Secretary-General’s message to the Conference on Disarmament [delivered by Kim Won-soo, Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs] Geneva 26 January 2016

26th January 2016

Statement

Secretary-General’s message to the Conference on Disarmament [delivered by Kim Won-soo, Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs]

Geneva, Switzerland, 26 January 2016

I am pleased to send my greetings to all those taking part in the Conference on Disarmament as it begins its 2016 session.

In my first message to this body as Secretary-General nine years ago, I emphasized the importance of reinvigorating disarmament and non-proliferation efforts.
I looked to this Conference to rise to the challenge.  However, we have seen little progress, and the inability to negotiate has become business as usual.
As a result, two goals I outlined almost a decade ago have become more urgent than ever.
First, the world must do more to prevent the expansion or further development of nuclear arsenals.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was designed for that purpose and negotiated in this body.  This year marks twenty years since it has been open for signature. The recent nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was deeply destabilizing for regional security and seriously undermines international non-proliferation efforts. As the fourth such test to break the de facto moratorium in this century, it was a stark reminder of the urgent need to permanently codify the global norm against nuclear tests […]

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[source: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon]