Originally published on the CGS blog on September 2, 2009.
To aid the cause of nuclear disarmament, U.S. President Barack Obama will chair a United Nations Security Council meeting on September 24th. This comes after President Obama’s April speech in Prague, where he promised greater U.S. leadership on nuclear disarmament. Peter Weiss, president of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) said what he thought Obama will do at the meeting:
“announce the U.S. support of the renewal of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START); ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); and negotiation of the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). And here’s what I think he should do, in addition: Announce that, at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in May next year, the U.S. will propose an international conference for the purpose of beginning serious work on a convention outlawing the possession of nuclear weapons and criminalizing their use.”
Without this second step, Weiss said, the first series of steps will not bring about the nuclear weapons free world which Obama spoke about in Prague.
The special session of the United Nations Security Council will also be attended by political leaders from the 14 other members states – including the other four permanent members of the Council, namely China, Britain, France and Russia.
The 10 non-permanent members in the United Nations Security Council, whose heads of state have been invited to participate, include Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya, Vietnam, Austria, Mexico, Japan, Turkey and Uganda.
