Making a strong pitch for total elimination of nuclear weapons, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has mooted a multi-prong strategy to achieve the goal, including steps to bring CTBT into force and assurance to non-nuclear states that they would not be subjected to an atomic attack.
He asked the nuclear weapon states to move towards complete elimination of atomic arms, stressing that the cost and risk of any alternative strategy would be heavy.
Noting that the financial crisis has triggered an increasing awareness of the need for international cooperation to tackle the global issues, he called for taking advantage of the atmosphere to revitalise the international disarmament agenda.
In his address to East-West Institute, he advocated a five-point proposal to achieve the aim but it was not well received by either of the major powers the United States and Russia who hold most of the warheads and have failed to respond to any major move to reduce their number.
India too has repeatedly proposed time-bound nuclear weapon disarmament. In fact, several disarmament groups have expressed their dismay at the major powers trying to improve upon the weapons they already possess to increase their effectiveness and power.
Ban urged the nuclear weapon states to keep their promise to launch negotiations to achieve total disarmament and the five permanent members of UN Security Council to open discussions on security issues related to disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, including atomic, chemical and biological, to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Ban also wanted the five permanent members the US, Russia, Britain, France and China to assure the non-nuclear weapons states that they would never be subjected to a nuclear attack.
Besides, he sought steps to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force and supported the idea of the UN General Assembly holding a summit on disarmament.
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak declined to give his reaction immediately, saying Moscow would like to study the proposals.
However, the US diplomats virtually rejected most of his proposals, repeating Washington’s position that it would not become a party to CTBT. But it has imposed a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing and would urge other States to do likewise, they said.
Under the NPT, the five permanent members had agreed to begin negotiations leading to total nuclear disarmament. But the Bush administration has maintained that it does not want to close its options.
Pointing to the dangers involved, Ban said many nations consider nuclear weapons to be status symbol and some view them as deterrent.
The doctrine of deterrence has proven to be contagious and this has made non-proliferation more difficult which in turn raises new risks that nuclear weapons will be used, he warned.
He also warned against “nuclear renaissance” that could occur as nuclear power is seen as clean alternative to combat climate change.
There is support worldwide for the idea that nuclear arms should never be utilised again due to their “horrific effects, environmental impacts and repercussions on security,” but since disarmament has yet to be achieved, “this forces us to ask whether a taboo merely on the use of such weapons is sufficient,” the Secretary-General stressed.
(Agencies)
More: continued here
November 12th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Thanks so much for writing about the EastWest Institute’s conference to eliminate nuclear weapons. We hope the event will breathe new life into the nonproliferation discussion, and help to finally rid the world of the unacceptable threat of nuclear weapons.
Thank you for helping to spread the word and build on this momentum. Please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.
I can be reached at ssyed at ewi dot info
Sarosh Syed
EastWest Institute