1 – 7 July Week of Action: Report the Crimes of Trident Briefing

View and download this briefing as a pdf here

Between 1 – 7 July, concerned citizens across the country will demand that law enforcers make sure that the various crimes - including crimes against humanity and war crimes-being planned and prepared for at Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield in Berkshire are properly investigated by the police.

February 8th: Reporting Trident Crimes at Reading Police Station

On 8^th February this year, over 50 people reported the crimes of AWE at Reading Police Station: now we’re going nationwide!

This is not a stunt. It is a genuine and wholehearted attempt to get these crimes investigated - and stopped.

Share our call to action

Why take part?

We want to use the police as they are intended.

The police are a public service paid for out of our taxes and under democratic control. So we will be demanding that they carry out their duties impartially, in the public interest, by investigating the crimes we will report to them.

Such investigations should, if we have a just and democratic system, lead eventually to the courts ordering the government and armed forces to take all of the UK nuclear weapons off alert, and start the long promised process of honest nuclear disarmament. This would fulfil the UK’s international obligations under Article VI of the 1968 NonProliferation Treaty (NPT).

As we write, the government are pumping millions of pounds into upgrading Aldermaston and Burghfield in preparation for the renewal of Trident, an act which is not only in direct contravention of their obligations under the NPT, but is illegal preparation for mass murder. The replacement of the UK nuclear weapons system is an attempt to force the UK into many more decades of nuclear dependency. It is the police force’s job to enforce the law and international humanitarian law is not only a part of UK law, but trumps all purely national laws (the Nuremberg Trials verified that international humanitarian law is superior to state law.)

In the UK, the government has tried, fairly successfully, to keep the issue of the illegality of nuclear weapons and the Trident system, out of the courts, saying that matters of defence cannot be brought before the courts or ruled upon as it is the prerogative of the Queen. This must be challenged.

We, the public, cannot allow our government and armed forces, under an outdated ‘Crown Prerogative’, to continue to plan for mass murder. Threatening to use the nuclear weapons that the UK deploys is a war crime, a crime against humanity and a crime against peace – some of the most serious crimes known to humanity.

Join us

Ordinary members of the public go to the police station when they are robbed, or injured, or if they think that someone else is preparing for a crime. Join campaigners all around Britain to report the crimes being committed at AWE Burghfield and AWE Aldermaston. These Atomic Weapons Establishments are assuredly preparing for unimaginably horrific crimes.

See below for details of the national and international laws that we believe are being broken by the nuclear armed forces. And visit www.actionawe.org for more details.

Some people will report the crime of preparing war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. Others will report crimes of environmental contamination and pollution (radioactive leaks into ground water), unacceptable dangers of nuclear convoys on public roads, crimes of misuse of tax payers money and any others that concerned citizens wish to raise with the police.

In advance

Do you want to arrange a group to visit the Police Station together? Talk to friends, a local peace group, green or campaigning group. Then consider publicising your action in advance using our template press release.

Also think about calling the Police Station in advance to ask how crimes are reported there. Sometimes you report to an Officer, sometimes you make a phone call, and it is better to be aware of this in advance, especially to be confident to invite others along with you.

One the day: Make yourself visible!

If you are coming as a group, try and take along something visible – like a banner or placard – so that people passing can also read your message and talk to you about the issues.

“Keep calm and report a crime”

“Exposing the UK’s WMDs”

“Exposing the UK’s nuclear weapons”

“Mass murder is criminal”

“Obey the law! Murder is a crime!”

“Citizens! Report Government Crime!”

“Stop War Crime Preparations”

“Trident is a War Crime”

“No Trident Replacement”

“Nuclear Disarmament Now”

“Burghfield and Aldermaston: Organised Crime!”

“Burghfield and Aldermaston: Centres of Crime”

“Lockheed Martin: Profiting from crime/war/death”

“Who are the real criminals? Lock head Martin, SERCO, Rolls Royce…?”

You may also wish to have some leaflets on to to hand out to those interested, if you are forming a queue and waiting outside. These could include:

• Introduction to Action AWE flyer

• You could use this Action AWE leaflet, which includes a tear-off message to send to your MP

• For those who are more interested, give them a copy of the 4-page introduction to Action AWE

At the Police Station

If you are a group, enter police station one or two at a time. If you have bought any placards and banners, leave them outside. Make sure other members of the public have easy access to the police station and will not block anyone’s access.

Ask that the crimes are properly investigated and ask for the crime number and to be informed as soon as possible of the result of the investigation.

You can insist that the crimes be investigated impartially and thoroughly because they are of such seriousness.

Reporting the Crime

When you report a theft or injury and ask our police service to investigate and help to get the perpetrators of the crime dealt with by the courts, you are not expected to know the detailed legal arguments. Those are for the prosecution services to deal with. However, there are a number of reasons why in this case it may be worthwhile to acquaint ourselves with the relevant legal information. Our police force are not often asked to deal with crimes of such magnitude, or crimes that have been allowed to continue for so many decades despite public opposition. Also, UK Governments, both past and present, have argued that ‘defence matters’ are not for the courts to deal with and that UK nuclear weapons systems are lawful. It is a good idea, therefore, to acquaint ourselves with some of the relevant laws that we will be asserting are being broken by our Government and Armed Forces, why they must be held under the law, and why we are reporting their activities to the police.

To help, you will find a brief summary below along with relevant references if you wish to research these matters further. Please remember you have a right to take your concerns to the police and do not need to know the law in detail. You merely need to know, on a common sense level, that threatening to kill hundreds and thousands of civilians is a crime. If you are happy with a ‘straightforward’ report of Trident threatening mass murder, you need read no further. If you would prefer more background then read on.

Summary of Trident Crimes

The threat or use of the nuclear warheads on the UK Trident weapon system that is currently deployed, is criminal under international law. The UK’s reliance on Trident in its military posture amounts to a criminal conspiracy to carry out war crimes and crimes against peace in contravention of international humanitarian law.

International Law and Nuclear Weapons in General

The July 8th 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) outlines the sources of international law as they relate to nuclear weapons, and makes it quite clear that nuclear weapons would generally breach all of the following laws and customs of war:

• The Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868 because unnecessary suffering would be caused;

• The Martens Clause, 1899 because humanity would not remain under the protection and authority of the principles of international law derived from established custom, from the principles of humanity and from the dictates of public conscience;

• The Hague Conventions, 1907 because unnecessary suffering would be caused and there would be no guarantee of the inviolability of neutral nations;

• The U.N. Charter, 1945 because such a use of force would not be proportionate;

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 because longlasting radioactive contamination would interfere with innocent people’s inherent right to life and health;

• The Geneva Conventions, 1949 (which has been brought directly into UK law through the 1957 Geneva Conventions Act) because protection of the wounded, sick, the infirm, expectant mothers, civilian hospitals and health workers would not be ensured;

• The Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 (which have also been directly brought into UK law through the 1995 Geneva Conventions (Amendments) Act) because there would be massive incidental losses of civilian lives and widespread, long-term and severe damage to the environment if a nuclear weapon were to be used.

You could choose any or all of the above contraventions of international law to report on.

Please see this page for a more in-depth explanation of the illegality of the UK government’s nuclear weapons.

After you’re reported the crime

Also follow up your crime reporting: the police will give you a crime number. If you don’t hear back from them, call them to ask what has happened (giving them your crime number).

Tell us how it went! Email [email protected].

Please go and report whatever crime you think is being committed by Trident

Let us join together and demand an end to Trident.

For more information email [email protected] or telephone 01547520929