Washington: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for renewed efforts to “bring life” into the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Across the decades, the international community developed a web of instruments to prevent the use, proliferation and testing of nuclear weapons, and achieve their total elimination, with the NPT as the bedrock of those efforts, Guterres said at the 11th Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT, which will run from April 27 to May 22 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Warning that the treaty has been eroding, commitments remain unfulfilled, trust and credibility are wearing thin, and the drivers of proliferation are accelerating, Guterres said: “This conference provides a timely opportunity to stand together and safeguard humanity from the grave threat of nuclear annihilation,” reported Xinhua news agency.
Noting that “a state of collective amnesia has taken hold” and “nuclear sabers rattle once more,” the UN chief said that for the first time in decades, the number of nuclear warheads is “on the rise” and nuclear testing is “back on the table.”
“We need to breathe life into the treaty once more,” he stressed, urging countries to keep their promises under the NPT.
“It’s time to re-commit to disarmament and non-proliferation as the only true path to peace, by reinforcing the norm against nuclear testing, by strengthening the safeguards system and the IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency) oversight, and by agreeing (on) the measures needed to prevent nuclear war,” he said.
The UN chief underlined that the nuclear threat is compounded by new dangers from rapidly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, noting that the treaty must grapple with the nexus between nuclear weapons and new technologies.
“With your support and engagement, the treaty can remain an active and strong foundation for a world free of nuclear weapons in our fast-moving age,” said the secretary-general.
“So before it’s too late: let’s break the collective amnesia around nuclear weapons. Let’s renew faith in what we can achieve when we stand as one. Let’s act with urgency to lift this cloud hanging over humanity,” he said.
(IANS)
