U.N. panel adopts resolution seeking total nuke elimination
Nov. 2, 2009
A U.N. General Assembly committee Thursday adopted a resolution submitted by Japan calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The nonbinding resolution is expected to pass a plenary session of the General Assembly in December without revision, meaning a Japanese-proposed resolution seeking nuclear elimination will be adopted for 16 straight years since 1994.
Voting conducted by the First Committee found that a record 170 countries, including the United States -- for the first time in nine years -- supported the latest resolution. It calls for all U.N. members to take action ''toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons, with a view to achieving a peaceful and safe world without nuclear weapons.'' The previous record was 169 in 2006.
As well, a record 87 countries co-sponsored the resolution, which Japan submitted to the committee in charge of disarmament in mid-October. The previous record number of co-sponsors for Japanese proposals was 58, marked in 2008.
Two countries -- North Korea and India -- voted against the resolution. There were eight abstentions -- China, Cuba, France, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bhutan and Israel.
''Adoption of the resolution would help the Japanese government push forward even harder for the total elimination of nuclear weapons,'' Japanese Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament Akio Suda said at a news conference after the committee passed the proposal.
The United States, under the leadership of President Barack Obama, has become a sponsor of the resolution for the first time and voted in support of it for the first time since 2000.
Among other permanent U.N. Security Council members, Britain and Russia backed the latest resolution. France and China abstained from voting.
A Chinese official told reporters there is still ''room for further improvement'' in the resolution, noting measures envisaged under it are ''not practical and viable under the current circumstances.'' Beijing has abstained in recent years.
France, which supported a similar resolution in 2008, changed its position this year. Eric Danon, permanent representative to the conference on disarmament, said the resolution has ''an incomplete listing of the efforts for nuclear disarmament.''
The latest U.N. action on the Japanese proposal came amid increasing moves toward nuclear disarmament.
Such moves gathered momentum especially after U.S. President Obama made a bold call for a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague in April, marking a turnaround in Washington's nuclear policy from the era of President George W. Bush. Obama's pledge is believed to have earned him the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
Reflecting such positive sentiment, the General Assembly, in the resolution, welcomes ''the recent global momentum of nuclear disarmament toward a world without nuclear weapons, which has been strengthened by concrete proposals and initiatives from political leaders of member states'' in particular by the United States and Russia.
As the two largest nuclear weapons holders, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in their summit in Moscow in July, pledged to work together to further reduce their nuclear arms.
A framework the leaders of the two countries worked out for a new pact would reduce their vast arsenals of Cold War nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each.
The framework accord marked the first major step toward completing, by the year's end, negotiations on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START 1, which expires Dec. 5.
Despite global moves toward disarmament, the road to creating a world as envisioned under the resolution is not easy as no U.N. members with suspected nuclear weapons development programs among nonpermanent Security Council countries threw their weight behind it.
The resolution also calls for U.N. members to implement measures proposed under a resolution the Security Council adopted after North Korea's second nuclear test May 25.
The document urges Pyongyang to ''return immediately and without pre-conditions'' to the six-party denuclearization talks.
The resolution, in a clause not seen in previous resolutions, ''stresses the importance of preventing nuclear terrorism and encourages every effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear and radiological material.''
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Oct. 29, 2009)
by Junichiro Hayashi, Staff Writer
The resolution calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons that was submitted by the A-bombed nation of Japan to the First Committee of the UN General Assembly has been adopted with the backing of a record number of nations. The vote should be appreciated from the standpoint that the results are another indication of growing international momentum for "a world without nuclear weapons." In the meantime, France and China, which supported a resolution in pursuit of a nuclear-free world at the U.N. Security Council Summit this past September, abstained from voting, underscoring the complexity of international politics.
The fact that 170 nations approved the resolution means that roughly 90 percent of the 192 UN member nations backed the measure. The United States, a nuclear superpower, allowed its name to be added as a co-sponsor of such a resolution for the first time, representing a change from the previous U.S. administration, which had opposed similar resolutions for eight consecutive years until last year.
However, the abstention by the nuclear powers of China and France was a setback to the anti-nuclear momentum building in locations around the world. The Japanese Foreign Ministry stressed the "practical and concrete actions" of the resolution, but it failed to win the support of these two nations.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged at home and abroad that Japan will take the lead in eliminating nuclear weapons. In putting his words into action, Prime Minister Hatoyama's diplomatic skill will be tested as to whether Japan can draw nuclear weapon states and nations with suspected nuclear development programs, including North Korea, again an opponent of this measure, and India, a non-member of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), into the circles of nuclear disarmament and abolition.
The adoption of a resolution of this kind for 16 straight years, by itself, should be welcomed, but the reality of international politics is that the world has seen no significant progress toward nuclear abolition during those years. The NPT Review Conference, scheduled for next May, will open in only about six months. The key to advancing the agenda of nuclear abolition lies in swift action that can help implement the contents of the resolution as early as possible by taking full advantage of the record backing gained by the measure.
