United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu on Tuesday told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that the global prioritization of “competition over cooperation, and the acquisition of arms, prioritized over the pursuit of diplomacy” has made the likelihood of nuclear weapons being used “higher than it has been in generations.”
Nakamitsu spoke in the context of the planned 2020 review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). According to the representative, that treaty is “the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime and the essential foundation of nuclear disarmament. Its role as a pillar of our collective security is likewise an accepted fact.”
According to many experts, the future of nuclear disarmament seems bleak because there is a real possibility that the US and Russia may abandon the New Start treaty, especially since both countries have already pulled out of the intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty.
Read more: Prospect of a nuclear war ‘higher than it has been in generations’, warns UN
