Introduction:
- The United Nations has adopted a historic global treaty banning nuclear weapons on 7th July by 122 countries. However, Netherlands voted against the treaty and was the only country to do this, while Singapore abstained from voting.
- The president of the UN conference that negotiated the treaty was Costa Rica’s ambassador Elayne Whyte Gomez.141 countries led by Australia, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa joined in drafting the treaty for increasing pressure on the nuclear states for taking disarmament.
- The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – the nine countries that own nuclear weapon neither took part in the negotiations nor cast their votes. Even the sole sufferer of atomic attack country Japan refrained from taking part in the negotiations as did most of the NATO countries that boycotted the negotiations.
- The nuclear-powered country argues that the treaty was unrealistic and have no impact on reducing the Global stockpile of 15000 atomic weapons also they argue their arsenals serve as a deterrent against nuclear attack also they committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. NPT puts the responsibility on the nuclear states to reduce their stockpiles.
- However, the non-nuclear states are anxious about the slow pace of disarmament and bothered about the weapons of mass destruction can fall into the wrong hands.
Some Facts About The Treaty
- The treaty requires of all countries who ratify that under any circumstances never produce, manufacture, develop, test, acquire, or stockpile nuclear weapons, also cannot transfer or use the nuclear weapons.
- The treaty will come into the force after 50 countries ratified it also it would be open for signature as of September 20.
- The United States, Britain, and France think that this initiative disregards the realities of the International Security environment and also it offers no solution to the threat posed by North Korea‘s nuclear programme that is why they rejected the treaty within hours of its adoption.
NATO:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium is an international alliance, which consists of the 29-member state. It was established on 4th April 1949.
