Noël Stott, Senior Research Fellow, Arms Management Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria) office 

On 9 December 2008, a new campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons was launched in Paris, Moscow and Washington by more than 100 political, military, business, faith and civic leaders from around the world and spanning a range of political perspectives.

Called Global Zero, the campaign will combine high-level policy work with global public awareness activities, including grassroots organizing. Global Zero's international team of policy experts has developed a draft step-by-step plan addressing the critical issues necessary to reach the end state of zero nuclear weapons.

Daryl Kimball, director of Arms Control Association, has stated that Global Zero's approach was different from other campaigns in that its thrust is to encourage leaders to meet to discuss and eventually negotiate a timetable for disarmament. The Global Zero website(http://www.globalzero.org) also gives the public the opportunity to get involved, beginning with signing the same declaration the Global Zero leaders have signed.

The International Herald Tribune quotes Richard Burt, chief strategic weapons negotiator for President George H.W. Bush, as saying that “even Iran is considered a potential supporter”. Listed supporters include former US President Jimmy Carter; former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger; former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; Shaharyar Khan, a former Pakistani foreign minister; retired Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi of India; and Malcolm Rifkind, a former British foreign secretary.

At its public launch, Global Zero released the results of its recently commissioned poll of 21 countries that shows overwhelming worldwide support for an international agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons. In addition, 76% of respondents across all countries polled favour such an agreement.

Global Zero leaders emphasized that eliminating nuclear weapons will not happen overnight but instead must be done through phased and verified reductions over a period of years. Key steps include:

• Reductions to Russian and US arsenals, which comprise 96% of the world’s 27,000 nuclear weapons.
• Russia and the US, joined by other nuclear weapon states, cut arsenals to zero in phased reductions.
• Establishing verification systems and international management of the fuel cycle to prevent future development of nuclear weapons.

Following the launch of the campaign, a World Summit will be held in January 2010 with some 500 leaders expected to attend. Each of these leaders has signed the Global Zero declaration calling for a binding, verifiable agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons.

In the recent past, the threat of proliferation and nuclear terrorism has led to a growing chorus of government leaders from across political lines calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. According to the Global Zero group, this new and unprecedented political support for getting to zero nuclear weapons from key governments around the world has made this goal – while still difficult –possible.

Earlier, in November 2008, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world's nuclear powers to begin negotiations on eliminating nuclear weapons.

As the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (the Treaty of Pelindaba) nears entry into force – with only two more states needing to ratify the decade old agreement - African leaders have a unique opportunity to show their seriousness about the need to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction by endorsing the campaign and being part of Global Zero.