhstan – in 2010, together with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. He has campaigned for more than a decade to raise awareness of the plight of the victims of the Cold War, raising over $120,000 for cancer hospitals and children’s clinics in Kazakhstan, through the international charity Mercy Corps.
3. On 2 December 2009, the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August the International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35. The Day is meant to galvanize the United Nations, Member States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, youth networks and the media to inform, educate and advocate about the necessity of banning nuclear tests as a valuable step towards achieving a safer world.
4. For more information on ‘Nuclear Dilemmas: Present & Future’ the please visit: http://www.haguejusticeportal.net/eCache/DEF/12/839.TGFuZz1FTg.html
5. For further information, please contact Peter Smyth on peter@indigopr.com, or phone either 0131 554 1146 or 07766 166 637.
