Press Release
May 10, 2017

GORDON RENEWS CALL FOR SENATE TO SUPPORT RED CROSS' BID TO MAKE THE WORLD NUCLEAR WEAPONS-FREE

With conflicts and tensions erupting in various parts of the globe that threaten to escalate into a full-blown nuclear war, Senator Richard J. Gordon will renew his call for the Senate to support the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's bid to make the whole world nuclear weapons-free.

Gordon is set to deliver a privilege speech today to drum up support for the world's largest humanitarian organization's call to achieve a world without nuclear weapons to protect humanity and as an obligation towards future generations.

"North Korea's state-controlled media has warned that America's 'military provocations' risked triggering nuclear conflict. In other parts of the globe, tensions erupt every day that the threat of a nuclear conflict erupting is like the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. We have witnessed the past devastation and heard of the ongoing physical and psychological suffering of thousands of atomic bomb survivors seventy-two years on. We don't want to see a repeat of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings," the senator noted.

"We all know that the destructive capacity of nuclear weapons in arsenals today is many times greater than the bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In order to prevent a nuclear war from erupting, we have to work hard to eliminate and prohibit nuclear weapons. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has made a bid to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and I am calling on my colleagues to support it. Let us help ensure that Nagasaki and Hiroshima are the last places in history to have suffered the effects of an atomic bomb," he added.

Gordon earlier filed Senate Resolution No. 349, expressing the full support of the Senate of the Philippines in the appeal of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for the global prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.

"WHEREAS, given the real and serious threat and the catastrophic global consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or not, and its general incompatibility with international humanitarian law, the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons is a humanitarian imperative," he said in the resolution.

As of early 2017, there are approximately 14,900 nuclear warheads existing worldwide, according to the Federation of American Scientists, an organization dedicated to reducing the number and spread of nuclear weapons.

During the Conference on the Prohibition and Elimination of Nuclear Weapons held in Nagasaki, Japan in April 2017 that Gordon attended, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement appealed to all the states to participate in the next phase of the negotiations to prohibit nuclear weapons.

"...By negotiating and adopting a treaty that recognizes the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and contains a clear and unambiguous prohibition, States have the opportunity to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place in history to have suffered the effects of an atomic bombing," the Red Cross Movement appeal read.

"The risk that nuclear weapons will again be used by intent, miscalculation or accident is higher than most people realize and ever increasing. The threat to humanity is beyond imagination," it added.

News Latest News Feed