Nuclear-Free Trieste?

Alessandro Capuzzo, Italy

From END Info 33 DOWNLOAD

The following text is the second transcript from the peace conference organised by ABFANG, Vienna, June 2022.

Moderation: We discussed about the importance of intertwining the peace and environmental struggles in order to safeguard peace and our planet, since both topics strongly connected to each other. Now we will hear from peace activist Alessandro Capuzzo from the city of Trieste, about how the TPNW can help shape the future of the territory of the Gulf of Trieste – nuclear free.

Alessandro: Hello everyone! I would like to talk to you today about how the TPNW is opening the way for a nuclear weapons free future for my city and the wider territory of Trieste. As citizens of the Gulf of Trieste, we understand that the 1947 Treaty of Peace with Italy defined our territory as demilitarized and neutral. Currently, Italy and Slovenia share the Gulf of Trieste with Croatia; are part of the North Atlantic Alliance and they have expressed themselves against the 1947 Peace Treaty, since they are involved in the Alliance's military nuclear programs.

The Gulf of Trieste hosts, contrary to the 1947 Peace Treaty, two military nuclear transit ports, Trieste in Italy and Koper/Capodistria in Slovenia. The very presence of these two urban centers makes it impossible to seriously prevent accidents, with respect to the nuclear propulsion of ships, the presence on board of weapons of mass destruction, and the possibility of becoming a nuclear target. Moreover, the secrecy imposed "for security reasons" prevents the wide assessment of the risk in relation to the existing dangers; it forces the institutions to omit important bits of information and consequently hides the dangers of the situation to the population and nature.

We, therefore, are here to propose to the TPNW Conference, the launch of case studies on risk, and the lack of transparency in the matter, to be entrusted to the Nuclear Prevention School of the Atomic Agency (IAEA), at the International Center for Theoretical Physics of Miramare in Trieste. Not only for Trieste but for all twelve Italian military nuclear ports (besides Trieste, Venice, Brindisi, Taranto, Augusta, Castellammare di Stabia, Naples, Gaeta, Livorno, La Spezia, La Maddalena and Cagliari) and for the terrestrial nuclear air bases of Aviano and Ghedi.

And we don’t stop there: We call for a resumption of the talks for the denuclearization of the Mediterranean Sea, inspired by the Treaty for the banning of nuclear weapons; which involves our Gulf, as legally bound by the Peace Treaty with Italy after World War II, to Demilitarization and Neutrality.

In 2017 together with the former mayor of Koper/Capodistria (Slovenia) Aurelio Juri, WILPF Italia and Disarmisti Esigenti, we submitted a relevant Working Paper to Conference for the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty (TPNW), which concluded with the proposal of case studies I mentioned before; today, five years after its approval, the TPNW has entered into force, and we are in Vienna reviewing its contents and implementation. We therefore invite you to revisit our 2017 Working Paper and its proposals. These are now feasible and can be advanced, due to two Treaties mentioned: the Nuclear Ban or TPNW, and the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy.

Moderation: Coming back to you Alessandro for the second round. What would be the next steps to achieve a nuclear free Gulf of Trieste?

Alessandro: The Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty, which most UN member countries have set up under pressure from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) of which we feel part, can change the balance of power between nuclear states and those that are not, thanks to the introduction of substantial transparency for the benefit of civil society and the whole of Humanity.

While the implications of the TPNW are known, few are aware of the provisions from the Peace Treaty 1947, implemented by the United Nations Security Council with Resolution S/RES/16, which claimed jurisdiction over the Free Territory of Trieste, and existed as an independent state from 1947 to 1954, on the southern end of the Iron Curtain.

Elements are retained, as confirmed by former Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a 2015 letter to Palestinian President Abbas, listing the Territories under direct UN competence.

The Statute of the former Free Territory of Trieste contained in the Peace Treaty with Italy is a juridical unicum, comparable to the constitutional choice of Army abolition made by Costa Rica; which involves the coastal strip of the Adriatic Gulf where Italy, Slovenia and Croatia join. Disarmament and Neutrality are enshrined in there.

These norms of International Law, “forgotten” for political needs by the most involved States, if associated with the TPNW, allow the achievement of an effective denuclearization in the Gulf of Trieste. We therefore call on the NGOs and the States parties to the TPNW to test together the feasibility of this proposed implementation of the Nuclear Ban.

A particular invitation is addressed to the States registered in the Peace Treaty with Italy, for the right they have to use the International Free Port of Trieste: Austria, Czechia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, United States, Switzerland, Hungary, and all the countries emerged from Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. In addition to the mentioned, Australia, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Greece, India, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ukraine and South Africa, are also involved in the Peace Treaty with Italy.