Promoting the Global Instruments of Nonproliferation and Disarmament

On May
31, 2011 the Permanent Missions of Japan, Poland, and Turkey, in collaboration
with the Stimson Center’s Managing
Across Boundaries program
, hosted a day-long UN conference “Promoting the Global Instruments of
Nonproliferation and Disarmament: The United Nations and the Nuclear Challenge.”
The event took place at the Japan Society in New York City and convened 150 participants
representing 62 United Nations missions, as well as leading experts in the
nonproliferation, disarmament and transnational security fields.  Distinguished
speakers included United
Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon; H.E. Mr. Tsuneo Nishida, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,
Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations; H.E. Mr. Witold Sobków,
Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Poland to the United Nations; H.E. Mr. ErtuÄŸrul
Apakan, Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations;
and Stimson Center president Ellen Laipson.



The event
examined current trends in nuclear nonproliferation with particular focus on
new challenges presented by globalization. The conference also explored the
intimate connection between nonproliferation and international development,
considering how arms control mechanisms can positively impact socio-economic
stability in developing countries. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Nishida
of Japan
commended the recent progress made in nonproliferation and disarmament, but
urged the international community to intensify efforts in achieving a nuclear
free world. Ambassador Apakan of Turkey reminded participants of the
urgency of the proliferation threat, noting gaps in existing international
nonproliferation frameworks, difficulty in implementing nonproliferation
instruments, and barriers in crafting new effective and innovative
nonproliferation and disarmament initiatives. Ambassador Sobków of Poland
discussed the importance of having a nonproliferation and disarmament forum in New York, as it hosts a
wide array of international organizations dedicated to nonproliferation,
disarmament, and nuclear energy. As such, it is an ideal setting for fostering
a new quality of cooperation among relevant NGOs, industries, and governments.


During
the first morning panel, Ms. Laipson noted how nonproliferation mechanisms
today are directly relevant to capacity building on a range of international
security and development areas and that the international community could
capitalize on dual benefit opportunities to ameliorate them simultaneously.  Mr. George Perkovich of the Carnegie
Endowment for Peace described a global view of the WMD environment, noting the
growing relationship between state and sub-state entities in the proliferation
process.  Ms. Hannelore Hoppe of the
United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs
and Mr. Piero Bonadeo of the
United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime discussed how nonproliferation
intersects with other significant transnational threats, including the
circulation of small arms and light weapons, as well as drug and human
trafficking.  Experts from the Committees
of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1737, and 1540 extended
the conversation by providing a brief status report on the activities of the
relevant United Nations resolutions on nonproliferation and disarmament, as well
as the challenges facing each UN Security Council Committees.

During his keynote
address, Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon
reiterated his commitment to
nonproliferation and disarmament, and called on the United Nations Security
Council to prioritizing these issues, particularly the ways in which
nonproliferation and disarmament are intimately connected with other challenges
such as poverty and climate change. The Secretary General also emphasized the
need for urgent action on disarmament, claiming that he hopes that one day the
use of nuclear weapons not only become improbable, but impossible.

Afternoon
sessions featured smaller roundtable discussions between diplomats and experts
that concentrated on establishing a new approach in strengthening the current
international framework on nuclear security, disarmament and proliferation.
Recommendations regarding effective implementation of relevant United Nations
resolutions were discussed, as well as the role of non-binding international
agreement and partnerships with the private sector in achieving
nonproliferation goals.

To see
the agenda for this event please click here.


For a
brochure on the Managing Across Boundaries program please click here.

 

Photo credit: Mark McQueen



 

 

 

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