United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday presented a five-point proposal aimed at securing a world free of nuclear weapons.
"A world free of nuclear weapons would be a global public good of the highest order," Ban told a panel discussion at the United Nations headquarters in New York on nuclear disarmament.
He lamented that so far nuclear disarmament "has remained only an aspiration, rather than a reality."
"Nuclear weapons produce horrific, indiscriminate effects," the UN chief said. "Even when not used, they pose great risks. Accidents could happen any time. The manufacture of nuclear weapons can harm public health and the environment. And of course, terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons or nuclear material."
Ban said the doctrine of nuclear deterrence has proven to be contagions and that this has made non-proliferation more difficult, "which in turn raises new risks that nuclear weapons will be used."
The UN chief put forward a five-point proposal on nuclear disarmament.
First, Ban urged all parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in particular the nuclear-weapon-states, to fulfill their obligation under the treaty to undertake negotiations on effective measures leading to nuclear disarmament.
Second, he called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council to start discussions on security issues in the nuclear disarmament process.
"They should unambiguously assure non-nuclear-weapons states that they will not be the subject of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons," Ban said.
He said the Security Council could convene a summit on nuclear disarmament and that non-NPT states should freeze their own nuclear-weapon capabilities and make their own disarmament commitments.
The third point of Ban's proposal calls for "new efforts to bring into the CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty) into force" and for the immediate start of negotiations on a fissile material treaty, without preconditions.
"Unilateral moratoria on nuclear tests and the production of fissile materials can go only so far," Ban said.
The UN chief, in his fourth point, suggested that nuclear-weapon states send reports aimed at promoting accountability and transparency on their nuclear weapons activities to the UN Secretariat, and to "encourage its wider dissemination," noting such materials seldom reach the public.
"The nuclear powers could also expand the amount of information they publish about the size of their arsenals, stocks of fissile material and specific disarmament achievements," Ban said. "The lack of an authoritative estimate of the total number of nuclear weapons testifies to the need for greater transparency."
His fifth point of proposal involves complementary measures, including the elimination of other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), new efforts against WMD terrorism, limits on the production and trade in conventional arms, and new weapons bans that include missiles and space weapons.
Friday's panel discussion on nuclear disarmament, "seizing the moment: breakthrough measures to build a new East West Consensus on weapons of mass destruction," was co-organized by the East West Institute and the UN Office For Disarmament Affairs, in cooperation with the British American Security Information Council, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security.
Others who spoke at the event included former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, and representatives from China, India and other countries.
Source:Xinhua
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