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Delivered by Ivana Nikolić Hughes at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)
Honorable President, Distinguished Delegates, Colleagues, and Friends,
It is a heavy burden to know that this beautiful world of ours could end in mere minutes. To know that nuclear war could destroy everything we’ve ever known and everything we’ve ever loved. Nuclear weapons don’t just pose a threat to a single or even multiple cities. They don’t just pose a threat to a single or even multiple nations. They pose a threat to this entire planet, to all of humanity, and to all of our fellow earth inhabitants.
Everyone in this room has experienced some sort of personal tragedy or knows someone who has. In those times, the people in need had family and friends to turn to, to help them through a challenging time, to come out on the other side. In a nuclear war, there will be no other side. There will be no one to turn to. Everyone will be a victim. And as Chairman Khruschev said, “the survivors will envy the dead.”
No one feels the anguish about the dangers of nuclear weapons more acutely than the Hibakusha who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the communities that have been impacted by nuclear weapons testing and development. You have heard from some of them already and you will continue to hear from them throughout the week. They know firsthand just how awful and unacceptable nuclear weapons are. We must heed their warnings as the wake-up calls to humanity that they are and also work with them towards nuclear justice.
The path to elimination of all nuclear weapons is a long and arduous one. There are three key issues that I wish to highlight, all of which need the full attention, energy, and creativity of all States parties and of civil society, working together to bring about full and complete implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Number 1: We need to educate all governments that are not yet a part of this treaty and people everywhere on what is at stake in a world with 12,000 nuclear weapons in possession of nine nuclear armed states. The myths about nuclear weapons keeping us safe need to be dispelled and the reality of the risks that we face in such a world need to be brought to bear. Everyone can be involved, from diplomats, to artists, to scientists, to physicians, and most especially young people who are still finding their own path in life. We need the energy and creativity of all well-meaning people from all walks of life so that we can fully universalize this treaty. As Nelson Mandela stated in his speech in 1998 in this very building, “We must ask the question, which might sound naive to those who have elaborated sophisticated arguments to justify their refusal to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass destruction – why do they need them anyway!”
Number 2: We need to ensure that Articles 6 and 7 on victim assistance and environmental remediation are implemented as swiftly as possible. The global hibakusha have been waiting for nuclear justice for far too long. Two affected states parties, Kazakhstan and Kiribati, need our help. Kazakhstan has a lot of experience with victim assistance and environmental remediation efforts, but more work and assistance is needed. Kiribati has yet to fully understand the extent of its nuclear legacy and the impact that the UK and US nuclear tests have had on the population of Christmas Island and beyond. We need to help these states through scientific, medical, technical, financial, and other assistance. We furthermore need to encourage other affected states to join the treaty. Nuclear justice needs to be an effort that brings us together and guides our path forward on elimination.
Number 3: We need to work on verification mechanisms that will ensure that elimination can be agreed upon amongst nuclear armed states and that once eliminated, nuclear weapons programs will remain a thing of the past. Nuclear disarmament windows of opportunity can open at any moment. The TPNW needs to be ready for such occasions and needs to provide the broader context for any bilateral, trilateral, or multilateral disarmament efforts on disarmament. Imagine if there had been a TPNW in 1986 when Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev almost agreed to eliminate nuclear weapons in Reykjavik. We would have been living in a world free of nuclear weapons for years now.
Instead, today, nuclear weapons could kill millions in an instant, sicken many more over days and weeks, and starve to death billions over months and years. These facts should bring the entire world together to eliminate this mortal threat. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is not our best hope. It is our only hope.
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