Admin l Tuesday, October 17, 2017
WASHINGTON – U.S Permanent Representatives to the Conference on Disarmament and Special Representative for Bilogical and Toxin Weapons Convention, Ambassador Robert Wood has called on nations to work with the United States for a common solution, adding that collective experience demonstrates that inclusiveness and the search for consensus can lead to progress, while polarization is a recipe for failure.
Wood who was speaking on the lack of consensus on dealing with current nuclear threats posed by North Korea, noted that there are no shortcuts to nuclear disarmament.
“Unrealistic attempts to skip to the finish line have the potential to undermine the institutions and standards we have worked so hard to build”, he said.
According to him, the ban treaty exacerbates political tensions on disarmament, dividing states into overly-simplified camps of “nuclear weapons supporters” and “nuclear weapons banners,” rather than recognizing shared interests – especially on the challenges involved in creating the conditions that would make possible further disarmament progress.
“Reinforcing this false dichotomy and worsening the world’s polarization on disarmament will make further progress within the institutions that have been vehicles for success, such as the NPT review process, significantly more difficult”, he said. He said the United States stands ready to work with others on effective measures to create improved conditions for nuclear disarmament.
“To take one example, we continue to work through the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification to identify and address the complex challenges associated with nuclear disarmament verification. This work is focused on overcoming technical challenges to make substantive progress when the security conditions improve.
“We also continue our longstanding work to support and strengthen the global nonproliferation regime against the many challenges it faces today, for who could deny that there can be no way to envision today’s nuclear weapons possessors ever putting down such tools without rock-solid assurances that no one else will take them up?”, he said.
