STATEMENT OF THE PUGWASH COUNCIL

Science <—> Sustainability <—> Security

52nd Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs
10-14 August 2002
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California, USA

15 August 2002: The Pugwash Council, meeting during the 52nd Pugwash Conference in La Jolla, California, expresses its concern over accelerating threats to global sustainability and security that will require intensified multinational cooperation and the strengthening of international institutions to safeguard human security.

The most immediate of these is the prospect of military action against Iraq, whether carried out unilaterally by the United States or in coalition with other countries, without a UN mandate. A military conflict in Iraq would surely cause widespread human suffering and could lead to political destabilization across the entire region. The Pugwash Council calls on the United Nations and all countries to exhaust every possible option short of military force to compel Iraq’s compliance with UN Security Council resolutions to allow the return of weapons inspectors in order to certify the absence of efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. It also calls on the US and other governments not to take military action against Iraq without a UN mandate.

More broadly, the shock to the international system caused by the events of September 11, 2001 still reverberates around the world. While much of the coordinated international action to combat organized terrorist groups is both necessary and urgent, the Pugwash Council deplores the fact that the campaign against ‘terrorism’ has become an excuse for increased defense budgets and military deployments, the curtailment of civil liberties, and support for authoritarian regimes on the part of some governments and organizations.

In the nuclear field, woefully inadequate is the recently concluded agreement between Presidents Bush and Putin to lower American and Russian arsenals to 1,700 – 2,200 deployed weapons by the year 2012. Far too many nuclear weapons will remain stockpiled for possible use and too few resources are being devoted to totally eliminating excess plutonium and especially weapon-grade uranium, which represents the greater danger regarding possible terrorist manufacture of a crude nuclear device.

Moreover, US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty has voided important restraints preventing the weaponization of space, while the US Nuclear Posture Review (to the extent made public) signals alarming new trends in terms of the threat to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and the prospect of developing new, more potentially usable, small yield and fissionless-fusion weapons. The Pugwash Council is especially concerned that the latter could lead to a resumption of nuclear testing that would totally unravel the Comprehensive Test Ban and the Non-Proliferation treaties.

Accordingly, the Pugwash Council calls on all the nuclear weapon states to recognize the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons and to move expeditiously to eliminate such weapons in the near future. In addition, a massive, broad-based education campaign is needed to alert all peoples to the very real and continuing risk of a nuclear catastrophe.
Regionally, the failure to reach a final and just settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis breeds a horrendous cycle of violence between the two peoples and could well spark a wider Middle East conflict. In South Asia, the military confrontation between India and Pakistan carries with it the risk of a major conflict that could also involve the catastrophic use of nuclear weapons. The international community has a responsibility to assist in the conclusion of equitable settlements of both conflicts.

The need for greater and more equitable international cooperation, especially between industrial and developing countries, extends as well to sustainable development, individual responsibility, and the role of science and technology in promoting true human security for all individuals.

Recognizing the links between the lack of basic resources such as energy and water, and the potential for conflict, the Pugwash Council calls on the leaders meeting at the World Summit on Sustainable Development that begins August 26, 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to implement measures to foster cooperation in energy research, sustainable use of resources, and in achieving global greenhouse gas reductions. Greater risk assessment, transparency and capacity-building is also needed on the part of both industrial and developing countries regarding the use of new biotechnologies in agriculture, medicine and other fields.
In all areas of human endeavor, scientists must anticipate and evaluate the full range of possible consequences of scientific and technological developments, and promote debate and reflection on the ethical obligations of scientists in taking responsibility for their work.
In recalling the founding document of Pugwash, the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto, the Pugwash Council appeals to the scientific community and all peoples to “remember your humanity and forget the rest” in the continuing effort to renounce war and improve the human condition in every region of the globe.

The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs was founded in 1957 in the small fishing village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, and in 1995 received the Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with its co-founder and then President, Sir Joseph Rotblat, for its efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.For more information, contact: 15 August 2002

For more information, Contact:

Dr. Jeffrey Boutwell, Executive Director, Pugwash Conferences
540-972-3706; pugwashdc@aol.com