Mr. Bozkir said that despite recent developments in the push for nuclear disarmament, there was still much to be done, and urged countries that had not yet signed or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty) to do so without delay.
More than 2,000 nuclear tests have been conducted since the advent of nuclear weapons. Although the rate of tests decreased, it did not stop,” He said.
These tests have long-term health and environmental consequences. They destroy the societies they affect. They are displacing families from their homes.”
Progress in disarmament
Reaffirming the General Assembly’s commitment to nuclear disarmament, Mr. Bozkir welcomed the progress made over the past year amid challenges COVID-19 pandemic.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted in 2017, entered into force last January after securing the 50 required ratifications.
The United States and Russia also extended the nuclear arms reduction agreement, known as the New START Treaty, for an additional five years until February 2026.
Work awaits us
However, he stressed that there is more to be done, including arranging meetings to review Non-Proliferation Treaty, which must be held no later than February 2022, and hold Fourth Conference on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones and Mongolia, postponed since April 2020.
Mr. Bozkir also called for action to move forward with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, adopted in 1996, which bans all tests of explosive nuclear weapons anywhere and from any country.
The treaty has been signed by 185 countries and ratified by 170, including three nuclear-armed nations. However, it must be signed and ratified by the 44 countries with nuclear technology before it can enter into force.
“With my term as President of the General Assembly expiring in a few days, I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the States that have not yet signed or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to do so as soon as possible,” Mr. Bozkir said.
the end of the era
The International Day Against Nuclear Tests marks the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991, when more than 450 nuclear devices were detonated over four decades during the Soviet era.
The closure marked the “end of the era of unrestricted nuclear testing”, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in him Message To the event, delivered by the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu.
It also called on the Secretary-General to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and to renew the global commitment to end nuclear testing.
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