Template press release: 1- 7 July Report a Crime

Adapt the template below to use for your local action.

Visit the websites of local radio stations and newspapers, or contact friends or contacts who have worked with the press in the past and ask them for contacts and email addresses.

If you can, once you have sent the press release by email, follow it up with a phone call (phone numbers of local press are also usually available online). Have a copy of the press release ready to resend as an email, so they can see if straight after talking with you.

NEWS RELEASE

[DATE]

Crimestoppers will report nuclear plans to commit crimes against humanity at [place] Police Station on [date and time]

Concerned citizens will converge on [place] Police Station on [date] to report on crimes being committed at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) nuclear bomb factories in Aldermaston and Burghfield, Berkshire. In conjunction with Action AWE (Atomic Weapons Eradication), they will call on the police to arrest government and AWE officials responsible for nuclear warhead production and deployment, which facilitate preparations to use nuclear weapons, contrary to International Humanitarian Law.

“Nuclear weapons are subject to the same legal restraints as any form of weapon,” said George Farebrother, chair of the World Court Project (UK). “In view of their massive, indiscriminate effects, any use of nuclear weapons would be a war crime and crime against humanity. By continuing to make and modernise nuclear weapons, the UK is violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Making and deploying Trident is materially preparing to use nuclear weapons, contrary to International Humanitarian Law. People need to report these crimes and insist that our elected government complies fully with international law.”

Why do you think nuclear weapons are illegal? Tell us here. If you have a person who is well-known locally taking part in the action, perhaps quote them.

Here’s a quote we used in the Reading action – you could adapt it or use it for inspiration:

Angie Zelter from Knighton, Wales, one of Action AWE’s coordinators, said “Firing British nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences that would cause suffering well beyond any so-called ‘target’ area and affecting unborn generations. Using nuclear weapons would be a war crime, a crime against humanity and a crime against peace – the most serious crimes known to humanity. We, the public, cannot allow our government, officials or armed forces to continue to make and deploy weapons intended for mass murder. They must not be treated as above the law or allowed to continue hiding behind an outdated ‘Queen’s Prerogative’.”

For radio or tv interviews, photos and further updates contact:

[give a name and a phone number of somebody taking part who is willing to take a call from a journalist. You don’t need much experience – just be confident and think in advance what points you’d like to make.]

Notes to editors:

1. Action AWE(Atomic Weapons Eradication) was launched in February 2013 as a grassroots peace campaign of autonomous groups taking nonviolent action to halt nuclear warhead production at AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield and to urge the government and AWE to fully implement Britain’s disarmament obligations and join multilateral effortsto ban nuclear weapons worldwide.
2. Did you mention anything else in your press release that needs further explanations? Like the Non-Proliferation Treaty, or Trident replacement? Explain in these notes what it is. e.g. The 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has 190 states parties, including the UK. Consensus decisions taken by NPT Review Conferences are incorporated into international legal obligations binding on all states parties. Article VI of the NPT enshrines the obligation “to pursue negotiations in good faith… on nuclear disarmament”. The consensus final document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference stated: “its deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and reaffirms the need for all States at all times to comply with applicable international law, including international humanitarian law.” [Source: 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Final Document, NPT/CONF.2010/50 Volume I]