Monday, 12th April 2010
World must look East for nuclear example
Dear Sir,
This week (April 12 and 13), world leaders are in Washington for a summit on nuclear security, hosted by President Barack Obama.
I’m sure we all hope that their discussions will advance the goals of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
The assembled leaders would do well to emulate the example of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan.
Last week, I had the great privilege to join the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to the former top-secret nuclear test site in east Kazakhstan, known in Soviet times as ‘the Polygon’.
There, over the course of 40 years, the 1.5 million population was subjected to more than 600 nuclear detonations above and below ground, equivalent in force to 20,000 Hiroshima bombs. The region is still living with the terrible after-effects, including shocking rates of cancers, birth defects and radioactive contamination of watercourses and farmland.
After widespread protests by the Kazakh people, Mikhail Gorbachev finally ordered a moratorium on tests in 1990. Following the collapse of the USSR, President Nazarbayev of the newly independent Kazakhstan ordered the closure of the atomic test site on 29th August 1991 and for all nuclear weapons to be removed from his country's territory.
On our visit to the Polygon, the UN Secretary General praised President Nazarbayev’s firm commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. He now intends to urge the United Nations to adopt 29th August as global ‘Nuclear Non-Proliferation Day’.
STRUAN STEVENSON, MEP FOR SCOTLAND
