UN chief urges global efforts to end nuclear weapons

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for a new global effort to get rid of nuclear weapons.

Speaking to the Conference on Disarmament at the UN complex in Geneva, Guterres said many states still wrongly thought that nuclear weapons made the world safer.

"Countries persist in clinging to the fallacious idea that nuclear arms make the world safer... At the global level, we must work towards forging a new momentum on eliminating nuclear weapons," he said.

The Conference on Disarmament is the world's main forum for nuclear disarmament, but since 1996 it has been deadlocked by disagreements and distrust between rival nuclear powers.

September 15, 2015: In Seoul a man watches a news report that confirms DPRK's nuclear reactor has resumed normal operation. /VCG Photo

After Guterres' speech, ambassadors from China, the United States and France said they share the UN's concern about the current security environment.

Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong said China appreciates Guterres' efforts.

Fu said reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national security doctrines and abandoning the nuclear deterrent policy based on the first use of nuclear weapons constitutes the most practical and feasible nuclear disarmament measure at present.

US Ambassador Robert Wood said negotiators needed to "look reality in the eye" and accept that nuclear disarmament in the near term was unrealistic.

Earlier this month the United States published its "nuclear posture review", which justified an expansion of its "low-yield" nuclear capability by saying it would deter Russia's tactical nuclear weapons.

French Ambassador Alice Guitton said Guterres' statement was very timely, but disarmament could not be decreed, it needed to be built with patience, perseverance and realism.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, February 26, 2018. /VCG Photo

Guterres also said talks should target not only nuclear, chemical and conventional arms but also autonomous and unmanned weapons, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and space-based systems.

There are currently around 150,000 nuclear weapons worldwide and the arms trade is flourishing more than at any time since the Cold war, with 1.5 trillion US dollars of annual spending, he said.

Taboos on nuclear tests and chemical weapons usage were under threat, he added, while talk of tactical nuclear weapons was leading in an extremely dangerous direction.

Source(s): Reuters