UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned a high-level meeting in New York focused on ridding the world of nuclear weapons that the threat is only \u201caccelerating and evolving\u201d.<\/p>\n
The meeting took place on International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. which highlights the ongoing scourge of the nuclear arms race \u2013 an opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to nuclear disarmament.<\/p>\n
\u201cNuclear weapons continue to menace our world,\u201d said the UN\u2019s Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray, delivering a statement on behalf of UN chief Antonio Guterres: \u201cAnd despite decades of promises, the threat is accelerating and evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reminding the delegates of the devastation caused by the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 by the US, he invoked the hibakusha, the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki catastrophes 80 years ago, who have \u201cturned their suffering into a call for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned, however, that \u201cwe are sleepwalking\u201d into a more complex, unpredictable and even more dangerous nuclear arms race\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew technologies and new domains of conflict have erased the margin for error,\u201d said Mr. Rattray, referring to cyberspace and outer space, and technologies like hypersonic missiles and deep-sea drones which multiply the risks of escalation and miscalculation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just a crisis of weapons. It is a crisis of memory, responsibility, and courage.\u201d<\/p>\n
To counter emerging threats, Rattray announced the formation of an independent scientific panel by the UN to assess the effects of nuclear war and ensure that the \u201ccollective response to nuclear risk is grounded in rigorous scientific evidence.<\/p>\n
Pointing to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international legally binding agreement which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, he said that there exist no \u201cright\u201d conditions for disarmament and that it \u201cwill never happen if we keep waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDisarmament is not the reward for peace \u2013 it is the foundation of peace,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Rattray asserted that nuclear states must return to dialogue, implement confidence-building measures and ensure nuclear warfare remains in human hands \u2013 not artificial intelligence-driven systems.<\/p>\n
Addressing the plenary, he added that \u201cState parties must also honour their commitments under the NPT.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further, he called on all states to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear testing, and urged the US and Russia to negotiate and reduce their nuclear arsenals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese steps alone will not build a world without nuclear weapons. But without them, we surrender our future to fear \u2013 and silence the promise of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock warned of the \u201ccomplex\u201d dangers nuclear weapons pose, including the risk of them falling into terrorists\u2019 hands or the rise of AI on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
She stressed that treaties aren\u2019t enough \u2013 unless states live up to them \u2013 and urged a \u201cno first use\u201d policy, as well as shifting resources from the arms race to climate action.<\/p>\n
Ms. Baerbock encouraged the international community to think of how nuclear technology can \u201cserve humanity constructively and safely,\u201d such as in cancer treatment and environmental monitoring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned a high-level meeting in New York focused on ridding the world of nuclear weapons that the threat is only \u201caccelerating and evolving\u201d. The meeting took place on International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. which highlights the ongoing scourge of the nuclear arms race \u2013 an opportunity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-505683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n