NEPAL DEMANDS COMPLETE DISARMAMENT OF ALL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
(http://nepalnews.com/archive/2011/oct/oct07/news07.php) Supplied by Sukla Sen
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, Gyan Chandra Acharya has said that Nepal consistently advocates for general and complete disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction including biological, chemical, nuclear, radiological weapons in a time bound manner.
In his statement to the United Nations at the General Debate of the First Committee during 66th Session of the UN General Assembly New York on Thursday, Acharya said, as a party to NPT and CWC, Nepal strongly believes in the elimination of nuclear weapons to attain nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation once and for all.
“Declaration of nuclear weapon free zones by concluding a binding treaty is a laudable step which would contribute towards the stepwise denuclearization of the world”.
Stating that the increasing availability and trafficking of small arms and light weapons around the world but specifically in conflict zones is a matter of serious concern, Acharya said conflict is the very antithesis of
development and small arms have played havoc to the lives of the common people around the world.
Nepal fully supports the effective implementation of the Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons and Nepal supports the adoption of a legally binding instrument to regulate international arms transfer for transparency and accountability.
In the similar vein, Nepal stands for prevention of arms race in the outer space, he added.
The Conference on Disarmament, a single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, must be revitalized without delay to advance multilateral disarmament negotiations including on the Fissile Materials Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), Acharya said.
The Permanent Representative of Nepal to the UN said Nepal also believes that convening of the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly on Disarmament (SSOD-IV) would be an important step to take stock of the
existing disarmament agenda and machinery in a holistic manner and devise a future course of actions. However, Nepal is saddened to learn that the global military expenditure today stands at over US$1.6 trillion, and has
been rising in recent years despite the global financial and economic crises.
The Final Document of the International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development convened in 1987 had urged the international community to devote a greater part of their resources to economic and social development while keeping the military expenditure at the lowest possible level.
He also said Nepal strongly believes that regional mechanisms complement efforts to promote the global disarmament agenda. The Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament for Asia and the Pacific (RCPD) located in Kathmandu is making efforts to promote regional discussions on important disarmament agenda.
Given the importance of the Asia-Pacific region as well as the agenda, we believe that the “Kathmandu Process” needs to be revitalized to facilitate dialogue and deliberations on many contemporary challenges including
confidence building in the region. As the host of the Centre, Nepal is fully committed to strengthening the Centre as an effective United Nations regional entity in building regional understanding and confidence for peace
and disarmament.
Acharya said Nepal calls for an enhanced level of support to the Centre from the international community, particularly the member states from Asia and the Pacific region to enhance the importance of the work of the Centre.
As in the previous years, Nepal along with other cosponsoring countries, will be tabling a resolution on “United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific” at the current Session of the
Committee, for which support from all delegations will be highly appreciated.
In conclusion, Acharya said multilateral approach should be at the centre of advancing non-proliferation and disarmament and promoting international peace and security.
Top - Home