International

Yesterday in New York, SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen participated in a mass demonstration against nuclear weapons. Many thousands of demonstrators marched from Times Square to the United Nations headquarters with the message that a world free of nuclear weapons is now more than ever necessary. Today sees the start in New York of the Review Conference for the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which SP defence spokeswoman Van Velzen will attend as part of the Netherlands delegation.

Krista van Velzen on the march against nuclear weapons

"The demonstrators were delighted by my message from the Netherlands," said Van Velzen. "Parliament supported my motion calling for removal of nuclear weapons from the country and from Europe. This message was met with loud applause."

At today's meeting Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen will address delegates. “I expect that he will bring with him Parliament's resolution and that he will receive from the other government leaders the kind of applause that I got from the demonstrators on the street. It's disgraceful that the Netherlands continues to be in breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Though we are registered with the NPT as a non-nuclear armed state, we allow the presence of American nuclear weapons. We can put an end to this state of affairs this week."

Krista van Velzen addresses the demonstrators: "Make Europe nuclear weapon-free"

Earlier in the week Van Velzen was at a gathering of countries declaring themselves part of a nuclear weapon-free zone. Africa, large parts of Asia (including Mongolia), the South Pacific, Antarctica, outer space and the seabed are officially declared nuclear weapons-free. During the meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said that the world must become one big nuclear weapon free zone and that these countries and regions were setting a good example. As Krista van Velzen says, "It's high time that Europe became a nuclear weapon-free zone. The Netherlands should be playing a pioneering role in this.”