September 26 marks the international day that highlights the continuous scourge of the nuclear arms race, an opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to nuclear disarmament.
However, promises to disarm have not yet been honored.
“Nuclear weapons continue to threaten our world“, Said the UN Cabinet chef, Courthenay Rattray, which offers a statement in the name of the UN Chief, António Guterres:” And despite the decades of promises, the threat accelerates and evolves. “
Remembering the devastation room caused by Japan’s atomic bombardment in 1945 by the United States, he invoked the Hibakusha, The survivors of the catastrophes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago, who have “Turned his suffering into a call to peace. “
(Read our funds In today’s conference)
‘Sleepwalking’ in proliferation
However, he warned that we are “sleepy” in a more complex nuclear, unpredictable and even more dangerous career race.
“New technologies and new conflict domains have erased the margin of error,” said Mr. Rattray, referring to cyberspace and outer space, and technologies such as hypersonic missiles and deep water drones that multiply the risks of climbing and calculation error.
“This is not just a weapons crisis. It is a crisis of memory, responsibility and courage.. “
New independent panel
To counteract emerging threats, Mr. Rattray announced the formation of an independent scientific panel by the UN to evaluate the effects of nuclear war and ensure that “collective response to nuclear risk is based on rigorous scientific evidence.
Pointing out the Nuclear Non -Proliferation Treaty (TNP), a legally binding international agreement that aims to avoid the propagation of nuclear weapons, said there are no “correct” conditions for disarmament and that “it will never happen if we are still waiting.”
“Disarmament is not the reward for peace, it is the basis of peace. ” He stressed.
Countries must honor their commitments’
Mr. Rattray said that nuclear states must return to dialogue, implement confidence construction measures and ensure that nuclear war remains in human hands, not intelligence -based artificial systems.
When addressing the plenary, he added that “state parties must also honor their commitments under the TNP.”
In addition, he asked all the states to ratify the comprehensive treaty of the nuclear test, which prohibits nuclear tests, and urged the United States and Russia to negotiate and reduce their nuclear arsenals.
“These steps alone will not build a world without nuclear weapons. But without them, we give our future to fear and silence the promise of peace.”
Potential of nuclear technology to ‘serve humanity’
The president of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, warned about the “complex” hazards that represent nuclear weapons, including the risk of falling into the hands of the terrorists or the emergence of AI on the battlefield.
She emphasized that the treaties are not enough, unless the states are up to them, and urged a policy of “not using first use”, as well as the changing resources of the arms race to climate action.
Mrs. Baerbock encouraged the international community to think about how nuclear technology It can “serve humanity in a constructive and safe way”, as in the treatment of cancer and environmental monitoring.