The United Nations General Assembly this week began substantive negotiations on a draft of a legally binding global prohibition on nuclear weapons, which the official nuclear-weapon states condemned and boycotted.
Elayne Whyte Gomez, ambassador of Costa Rica to the U.N. Office in Geneva and president of the ban treaty conference, said Thursday that over 115 states participated in substantive discussions at U.N. headquarters in New York. “We have had robust and constructive exchanges so far on the prospective legally binding instrument, including on its principles and objectives, preamble, and core provisions,” she said during a press conference.
Discussions over core prohibitions in the treaty have included those against the acquisition, possession, production, testing, and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as issues related to the stationing and deployment of nuclear weapons on states’ territories, Gomez said.
“Most states agreed on a set of core prohibitions on nuclear weapons including: use; possession; acquisition; stockpiling; transfer, and deployment,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre, reporting for the Arms Control Association. States also suggested basing the treaty’s preamble on the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, as well as existing international nonproliferation legal instruments.
Sanders-Zakre noted that “states were divided on the inclusion of several other prohibitions, including threat of use, testing, and transit of nuclear weapons.”
Participating states will reconvene on June 15 to begin negotiations of a treaty text – and potentially adopt the text – based on the draft produced this week, Gomez said. Upon the scheduled end of negotiations on July 7, the conference will submit a report to the General Assembly’s 72nd session in September, which will be used to assess progress and decide a way forward.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said that an effective ban treaty should specify the nuclear weapons possession, development, and testing activities being prohibited, be consistent with existing nuclear weapons related treaties, and offer a pathway for nuclear-weapon states to support the ban treaty before becoming full parties to it.
In October, 123 U.N. member states voted to begin negotiations on the nuclear weapons ban; 38 governments voted in opposition, including nuclear-armed states France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; final nuclear power China joined 15 other U.N. members in abstaining.
“As a mom, as a daughter, there is nothing I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told reporters Monday. “But we have to be realistic. Is there anyone that believes that North Korea would agree to a ban on nuclear weapons?”
Other nations that have chosen not to support the ban treaty negotiations include Japan, South Korea, and Germany. “You are going to see almost 40 countries that are not in the General Assembly today,” Haley said as negotiations began.
Matthew Rycroft, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the U.N., said at the press conference that while the U.K. is “completely committed” to the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons, “we do not believe that those negotiations will lead to effective progress on global nuclear disarmament.”
Supporters of a ban treaty say it would serve as a key step toward disarmament by establishing a global norm against nuclear weapons possession, while critics say the measure is destabilizing and impractical, considering rogue outliers continue to develop their capabilities. Opponents of the effort suggest instead measures such as negotiation of a fissile material cutoff treaty to launch a gradual disarmament process.
Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command, said Tuesday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that a ban treaty “is just not realistic” given the behavior of other world actors. He pointed specifically to North Korea – which has been conducting rocket engine tests and is said to be preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile – and Russia with its nuclear modernization program.
Kim Won-soo, the U.N.’s high representative for disarmament affairs, said in a statement opening the conference that a “dismissiveness and defeatism” is paralyzing international disarmament negotiations, which “has prompted many to retreat into entrenched and inflexible positions.”
“I hope that efforts will continue to be made to seek the inclusive engagement of all States,” he said. “After all, creating a world without nuclear weapons is a common obligation and responsibility that both nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states do share.”
Pope Francis sent a letter to the U.N. body this week expressing support for their effort and condemning “the waste of resources spent on nuclear issues for military purposes, which could instead be used for worthy priorities like the promotion of peace and integral human development,” among other things.
