Text fwd: HUMAN RIGHTS AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

* Text Fwd from J. Narayana Rao on Jan. 3, 2009

HUMAN RIGHTS AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
By J.Narayana Rao
General Secretary,
All India Peace & Solidarity Organisation, Maharashtra State Committee

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the U.N.General Assembly on 10 December 1948

• Conferred on the humanity to live in peace, dignity, freedom and free from want. The preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Where as disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarious acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people”.

• Article 3 of the Declaration affirms that “Every one has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. This can only be possible when peace prevails in place of wars, the sound of guns disappears. In wars more innocent people are killed than men in uniform. The preamble of the United Nations Charter states that “ to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our life time has brought untold sorrow to mankind”.

• The UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights rely on Peace as the corner stone for human progress. The Weapons of Mass Declaration threaten the very existence of human beings. The U.N General Assembly in it’s resolution adopted on 12 November 1984 reiterated that “preservation of the right of people to peace and promotion of the right of people to peace and promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each State” and appeals to avert a world wide nuclear catastrophe.

• The Weapons of Mass Destruction stand against every thing the Human rights profess. Weapons Of Mass Destruction hae been used on human beings for the first time when United States of America dropped two Atom Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 Aug and 9 August 1945. This has resulted in the death of lakhs of people mostly civilians depriving their life and liberty. Both the cities were ragged to the ground. In Hiroshima 1,50,000 people died and in Nagasaki 74,000 people died and even now the Hibakhusas are still dying.

• In Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped at 8.15 AM on 06.08.1945, the fire raging in an area of 11.5 Km generated a wind with a velocity up to 55 Km an hour. Crops and trees were set ablaze. 84% of unprotected people with in a distance of 2 Km perished immediately. 90% of people with in a distance of 4 Km suffered from burns. Buildings were damaged in an area of 132 Sq Km. On the twelth day 34.9% of survivors were suffering from radiation sickness. 20.6 from burns and 35.5% from wounds. 60% of the injured required hospitalization. But more than 50% of the Doctors died and less than half of the surviving Doctors were in a condition to work. Many children whose parents were in Hiroshima during the Atom Bomb raid were born with genetic defects.The same was the pathetic condition with Nagasaki.

• The present Nuclear weapons are much more powerful and deadlier that those which dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destructive power of those Bombs were measured by Kilo Tons. The present Nuclear Weapons are measured by Megatons. One Megaton Bomb is equivalent to 80 Boms of Hiroshima type. A five megaton nuclear weapon has more powerful than all the Bombs used during the Second World War. A 20 Megaton Bomb is more powerful than all the explosives used in all the wars in History. According to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission headed by Hans Blix, there are 27,000 Nuclear Weapons in the world at present.

• The present Nuclear weapons can destroy the entire ecosystem of the Planet. They have the potential of destroying life on the planet several times. When they are exploded, produce heat, blast and radiation. According to a study by the International Physicans for Prevention of Nuclear War(IPPNW) if one megaton Hdrogen Bomb is detonated on the ground,the explosion will create a crater of 92 meters deep and 367 meters in diameter.With in one second the atmosphere ignites into a fireball of more than 1 Km in dameter. The surface of the fireball radiate three tmes of the light and heat can be compared with an area on the surface of the Sun. The fire ball rises to a height of six miles or more. All the life below will be destroyed in seconds. The flash and heat from the explosion spreads outward at the speed of light, causing instantaneous and severe burns.

• Debris carried by winds with a speed of 290 mph will inflict deadly injuries. At least 50% of people will die immediately. The direct heat radiating from the eplosives causes immediate third degree burns to exposed skins. The expanding blast wave destroys small buildings and fuel tanks will explode. Instant heat and winds combine fires at different places into a single raging great destructive fire. The fire storm consumes all nearby oxygen and even sucking it out from under ground places suffocating the occupants. Shelters will become ovens and on the following minutes and hours deaths are likely to be about 100%.

