U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues closes with hope for concrete action to advance nuclear abolition
Sep. 15, 2015
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
The 25th United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues, which took place in Hiroshima through August 28, was a time of spirited discussion. It was like an “additional round” of this spring’s Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which failed to come to consensus and adopt a final document. What stood out at the Hiroshima conference was the idea of seeking concrete legal provisions, including an outright ban on nuclear arms, which sprang from the draft of the final NPT document. At the same time, there was also resistance to this trend. Whether or not the diplomats and experts who took part in the conference can now take concrete action for realizing a world free of nuclear weapons will be the key to moving forward, and preventing an impasse in nuclear disarmament efforts.
One highlight of the gathering, which took place at a hotel in Minami Ward, came on the second day, at a session to reflect on the NPT Review Conference. Taous Feroukhi, the Algerian who had served as the president of the Review Conference, said that although the conference collapsed, this didn’t signify the “sunset” of nuclear negotiations. Then, inspired by Ms. Feroukhi’s comment, officials overseeing disarmament affairs from the Swiss and South African governments, called for workshops and international conferences under the U.N. General Assembly to move forward in specifying legal provisions and other options.
The members of the “Humanitarian Group,” which are non-nuclear nations urgently seeking the abolition of nuclear arms by focusing on the inhumanity of these weapons, showed their strong presence not only at the Review Conference in May but also at the meeting in Hiroshima.
At the same time, the former disarmament ambassador for the French government argued that nuclear weapons provided a significant benefit in the form of deterrence and that only stressing their inhumanity was not sufficient. The official overseeing disarmament policy in the United States also pushed back against the position of the non-nuclear nations.
These differences produced tensions at the venue, as if real diplomatic talks over nuclear arms were taking place, with the nuclear powers and non-nuclear nations again engaging in impassioned debate in Hiroshima. Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Fundation, said, “The only way to proceed with multilateral negotiations is to respect that there are differences of opinion. Beyond that, to realize concrete measures for nuclear disarmament, strong leadership is required.”
It is hoped that Japan, as the A-bombed nation, will assume such leadership. In September, Japan will co-chair the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Then, next April, Hiroshima will host a meeting of foreign ministers prior to the G7 summit (Ise-Shima Summit). Nevertheless, one expert who listened to the comments made by officials from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was left with the impression that their will is insufficient for proactively seeking legal measures for nuclear abolition.
The loudest applause during the three-day conference was given to a speech on the first day, made by Sunao Tsuboi, 90, the chairman of one of the groups known as the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations. “As an A-bomb survivor, I will never ever give up on the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons, until my very last breath,” he said. The participants of the conference should respond to his passion by making further efforts to realize this aim.
(Originally published on August 29, 2015)
The 25th United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues, which took place in Hiroshima through August 28, was a time of spirited discussion. It was like an “additional round” of this spring’s Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which failed to come to consensus and adopt a final document. What stood out at the Hiroshima conference was the idea of seeking concrete legal provisions, including an outright ban on nuclear arms, which sprang from the draft of the final NPT document. At the same time, there was also resistance to this trend. Whether or not the diplomats and experts who took part in the conference can now take concrete action for realizing a world free of nuclear weapons will be the key to moving forward, and preventing an impasse in nuclear disarmament efforts.
One highlight of the gathering, which took place at a hotel in Minami Ward, came on the second day, at a session to reflect on the NPT Review Conference. Taous Feroukhi, the Algerian who had served as the president of the Review Conference, said that although the conference collapsed, this didn’t signify the “sunset” of nuclear negotiations. Then, inspired by Ms. Feroukhi’s comment, officials overseeing disarmament affairs from the Swiss and South African governments, called for workshops and international conferences under the U.N. General Assembly to move forward in specifying legal provisions and other options.
The members of the “Humanitarian Group,” which are non-nuclear nations urgently seeking the abolition of nuclear arms by focusing on the inhumanity of these weapons, showed their strong presence not only at the Review Conference in May but also at the meeting in Hiroshima.
At the same time, the former disarmament ambassador for the French government argued that nuclear weapons provided a significant benefit in the form of deterrence and that only stressing their inhumanity was not sufficient. The official overseeing disarmament policy in the United States also pushed back against the position of the non-nuclear nations.
These differences produced tensions at the venue, as if real diplomatic talks over nuclear arms were taking place, with the nuclear powers and non-nuclear nations again engaging in impassioned debate in Hiroshima. Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Fundation, said, “The only way to proceed with multilateral negotiations is to respect that there are differences of opinion. Beyond that, to realize concrete measures for nuclear disarmament, strong leadership is required.”
It is hoped that Japan, as the A-bombed nation, will assume such leadership. In September, Japan will co-chair the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Then, next April, Hiroshima will host a meeting of foreign ministers prior to the G7 summit (Ise-Shima Summit). Nevertheless, one expert who listened to the comments made by officials from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was left with the impression that their will is insufficient for proactively seeking legal measures for nuclear abolition.
The loudest applause during the three-day conference was given to a speech on the first day, made by Sunao Tsuboi, 90, the chairman of one of the groups known as the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations. “As an A-bomb survivor, I will never ever give up on the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons, until my very last breath,” he said. The participants of the conference should respond to his passion by making further efforts to realize this aim.
(Originally published on August 29, 2015)
