Japan submits nuclear abolition resolution for 17th straight year
Oct. 18, 2010
Japan on Thursday submitted a draft resolution calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons to a disarmament committee of the ongoing U.N. General Assembly, Japanese diplomats said.
It is the 17th straight year that Japan has submitted a nuclear disarmament resolution to the United Nations.
Compared with past resolutions, this year's resolution is ''much more comprehensive with calls for united action,'' Japanese Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament Akio Suda said at a news conference after submitting the document by the noon deadline.
Including the United States, a record of more than 50 countries joined in Japan's initiative as co-sponsors of the resolution, compared with 42 countries last year, according to Suda.
He said he expects that even France, which abstained from voting on last year's resolution, may support this year's document.
Following the successful conclusion of a U.N. conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May, Japan has rewritten the content of the resolution this year, using new and stronger wording, Suda said.
Specifically, the draft ''reaffirms the unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament.''
It also ''calls upon nuclear-weapon states to undertake further efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate all types of nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed, including through unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral measures.''
The resolution is expected to be put to a vote before the committee between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1. Japan is aiming to garner more support than last year's record 170 countries, according to U.N. diplomatic sources.
Referring to the ''successful outcome'' of the NPT review conference, the draft stresses the need to fully implement the action plan the conference adopted.
It mentioned U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's historic visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings, as well as the April 8 signing of a new nuclear disarmament treaty between Russia and the United States and a high-level conference on disarmament convened by Ban in September.
The draft recognizes the ''importance of the objective of nuclear security along with our shared goals of nuclear disarmament, nuclear nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.'' It also welcomes the Nuclear Security Summit that U.S. President Barack Obama called in April to strengthen nuclear security and reduce nuclear terrorism.
It says North Korea ''cannot have the status of a nuclear-weapon state'' under the NPT ''under any circumstances.''
The draft also calls upon nuclear-weapon states to ''promptly engage with a view to further diminishing the role and significance of nuclear weapons in all military and security concepts, doctrines and policies.''
In 2009, a Japan-proposed nuclear disarmament resolution was adopted at the assembly's Disarmament and International Security Committee, with the United States supporting it for the first time in nine years.
The United States also co-sponsored last year's resolution, which specifically supported moves instigated by Obama with the aim of eventually achieving a nuclear-free world, for the first time ever.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Oct. 14, 2010)
It is the 17th straight year that Japan has submitted a nuclear disarmament resolution to the United Nations.
Compared with past resolutions, this year's resolution is ''much more comprehensive with calls for united action,'' Japanese Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament Akio Suda said at a news conference after submitting the document by the noon deadline.
Including the United States, a record of more than 50 countries joined in Japan's initiative as co-sponsors of the resolution, compared with 42 countries last year, according to Suda.
He said he expects that even France, which abstained from voting on last year's resolution, may support this year's document.
Following the successful conclusion of a U.N. conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May, Japan has rewritten the content of the resolution this year, using new and stronger wording, Suda said.
Specifically, the draft ''reaffirms the unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament.''
It also ''calls upon nuclear-weapon states to undertake further efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate all types of nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed, including through unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral measures.''
The resolution is expected to be put to a vote before the committee between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1. Japan is aiming to garner more support than last year's record 170 countries, according to U.N. diplomatic sources.
Referring to the ''successful outcome'' of the NPT review conference, the draft stresses the need to fully implement the action plan the conference adopted.
It mentioned U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's historic visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings, as well as the April 8 signing of a new nuclear disarmament treaty between Russia and the United States and a high-level conference on disarmament convened by Ban in September.
The draft recognizes the ''importance of the objective of nuclear security along with our shared goals of nuclear disarmament, nuclear nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.'' It also welcomes the Nuclear Security Summit that U.S. President Barack Obama called in April to strengthen nuclear security and reduce nuclear terrorism.
It says North Korea ''cannot have the status of a nuclear-weapon state'' under the NPT ''under any circumstances.''
The draft also calls upon nuclear-weapon states to ''promptly engage with a view to further diminishing the role and significance of nuclear weapons in all military and security concepts, doctrines and policies.''
In 2009, a Japan-proposed nuclear disarmament resolution was adopted at the assembly's Disarmament and International Security Committee, with the United States supporting it for the first time in nine years.
The United States also co-sponsored last year's resolution, which specifically supported moves instigated by Obama with the aim of eventually achieving a nuclear-free world, for the first time ever.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Oct. 14, 2010)
