[CPEO-MEF] Action against uranium weapons

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[Submitted by Tara Thornton <tara@miltoxproj.org>]


For Immediate Release 
Contact: Tara Thornton <tara@miltoxproj.org>

Groups from around the Globe participate in an International Day of
Action calling for a Ban on Uranium Weapons


November 6, 2004-- Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) from around
the globe will participate in an international day of action coordinated
by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons.  This day was
chosen to coincide with the United Nations International Day for
Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed
Conflict. Activities are planned in Belgium, England, Italy, Japan, the
Netherlands and the United States. Planned events include petition
drives, lobbying visits, symposiums, photo exhibits, marches and more.

Many of the NGO's involved are using the Day of Action as an opportunity
to educate people of the dangers of depleted uranium (DU) weaponry and
gather support through signatures for an international treaty and
Convention banning depleted uranium weapons.  

DU is a by-product of the enrichment of uranium for use in nuclear
weapons and reactors. Over the past twenty-five years the United States,
United Kingdom, France and Russia developed these weapons. 
Unfortunately, depleted uranium weapons have now proliferated to over
twenty other countries and are being sold on the world arms market by
U.S. manufacturers and others. 

It wasn't until the last decade that DU has been used in large
quantities in war.  In 1991, over 350 tons of DU was left in the soil,
air, and water of Iraq and Kuwait. DU was also used in Bosnia
(1994-1995), Kosovo (1999), and may have been used in Afghanistan
(2001-2003). In the current conflict in Iraq, DU weapons have again been
deployed and very early estimates on total DU fired is well over 100
tons.  However, this time around, the US and UK are firing DU munitions
in populated urban areas in Iraq as opposed to the unpopulated desert
fighting of the first gulf war, thus unnecessarily exposing children and
the civilian population of Iraq.  Henk van der Keur of the Laka
Foundation in the Netherlands maintains, "The numbers of innocent
victims exposed is incalculable and in direct violation of the
International Laws of War".  

Depleted Uranium is both radioactive and chemically toxic. Evidence of
environmental and human health damage caused by ?depleted? uranium has
steadily increased, despite government assertions that such impacts
would not occur. DU Weapons cause widespread, long lasting and severe
contamination to the sites of their production, testing and use.  The
United Nations Human Rights Commission Sub-Commission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities considers DU munitions to be
?weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminant effect? and
incompatible with international humanitarian law.

"It is imperative that the U.S. and the international community
explicitly address DU as UNCONVENTIONAL weaponry, and take steps to halt
its proliferation and stop its production and use," said Tara Thornton
of the Military Toxics Project, a US based NGO.  

Actions and the petition campaign will continue until the realization of
an international treaty banning uranium weapons.  ICBUW will use the
petitions in an appeal to the EU Parliament and other international
bodies such as the United Nations and will use them at forums such as
the NPT meeting in NY and the UN Disarmament Committee meeting in Geneva
next spring. 

(Visit www.bandepleteduranium.org for a downloadable petition form.)

A Summary of the Draft Convention on the prohibition of the development,
production, stockpiling, transfer and use of uranium weapons and on
their destruction  by M. Mohr and A. Samsel of the International
Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Germany can be also found
on the ICBUW website.  

The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW) was founded
in 2003 at a conference in Belgium by members of 11 organizations from 5
countries. Today there are 70 organizations from 17 countries that are
members and friends of ICBUW.

The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW) mission
statement calls for an immediate ban on the military use of uranium and
all other radioactive materials. ICBUW calls for the clean up of all
sites contaminated by DU, compensation for affected populations and the
cessation of production, testing, transport, sale, stockpiling and
export of DU weapons. ICBUW also demands the medical assessment,
treatment and long-term monitoring of all who have been exposed to DU
weapons. ICBUW?s full mission statement can be found on their website at www.bandepleteduranium.org.

For a complete list of NGO's, contact information and actions, please
visit the ICBUW Website.

-30-

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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