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Published on Sunday, 20 September 2020
Cardinal Peter Turkson calls for freeze on arms production, trade

By: Mada Jurado/ novenanews.com :

A delegation of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development represented Prefect Cardinal Peter K. A. Turkson at a webinar titled, “Post-COVID Multilateral Cooperation: A Nuclear Weapons Free World?” hosted by the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS University of London in partnership with the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the United Kingdom on Tuesday September 8.

Cardinal Turkson’s speech, which was read by Alessio Pecorario, an official of the Dicastery, since His Eminence could not be physically present--stressed four types of calls that the Dicastery is willing to support in its work.

“At first, I would like to support the call against nuclear tests”, said Cardinal Turkson.

“As Pope Francis underlines, ‘nuclear weapons are a global problem, affecting all nations, and impacting future generations and the planet that is our home’. And Kazakh history shows that proliferation is not a one-way street. As known, after hosting more than 1.400 Soviet strategic nuclear warheads on its territory, Kazakhstan has become a leading country in the field of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, whose greatest result is maybe the creation of the Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in Central Asia”.

Then, Cardinal Turkson issued a strong call against the so-called doctrine of deterrence.

“How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?”, continued Cardinal Turkson, echoing words of the Holy Father.

That is why “on its part, our Dicastery intends to continue its dialogue on disarmament, setting it within the broader context of integral peacebuilding”, the Integral Human Development Prefect said.

Thirdly, Turkson highlighted that “to achieve integral disarmament, it is… necessary to broke the whole logic of deterrence, be it nuclear or conventional”.

“For this reason, I welcome the UN Security Council’s recent endorsement of a global cease-fire”, the cardinal continued.
“But one thing is to call or endorse a cease-fire statement, another thing is to implement it. In order to do so, we need to freeze weapons production and dealing. Thus, the Dicastery would like to reaffirm its strong support in favor of the #FREEZE campaign”.

The most important call, concluded Turkson, is the call for peace.

In fact, “global issues require global solutions, as the coronavirus pandemic demonstrates. Pope Francis is calling for a globalisation of solidarity based especially on multilateral cooperation”.

But is must be clear that “the concept of globalisation of solidarity not only refers to State level, but includes all individuals and responds to the desire of human beings to feel rooted with their communities in the whole of humanity, to build bridges, keep dialogue open and continue to meet with one another”.