Kofi A. Annan International Herald Tribune
MONDAY, MAY 30, 2005
UNITED NATIONS, New York
Regrettably, there are times when multilateral forums tend merely to
reflect, rather than mend, deep rifts over how to confront the threats
we face. The review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,
which ended on Friday with no substantive agreement, was one of these.
For 35 years, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, has been a
cornerstone of our global security. With near universal membership, the
treaty has firmly entrenched a norm against nuclear proliferation and
helped confound predictions that today there would be 25 or more
countries with nuclear weapons. But today, the treaty faces a dual
crisis of compliance and confidence. Delegates at the month-long
conference, which is held once every five years, could not furnish the
world with any solutions to the grave nuclear threats we all face. And
while arriving at an agreement can be more challenging in a climate of
crisis, it is also at such times that it is all the more imperative to
do so.
Let me be clear: Failure of a review conference to come to any
agreement will not break the NPT-based regime. The vast majority of
countries that are parties to the treaty recognize its enduring
benefits. But there are cracks in each of the treaty's pillars -
nonproliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear technology -
and each of these cracks requires urgent repair.
Since the review conference last met, in 2000, North Korea has
announced its withdrawal from the treaty and declared itself in
possession of nuclear weapons. Libya has admitted that it worked for
years on a clandestine nuclear weapons program. And the International
Atomic Energy Agency has found undeclared uranium enrichment activity
in Iran.
Clearly, the NPT-based regime has not kept pace with the march of
technology and globalization. Whereas proliferation among countries was
once considered the sole concern of the treaty, revelations that the
Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan and others were extensively
trafficking in nuclear technology and know-how exposed the
vulnerability of the nonproliferation regime to non-state actors.
The treaty's framers could hardly have imagined that we would have to
work tirelessly to prevent terrorists from acquiring and using nuclear
weapons and related materials. And while progress toward disarmament
has taken place, there are still 27,000 nuclear weapons in the world,
many of which remain on hair-trigger alert.
At the same time, the intergovernmental bodies designed to address
these challenges are paralyzed. In Geneva, the Conference on
Disarmament has been unable to agree on a program of work for eight
years. The UN Disarmament Commission has become increasingly marginal,
producing no real agreement since 2000. And at the NPT review
conference, nearly two-thirds of the proceedings were consumed by
debate about agenda and logistics, instead of substantive discussions
on how to strengthen the nonproliferation regime.
In my opening address to the conference, I argued that success would
depend on coming to terms with all the nuclear dangers that threaten
humanity. I warned that the conference would stall if some delegates
focused on some threats instead of addressing them all. Some countries
underscored proliferation as a grave danger, while others argued that
existing nuclear arsenals imperil us. Some insisted that the spread of
nuclear fuel-cycle technology posed an unacceptable proliferation
threat, while others countered that access to peaceful uses of nuclear
technology must not be compromised.
In the end, delegations regrettably missed the opportunity to endorse
the merits of all of these arguments. As a result, they were unable to
advance security against any of the dangers we face. How, then, can we
overcome this paralysis?
When multilateral forums falter, leaders must lead. This September,
more than 170 heads of state and government will convene in New York to
adopt a wide-ranging agenda to advance development, security and human
rights for all countries and all peoples. I challenge them to break the
deadlock on the most pressing challenges in the field of nuclear
nonproliferation and disarmament. If they fail to do so, their peoples
will ask how, in today's world, they could not find common ground in
the cause of diminishing the existential threat of nuclear weapons.
To revitalize the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, action will be
required on many fronts. To strengthen verification and increase
confidence in the regime, leaders must agree to make the International
Atomic Energy Agency's Additional Protocol the new standard for
verifying compliance with nonproliferation commitments.
Leaders must find ways to reconcile the right to peaceful uses of
nuclear energy with the imperative of nonproliferation. The regime will
not be sustainable if scores more countries develop the most sensitive
phases of the fuel cycle, and are equipped with the technology to
produce nuclear weapons on short notice.
A first step would be to create incentives for countries to voluntarily
forgo the development of fuel-cycle facilities. I commend the nuclear
agency and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, for working to
advance consensus on this vital question, and I urge leaders to join
him in that mission.
Leaders must also move beyond rhetoric in addressing the question of
disarmament. Prompt negotiation of a fissile material cutoff treaty for
all countries is indispensable. All countries also should affirm their
commitment to a moratorium on testing, and to early entry into force of
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. And I hope leaders will
think seriously about what more can be done to reduce - irreversibly -
the number and role of nuclear weapons in the world.
Bold commitments at the September meeting would breathe new life into
all forums dealing with disarmament and nonproliferation. They would
reduce all the risks we face - of nuclear accidents, of trafficking, of
terrorist use and of use by countries themselves. It is an ambitious
agenda, and probably daunting to some. But the consequences of failure
are far more daunting. Solutions are within are reach; we must grasp
them.
(Kofi A. Annan is secretary general of the United Nations.)
posted on 2005-08-08 22:25 Celinar 阅读(641) 评论(0) 编辑 收藏 所属分类: My Digest  网摘收藏
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