159 nations endorse Austria’s call for ban on nuclear weapons

Europe, News April 29, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Austria has called for banning nuclear weapons because of their catastrophic humanitarian effects. The Austrian initiative now has the backing of 159 countries.

Speaking at the five-year review conference of the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said: “The only way to guarantee that nuclear weapons will never be used again is through their total elimination.”

Kurz told the 191 parties to the treaty, the world’s benchmark arms control accord: “All states share the responsibility to prevent the use of nuclear weapons.”

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz

The initiative was presented ahead of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atom bombs dropped on Japan. Diplomats from the 159 countries supporting the ban, said the initiative was modeled on successful campaigns to ban land mines and other weapons and could take years to move forward.

Most of the 193 U.N. members back the proposal.

However, there is virtually no support from NPT nuclear weapons states and veto-wielding Security Council members – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – or the countries of NATO, an alliance that provides a kind of “nuclear umbrella” security guarantee for its members.

Four other states presumed to have nuclear weapons – Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea – are not listed as supporters of the initiative.

The five permanent Security Council members signed the NPT as nuclear weapons states, although the pact calls on them to negotiate the reduction and eventual elimination of their arms caches. Non-nuclear states complain that there have been too few steps toward nuclear disarmament.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday demanded countries possessing nuclear weapons scrap any plans to modernize their arsenals.

Tehran supports the Austrian initiative and is in talks with six world powers to curb sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran, accused by Western powers of developing a nuclear weapons capability under cover of a civilian program, says its program is peaceful.