*NEW YORK: A top UN official on Monday denounced growing rhetoric claimingthat nuclear arms are necessary and warned that the risk of such weaponsbeing used was on the rise.*
“The threat of the use, intentional or otherwise, of nuclear weapons isgrowing,” the UN’s representative for disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu,told a preliminary review meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT).
The United States, which holds one of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals,also warned the conference that the prospects for progress on disarmamentwas currently “bleak”.
The NPT, introduced at the height of the Cold War a half century ago, seeksto prevent the spread of atomic weapons while putting the onus on nuclearstates to reduce their stockpiles.
Speaking at the opening of the Geneva meeting, Nakamitsu warned that “theworld today faces similar challenges to the context that gave birth to theNPT.”
The NPT treaty, which counts 191 state parties, faces a comprehensivereview every five years, with preparatory committees each year in between.
The next full review of the treaty is scheduled for 2020.
The year’s meeting comes after North Korea, which pulled out of the treaty15 years ago, declared a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testsand said it would dismantle its nuclear test site.
Nakamitsu hailed the announcement, voicing hope that the move “willcontribute to building trust and to sustaining an atmosphere for sinceredialogue and negotiations.” – APP / AFP