(Originally published on October 31, 2009)
The nonbinding resolution is expected to pass a plenary session of the General Assembly in December without revision, meaning a Japanese-proposed resolution seeking nuclear elimination will be adopted for 16 straight years since 1994.
Voting conducted by the First Committee found that a record 170 countries, including the United States -- for the first time in nine years -- supported the latest resolution. It calls for all U.N. members to take action ''toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons, with a view to achieving a peaceful and safe world without nuclear weapons.'' The previous record was 169 in 2006.
As well, a record 87 countries co-sponsored the resolution, which Japan submitted to the committee in charge of disarmament in mid-October. The previous record number of co-sponsors for Japanese proposals was 58, marked in 2008.
Two countries -- North Korea and India -- voted against the resolution. There were eight abstentions -- China, Cuba, France, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bhutan and Israel.
''Adoption of the resolution would help the Japanese government push forward even harder for the total elimination of nuclear weapons,'' Japanese Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament Akio Suda said at a news conference after the committee passed the proposal.
The United States, under the leadership of President Barack Obama, has become a sponsor of the resolution for the first time and voted in support of it for the first time since 2000.
Among other permanent U.N. Security Council members, Britain and Russia backed the latest resolution. France and China abstained from voting.
A Chinese official told reporters there is still ''room for further improvement'' in the resolution, noting measures envisaged under it are ''not practical and viable under the current circumstances.'' Beijing has abstained in recent years.
France, which supported a similar resolution in 2008, changed its position this year. Eric Danon, permanent representative to the conference on disarmament, said the resolution has ''an incomplete listing of the efforts for nuclear disarmament.''
The latest U.N. action on the Japanese proposal came amid increasing moves toward nuclear disarmament.
Such moves gathered momentum especially after U.S. President Obama made a bold call for a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague in April, marking a turnaround in Washington's nuclear policy from the era of President George W. Bush. Obama's pledge is believed to have earned him the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
Reflecting such positive sentiment, the General Assembly, in the resolution, welcomes ''the recent global momentum of nuclear disarmament toward a world without nuclear weapons, which has been strengthened by concrete proposals and initiatives from political leaders of member states'' in particular by the United States and Russia.
As the two largest nuclear weapons holders, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in their summit in Moscow in July, pledged to work together to further reduce their nuclear arms.
A framework the leaders of the two countries worked out for a new pact would reduce their vast arsenals of Cold War nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each.
The framework accord marked the first major step toward completing, by the year's end, negotiations on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START 1, which expires Dec. 5.
Despite global moves toward disarmament, the road to creating a world as envisioned under the resolution is not easy as no U.N. members with suspected nuclear weapons development programs among nonpermanent Security Council countries threw their weight behind it.
The resolution also calls for U.N. members to implement measures proposed under a resolution the Security Council adopted after North Korea's second nuclear test May 25.
The document urges Pyongyang to ''return immediately and without pre-conditions'' to the six-party denuclearization talks.
The resolution, in a clause not seen in previous resolutions, ''stresses the importance of preventing nuclear terrorism and encourages every effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear and radiological material.''
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Oct. 29, 2009)
Support for UN resolution reflects growing momentum for nuclear abolition
by Junichiro Hayashi, Staff Writer
The resolution calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons that was submitted by the A-bombed nation of Japan to the First Committee of the UN General Assembly has been adopted with the backing of a record number of nations. The vote should be appreciated from the standpoint that the results are another indication of growing international momentum for "a world without nuclear weapons." In the meantime, France and China, which supported a resolution in pursuit of a nuclear-free world at the U.N. Security Council Summit this past September, abstained from voting, underscoring the complexity of international politics.
The fact that 170 nations approved the resolution means that roughly 90 percent of the 192 UN member nations backed the measure. The United States, a nuclear superpower, allowed its name to be added as a co-sponsor of such a resolution for the first time, representing a change from the previous U.S. administration, which had opposed similar resolutions for eight consecutive years until last year.
However, the abstention by the nuclear powers of China and France was a setback to the anti-nuclear momentum building in locations around the world. The Japanese Foreign Ministry stressed the "practical and concrete actions" of the resolution, but it failed to win the support of these two nations.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged at home and abroad that Japan will take the lead in eliminating nuclear weapons. In putting his words into action, Prime Minister Hatoyama's diplomatic skill will be tested as to whether Japan can draw nuclear weapon states and nations with suspected nuclear development programs, including North Korea, again an opponent of this measure, and India, a non-member of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), into the circles of nuclear disarmament and abolition.
The adoption of a resolution of this kind for 16 straight years, by itself, should be welcomed, but the reality of international politics is that the world has seen no significant progress toward nuclear abolition during those years. The NPT Review Conference, scheduled for next May, will open in only about six months. The key to advancing the agenda of nuclear abolition lies in swift action that can help implement the contents of the resolution as early as possible by taking full advantage of the record backing gained by the measure.
(Originally published on October 31, 2009)
