UN / ANGELA KANE

Marking the observance of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs said the Conference on Disarmament is a “cold war era body” which is “sleepwalking through an increasingly changing world” and failing “to make meaningful progress towards nuclear disarmament.” UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:07
• Production Date: 5 September 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY ORGANIZATION - CTBTO
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT; NUCLEAR SCIENCE
• MAMS Id: U130905b

Description

STORY: UN / ANGELA KANE
TRT: 2.07
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 5 SEPTEMBER 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

5 SEPTEMBER 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

2. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Angela Kane, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs:
“The CTBT should be brought into force without further delay. Moratoria on testing are most welcome, but go only so far as has been proven by events early this year in East Asia. However, let us also recall that the CTBT is only one element in our pursuit towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”
4. Wide shot, dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Angela Kane, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs:
“The year 1998 brought us the last, short lived glimmer of hope that the Conference on Disarmament could still perform as mandated. Unfortunately, this cold war era body is sleepwalking through an increasingly changing world without any prospect for resuming its substantive work. This situation is rightfully raising sincere questions about its relevance. Over the past several years frustration has grown over the persistent failure of the traditional multilateral forums, in particular the Conference on Disarmament, to make meaningful progress towards nuclear disarmament.”
6. Wide shot, dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the CTBTO:
“Progress on the CTBT is an indicator of the health of an NPT and international commitment towards nuclear disarmament. It is hard to imagine any further progress on nuclear disarmament, including a fissile material treaty without the CTBT into force.”
8. Med shot, Kazakhstan delegation
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the CTBTO:
“The three DPRK declared tests, 2006, 2009, and 2013 have put our political, scientific, technical, and human capability into test. We managed to prove beyond doubt the capabilities of the verification regime, even at this stage of build up of the monitoring system.”
10. Wide shot, dais

Storyline

Marking the observance of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, said today (5 September) the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) “should be brought into force without further delay.”

Kane said moratoria on testing are “most welcome, but go only so far as has been proven by events early this year in East Asia.”

The Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted its third, nuclear test on 12 February this year in violation of sanctions imposed by the Security Council following nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Kane also said the Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a “cold war era body” which is “sleepwalking through an increasingly changing world” and failing “to make meaningful progress towards nuclear disarmament.”

The CD, established in 1979 is the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community. The CD and its predecessors have negotiated such major multilateral arms limitation and disarmament agreements as the CTBT and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as well as conventions on biological and chemical weapons.

Also speaking at the meeting, the new Head of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo said “progress on the CTBT is an indicator of the health of an NPT and international commitment towards nuclear disarmament.”

He said it was “hard to imagine any further progress on nuclear disarmament, including a fissile material treaty without the CTBT into force.”

Zerbo highlighted the importance of the CTBT International Monitoring System, a key component of the Treaty.

He said the three DPRK declared tests “have put our political, scientific, technical, and human capability into test” and proved “beyond doubt the capabilities of the verification regime, even at this stage of build up of the monitoring system.”

On 2 December 2009, the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August the International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35. The resolution calls for increasing awareness and education “about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.” The resolution was initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with a large number of sponsors and cosponsors with a view to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.