2014 NPT PrepCom: Day 2
The third and final Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the 2015 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) continued smoothly on Tuesday 29 April 2014, with statements by 18 states in the morning and by several non-governmental organizations in the afternoon.
Statement by the United States' representative
The first statement, for the United States, was made by US Under-Secretary Rose Gotemoeller. She noted that her recent trips to the Marshall Islands and Hiroshima were potent reminders of the need to persevere in confronting the challenge of nuclear weapons. It is imperative that people remember the human impact of nuclear weapons. Indeed, it is the USA's deep understanding of the consequences of nuclear weapons use—including the devastating health effects—that has guided and motivated US efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate these most hazardous weapons.
Gotemoeller stated that significant progress on disarmament had been made since the end of the cold war. At its peak in 1967, the US nuclear arsenal comprised 31 255 nuclear weapons. She announced that as of September 2013, the number of nuclear weapons in the active US arsenal has fallen to 4804. This newly declassified number represents an 85 per cent reduction in the US nuclear stockpile since 1967.
The USA remains open to negotiate further reductions with Russia in all categories of nuclear weapons – including strategic and non-strategic nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed. Recent actions have significantly undermined mutual trust and that trust will take time to rebuild. She concluded by saying that no one should forget that even in the darkest days of the cold war, the USA and the Soviet Union found it in their mutual interest to work together on reducing the nuclear threat.
Statements by the Russian and Ukrainian representatives
Ambassador Mikhail Uliyanov of the Russian Federation noted that the Russian strategic arsenal has been reduced by 80 per cent and its sub-strategic nuclear weapons by 75 per cent over the past 25 years. The Russian arsenal now stands at a level lower than it was when the NPT entered into force in 1970.
Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev of Ukraine recalled that 20 years ago in Moscow, on 14 January 1994, the presidents of Ukraine, the USA and the Russian Federation signed a Trilateral Statement, where the arrangements on the implementation of Ukraine’s decision to renounce nuclear weapons and become a non-nuclear-weapon state were envisaged. At the same time, the 20th anniversary of Ukraine’s decision to renounce nuclear weapons took place against the background of the occupation and annexation of its territory in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea by the Russian Federation.
Ambassador Sergeyev said that such actions were especially cynical as they were committed by the state-guarantor of the territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine under the Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the NPT, signed in Budapest on 5 December 1994.
In particular, the state-signatories to the Memorandum 'reaffirmed their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine'. He called on the nuclear-weapon states to start immediate consultations in the UN Security Council to reconfirm their legal obligations laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 984 (1995), in which the Security Council 'takes note with appreciation of the statements made by each of the nuclear-weapon states (S/1995/261, S/1995/262, S/1995/263, S/1995/264, S/1995/265)', in which they give security assurances against the use of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear-weapon states that are parties to the NPT.
If the Security Council fails to reconfirm its obligations assumed 19 years ago, the broad discussion on this issue at the General Assembly could be another option.
Statement by the Austrian representative
Ambassador Alexander Kmentt of Austria expressed concern about some comments in recent times that have attempted to present the crisis in Ukraine as a validation of nuclear weapons possession and nuclear deterrence. He said such comments are entirely misplaced and irresponsible and only risk to unjustifiably fuel the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Therefore, Austria would like to state clearly that it views Ukraine's decision in 1994 to transfer the ex-Soviet nuclear weapon stockpile to Russia and to join the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state as a very important contribution to international as well as its own security. Ukraine and all other States that have abandoned existing nuclear weapon stockpiles and programmes have reduced the risks of nuclear annihilation. They have made a tremendous contribution to the security of their own peoples as well as to the security of humankind at large.
Assessment and looking ahead
The opening statements on the second day again focused on nuclear disarmament and the goal for achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. The afternoon session devoted to statements by civil society was more lively than the staid statements by delegates and included the perspectives of survivors of the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945 and of lawyers, activists and retired diplomats.
With some 40 states still waiting to give their opening statements, an extra session of the General Debate is scheduled for Wednesday morning, following which the Cluster 1 discussions will commence on nuclear disarmament—where the divergences between the nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states will be sharper and the discourse heated.