• Justice C.G.Weeramantry of the Sri Lanka who was one of the Judges of the International Court of Justice which dealt on the “legality of the threat and use of Nuclear Weapons in his dissenting opinion,s tates that “it has been orgued that the right to life is not an absolute right and that the taking of life in armed hostilities is a necessary exception to this principle. However, when a weapon has the potential to kill between one million and one billion people, as WHO told the Court, human life becomes reduced to a level of worthlessness that totally belies human dignity as understood in any culture.Such a deliberate action by any state is, in any circumstances whatsoever, incompatible with a recognition by it of that respect for basic human dignity on which world peace depends, and respect for which is assumed on the part of Member States of the United Nations.

• This is not merely a provision of the Universal Declaration of human Rights and other human right instruments but is fundamental Charter Laws enshrined in the very preamble to the United Nations Charater, for one of the ends to which the United Nations is dedicated is “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person. No weapon ever invented in the long history of man’s inhumanity to man has so negative the dignity and worth of the human person as has the nuclear bomb”.

• Article 2(3) of the UN Charter guides that “All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered”. Article 6(1) of the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights affirms that “Every human being has the right to life, This right shall be protected by Law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life”. Therefore the Nuclear Weapons which cause death of overwhelming number of people would violate the most basic human rights the right to life.

• The existence of Nuclear Weapons is a constant threat to the fundamental human right of life and liberty.The right of the people for a peaceful living is always strained. These weapons threaten devasting and indiscriminate long term damage to large segement of the civilian population and environment. The resolution adopted in an International conference held in Teharan in May 1968 proclaims that “massive denials of human rights, arising out of aggression or any armed conflict with their tragic consequences and resulting in untold human misery, engender reactions which could engulf the world in ever growing hostilities. It is the obligation of the international community to co-operate in erading such scourges”.

• Peace is the aspiration of the people of the world either living in the developed countries or developing countries or in underdeveloped countries. Weapons of Mass Destruction always create a sense of fear psychosis

• The International Court observed that the use of Nuclear weapons could constitute a catastrophe for the environment and observed that the environment represents the living space, the quality of life and the very health of human beings, including generations of unborn. The use of nuclear weapons would necessarily entail a massive violation of the most basic human rights,the right to life.

• These Weapons absorb huge amount of money which otherwise could be used for human development and upkeep of the basic human rights. Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights States that “Every one has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical caré and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”At present huge amount is being spent on Nuclear weapons.


Country No of War Heads Nuc Bud 2008 Daily Spending
China 150-300 10 Billion.USD 12,400,000 USD
DPRK 4-12 OneBillion USD -
France 300-350 6.5 Billion USD 12,300,000 USD
India 50-90 3.35Billion USD 8,400,000 USD
Israel 200-400 1.5 Billion USD 4,200,000 USD
Pakistan 40-70 1.1 Billion USD 3,000,000 USD
Russia 5200-5600 6.7 Billion USD 18,000,000 USD
U.K 185-200 6.7 Billion USD 10,000,000 USD
U.S.A 4075-5500 52.55 Billion USD 145,000,000 USD


Money need to attend to attend some of the global problems

• To provide clean, safey energy. 50 Billion USD
• Retire developing Nations Debt 30 Billion USD
• Prevent Soil Erosion. 30 Billion USD
• Provide Health Care & Aids Control 21 Billion USD
• Provide Shelter for the Homeless 21Billion USD
• Eliminate Starvation & Malnutrition 19 Billion USD
• Stabilize Population 10.5 Billion USD
• Provide Safe Clean Water. 10 Billion USD
• Prevent Acid Rain 8 Billion USD
• Prevent Global Warming 8 Billion USD
• Stop Deforestation 7 Billion USD
• Refuge Relief 5 Billion USD
• Stop Ozone Depletion 5 Billion USD
• Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 7 Billion USD

Spending huge amounts of money on Weapons of Mass Destruction is to negate implementation of the Article 25(1) of the universal Declaration of Human Rights. Complete abolition of the existing stock piles of Nuclear Weapons and ban possessing of these by any country in future has to be achieved for the peace, security and well being of the mankind.
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