UN Secretary-General proposes five-point plan for nuclear disarmament in line with Mayors for Peace initiatives

October 24, 2008

At the United Nations headquarters in New York today, the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon made an address entitled “The United Nations and Security in a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World” to an esteemed audience that included Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei, Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and leaders from China, the E.U., India, Japan and Pakistan. In his speech, Mr. Ban outlined a five-point plan for nuclear disarmament, calling for "the nuclear-weapon States, to fulfil their obligation under the [nuclear Non-Proliferation] Treaty" by pursuing "a framework of separate, mutually reinforcing instruments."

Find the full text of Mr. Ban's speech here

Mr. Ban declared, "Most States have chosen to forego the nuclear option, and have complied with their commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  Yet some States view possession of such weapons as a status symbol.  And some States view nuclear weapons as offering the ultimate deterrent of nuclear attack, which largely accounts for the estimated 26,000 that still exist.  Unfortunately, the doctrine of nuclear deterrence has proven to be contagious".

In order to combat this doomed doctrine, "we need specific actions, not just words."  With this in mind, Mr. Ban proposed a landmark five-point plan for nuclear disarmament:

· Echoing the reasoning behind the launch of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol, Mr. Ban urged the "the nuclear-weapon States, to fulfil their obligation under the [nuclear Non-Proliferation] Treaty" by pursuing "a framework of separate, mutually reinforcing instruments" or considering negotiation of "a nuclear-weapons convention, backed by a strong system of verification", a draft of which had already been circulated to all UN Member States. Further, he called for active engagement of nuclear powers with other States at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the resumption of bilateral negoatiations for arsenal reduction betweeen the USA and the Russian Federation and more investment by governments in verification research and development.

· He called on the Security Council to initiate discussions on ‘issues in the nuclear disarmament process’ including the provision of unambiguous assurances ‘to non-nuclear-weapon States that they will not be the subject of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.’;

· He encouraged the negotiation, entry-into-force and implementation of a number of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament treaties including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, regional nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties and a treaty to control fissile materials;

· He proposed that the Nuclear Weapon States become more transparent about the size of their arsenals, stocks of fissile material and specific disarmament achievements. He noted that “the lack of an authoritative estimate of the total number of nuclear weapons testifies to the need
for greater transparency.”

· He supported complementary measures for the elimination of other types of WMD; new efforts against WMD terrorism; limits on the production and trade in conventional arms; and new weapons bans, including of missiles and space weapons. He noted that “the General Assembly could also take
up the recommendation of the Blix Commission for a 'World Summit on disarmament, non-proliferation and terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction'".

Mr. Ban echoed the sentiment of the 2020 Vision Campaign Cities Are Not Targets! initiative when he emphasised the need for a change of culture and a global taboo on the use of WMDs: "It will be much easier to encourage Governments to tighten relevant controls if a basic, global taboo exists on the very possession of certain types of weapons.  As we progressively eliminate the world’s deadliest weapons and their components, we will make it harder to execute WMD terrorist attacks".