A historic moment.
Last week in a United Nations meeting, one hundred
twenty-two nations approved the historic, first ever treaty to ban nuclear
weapons.
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| Born out of the Manhattan project, the United States with the consent of the United Kingdom as outlined in the Quebec agreement, marked the start of the atomic age and the dropping of anatomic bombs in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare history.(Wikipedia) |
“We have managed to sow the first seeds of a world free of
nuclear weapons,” Whyte Gomez said. “We (are) ... saying to our children that,
yes, it is possible to inherit a world free from nuclear weapons.” Said by
Elayne Whyte Gomez, president of the Un conference that is responsible for the
negotiation of the legally binding treaty.
“The world has been waiting for this legal norm for 70
years,” since atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August
1945 at the end of World War II, she said.
A boycott led by the United States of America a well known
nuclear-armed nation, as a matter of fact it was the United States of America
that dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945 to
end World War II in the Asia Pacific region. Other nations that followed the US
are Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
Netherlands opposed the treaty, while Singapore abstained.
The US and other nuclear powers gave an option, that is to
fortify the pre-existing Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
The UN ambassadors from the United States, France and
Britain, made a joint statement stating
that their countries don’t intend to ever become party to the treaty.
The statement says “clearly
disregards the realities of the international security environment” and “is
incompatible with the policy of nuclear deterrence, which has been essential to
keeping the peace in Europe and North Asia for over 70 years.”
The agreed treaty offers no solution to “the grave threat
posed by North Korea's nuclear program, nor does it address other security
challenges that make nuclear deterrence necessary,” the 3 ambassadors
said.
A ban that doesn't address these concerns “cannot result in
the elimination of a single nuclear weapon and will not enhance any country's
security,” they said. “It will do the exact opposite by creating even more
divisions at a time when the world needs to remain united in the face of
growing threats.”
The agreed treaty will be opened for signatures in the month
of September and will come into force when at least fifty (50) countries have ratified the
agreement.
One of the many highlights provisions of the treaty is the
requirement for all ratifying countries to ““never under any circumstances to
develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile
nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” . It also have a
proviso dealing with a ban or any transfer or use of nuclear weapons or nuclear
explosive devices — and the threat to use such weapons.
The Philippines also voted in favour of the treaty.
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