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UN warns nuclear states on disarmament

Thursday, 23 April 2015 1:20 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 April 2015 1:24 AM ]

UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane speaks at an international conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, on December 8, 2014 in Vienna. (AFP photo)

The United Nations has warned the world’s nuclear states over their failure to make headway on disarmament.

"We have a stalling in the path to a nuclear-free world," said Angela Kane, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs at a meeting organized by the International Peace Institute at UN headquarters in the United States on Wednesday.

Kane made the remarks as the 190 signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are set to hold a month-long conference at the UN on Monday.

"The nuclear-weapons states are not living up to their side of the bargain," said the UN official, adding, "Right now, the non-nuclear states need to be given the sense that they are taken seriously."

The upcoming conference aims at prioritizing a disarmament agenda for the next five years, crucial to the NPT to retain its “credibility”, as put by Kane.

She further hailed a framework agreement reached earlier between Iran and the P5+1 group - the US, Russia, Britain, France, China, and Germany.

The UN official said the understanding could "give pause" to the the Israeli regime and the nuclear threshold states of Pakistan and India that have not joined the NPT.

Iran and the P5+1 group reached a landmark understanding over Tehran’s nuclear program in Switzerland on April 2. The two sides are now working to draft a final accord by the end of June.

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