No Nukes

Countries with nuclear weapons have a "special responsibility" in promoting nonproliferation, according to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Speaking on Friday at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, the secretary general encouraged nuclear weapon states "to come up with a bold set of measures to promote transparency of their nuclear arsenals." Further:

They can do this next April at the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference. Or they can start today by contributing data to the U.N.'s "Repository of Information Provided By Nuclear-Weapon States," as mandated at the Review Conference in 2010.

This should commence with in-depth consultations between the States with the largest nuclear arsenals -- the Russian Federation and the United States -- followed by deep and verified cuts in their arsenals and additional reductions by other States.

I urge all nuclear-armed States to reconsider their national nuclear posture.

Nuclear deterrence is not a solution to international peace and stability.  It is an obstacle.

Member States also need to reinvigorate the international disarmament machinery.

When I spoke to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva I said plainly that the very credibility of the body is at risk. The Conference's record of achievement is overshadowed by inertia that has now lasted for more than a decade.  That must change. Another year of stalemate in the Conference on Disarmament is simply unacceptable.

The U.N. chief also called on the Conference on Disarmament to begin "long-overdue negotiations on a fissile material treaty as a priority."

The conference "should also start deliberations on a nuclear weapons convention, a legal security assurance for non-nuclear weapon States against nuclear threats, and the prevention of an arms race in outer space," he said, adding: "Global nuclear disarmament requires global arrangements."

View his prepared remarks.