By Henry Stoever
The 50th ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on Oct. 24 gives witness that nuclear arms are weapons of mass destruction and global genocide. When this treaty enters into force Jan. 22, 2021, it will delegitimize the nuclear weapon arsenals of the US, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Pakistan, India, Israel, North Korea, and their allies. It will make them out-law nations.
The UN issued its Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which defined genocide. The UN and its members have now updated the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With this 50th ratification (by Honduras), we have a right to be free of the threat of nuclear holocaust.
During the past 10 years, we in the Kansas City area engaged in simple nonviolent trespass actions leading to about 150 arrests. We stepped onto the property of the local National Security Campus, which makes or procures 85 percent of the non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons. We stated in court that our actions are acts of love and concern, and that nuclear weapons exist “not in our name.” This treaty vindicates our nonviolent actions.
—Henry Stoever is Co-Chair, PeaceWorks-KC Board of Directors.
