He described the framework as allowing the participation of all parties who took decisions by consensus. He noted the success of the first session in November 2019 of a conference to establish the Middle East zone and its adoption of substantive documents. That exception was a threat to the region. The observer for the State of Palestine said Israel considered itself above the law, while everyone else must abide by the rules. That, he said, hampered security and stability and led to more conflicts, an arms race and lack of sustainable peace. Egypt’s representative urged immediate action to face the strategic imbalance in the region and highlighted the persistence of one State to impede those efforts. Several countries of the Middle East reiterated their long-time call for the establishment of a regional zone free of nuclear and other mass‑destruction weapons. “One hundred seconds to midnight is indeed a very short time.” During the recent review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Brazil had agreed to “scale back its ambition”, but non-nuclear-weapon States could not keep the non-proliferation regime going on their own. These were unprecedented times, with nuclear threats and rhetoric increasing and reversing what should be a downward trend. The “divided house” of nuclear-weapon States needed urgent action, restraint and leadership, said Brazil’s representative. It was high time for the international community to recognize its complicity in allowing nuclear testing in the Pacific for decades and to provide assistance to its people. Having lost many to illness as a result of that tragic legacy, he was standing up to the Goliaths of the world and declaring that enough was enough. Kiribati had endured years of nuclear-weapons tests. Kiribati’s representative expressed profound concern about the qualitative and quantitative advancements of nuclear arsenals and the exorbitant spending on those programmes. She spotlighted the spike in spending by nuclear-armed States to modernize, upgrade, refurbish and extend the lives of those weapons. While prohibition of nuclear weapons was an essential foundation for their total elimination, the former should not be “held hostage” by the latter. The representative of Namibia said that, despite the complementarity of disarmament treaties, the concepts of prohibition and elimination should not be confused. No United Nations Member State was too big to disarm on its own and none too small to make a contribution, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today as it concluded its thematic debate on nuclear weapons and began consideration of other weapons of mass destruction. Israel Cites Non-Compliance as Basis for Rejecting Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone SEVENTY-SEVENTH SESSION, 13TH & 14TH MEETINGS (AM & PM)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |