U.N. Disarmament Conference opens in Saitama
Aug. 27, 2010
by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer
The 22nd United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues to discuss actions towards a nuclear-weapon-free world opened at a hotel in Saitama Prefecture on August 25. The conference was organized by the U.N. Disarmament Affairs and U.N. Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific. During the three-day conference, until August 27, nearly 80 government officials, scholars, NGO representatives, and journalists from 18 countries will exchange views with regard to nuclear abolition.
Libran Cabactulan, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who served as the president of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held this past May, spoke at a session to assess the review conference and future challenges. After outlining the background behind the inclusion of the item "consideration of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention" in the final document of the review conference, he stressed that it is time for discussion of the convention's working plan to commence.
With regard to a conference for creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, Mr. Cabactulan proposed that the host nation and arbiters be decided as soon as possible in order to open the conference in 2012. He appealed for steady progress in advancing the 64-item Action Plan which appeared in the final document.
Meanwhile, Scott Davis, deputy director of the U.S. Department of State, conveyed that ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed between the United States and Russia will be debated by Congress next month. Danil Shcherban, second secretary of the Russian embassy in Japan, called on other nuclear weapon states to make efforts in the wake of the new treaty.
James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace pointed to the role Japan and other non-nuclear weapon states should play, saying that the voices of such states will have a significant impact on the disarmament efforts of the nuclear powers.
At the opening ceremony prior to the session, Asako Toyoda, the deputy mayor of Hiroshima, appealed for the importance of political will in advancing toward nuclear abolition by 2020, stressing the significance of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's presence at the Peace Memorial Ceremony held August 6 in Hiroshima.
(Originally published on August 26, 2010)
The 22nd United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues to discuss actions towards a nuclear-weapon-free world opened at a hotel in Saitama Prefecture on August 25. The conference was organized by the U.N. Disarmament Affairs and U.N. Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific. During the three-day conference, until August 27, nearly 80 government officials, scholars, NGO representatives, and journalists from 18 countries will exchange views with regard to nuclear abolition.
Libran Cabactulan, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who served as the president of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held this past May, spoke at a session to assess the review conference and future challenges. After outlining the background behind the inclusion of the item "consideration of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention" in the final document of the review conference, he stressed that it is time for discussion of the convention's working plan to commence.
With regard to a conference for creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, Mr. Cabactulan proposed that the host nation and arbiters be decided as soon as possible in order to open the conference in 2012. He appealed for steady progress in advancing the 64-item Action Plan which appeared in the final document.
Meanwhile, Scott Davis, deputy director of the U.S. Department of State, conveyed that ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed between the United States and Russia will be debated by Congress next month. Danil Shcherban, second secretary of the Russian embassy in Japan, called on other nuclear weapon states to make efforts in the wake of the new treaty.
James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace pointed to the role Japan and other non-nuclear weapon states should play, saying that the voices of such states will have a significant impact on the disarmament efforts of the nuclear powers.
At the opening ceremony prior to the session, Asako Toyoda, the deputy mayor of Hiroshima, appealed for the importance of political will in advancing toward nuclear abolition by 2020, stressing the significance of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's presence at the Peace Memorial Ceremony held August 6 in Hiroshima.
(Originally published on August 26, 2010)
