The United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group on multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations last week adopted a recommendation to begin negotiations in 2017 on a legally binding instrument banning nuclear weapons, an effort the United States continues to oppose.
The working group, a forum for cooperative action and supplement to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, adopted with a 68-22 vote its report recommending additional efforts toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons, including transparency measures, reduction of the risk of accidental or unauthorized nuclear weapon detonation, and increasing awareness of the humanitarian consequences of a nuclear detonation.
The group’s final document noted that some participating states support a “progressive approach” to disarmament that would work through the existing global regime, particularly through commitments made by states under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. This approach would involve steps such as securing entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, negotiating a treaty to ban production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and a U.S.-Russian arms control agreement beyond the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and strengthening the International Atomic Energy Agency’s safeguards system.
“These States considered that when global zero becomes within reach, additional legal measures would then be needed to achieve and maintain a world without nuclear weapons,” the document said.
The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – declined to participate in the working group’s meetings, which were spread over three sessions this year. The five are also the recognized nuclear-weapon states under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The working group is mandated by the U.N. General Assembly to facilitate cooperative action alongside the Conference on Disarmament, which consists of 65 member states including the United States, Russia, France, and Germany. The U.S. State Department previously said the group was not structured “in a way that reflects the need for wide-ranging discussion of practical ways to achieve progress on disarmament.”
The working group’s final document said it “regretted” that nuclear-weapon states did not participate in the deliberations. However, a State Department spokesperson said by email that the working group’s report “proved to be unbalanced, unrealistic, and lacked consensus – an essential part of any viable disarmament effort.”
“The U.S. decision to not participate in the OEWG and its opposition to its report does not mean the United States opposes a consensus-based dialogue on nuclear disarmament,” the spokesperson said. “To the contrary, we continue to embrace genuine dialogue based on mutual respect.”
Throughout his term in office, President Barack Obama has emphasized his hopes for a world without nuclear weapons while pledging that the United States will maintain a viable deterrent as long as such weapons exist.
“The pursuit of a polarizing and unverifiable ban treaty can actually end up harming the proven, practical, and inclusive efforts that have achieved results [on nuclear disarmament] and will continue to do so,” according to the State Department spokesperson.
Even so, Ray Acheson, director of the disarmament advocacy group Reaching Critical Will, said by email that the working group expects the next step to involve a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October in New York.
“We anticipate that supportive states will put forward a resolution there with a mandate to convene a conference for negotiations,” Acheson said. “We also anticipate pushback from those states opposed to the ban treaty, but at this moment we have the numbers on our side.”
