Countries supporting Japan-sponsored nuclear weapons ban resolution at U.N. drops by 23 nations
Oct. 29, 2017
The Kyodo News Services reported that, on October 27, the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly adopted the resolution calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which has been initiated and proposed by the Japanese government to the U.N. General Assembly every year since 1994. There were 144 nations voting for the resolution, 4 voting against, and 27 abstentions. The number of countries that support the resolution has dropped by 23 since last year, and the number of nations that abstained has increased by 10. The resolution did not make direct mention of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted in July, and the wording concerning the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons has been toned down.
As a possible result of the current opposition facing the Japanese government, it modified the draft text just before the vote was cast. With respect to signing and ratifying the CTBT to advance its enactment, until last year, Japan had called on all U.N. member nations to sign or ratify this treaty. But the initial text for this year only singled out North Korea for this call to sign and ratify the CTBT. However, the Japanese government later added a passage that encourages eight countries, including the United States and Russia, to sign and ratify the treaty. As a result, only 86 of the 122 countries that favored the nuclear weapons ban treaty also showed support for the resolution on the elimination of nuclear weapons.
As a possible result of the current opposition facing the Japanese government, it modified the draft text just before the vote was cast. With respect to signing and ratifying the CTBT to advance its enactment, until last year, Japan had called on all U.N. member nations to sign or ratify this treaty. But the initial text for this year only singled out North Korea for this call to sign and ratify the CTBT. However, the Japanese government later added a passage that encourages eight countries, including the United States and Russia, to sign and ratify the treaty. As a result, only 86 of the 122 countries that favored the nuclear weapons ban treaty also showed support for the resolution on the elimination of nuclear weapons.
