The United Nations (UN) has warned that the threat of a nuclear weapon being used is now “higher than it has been in generations.”
The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, gave the warning in New York, United States of America, yesterday, in a meeting convened in support of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The meeting was convened by the UN Security Council at the UN headquarters, ahead of the next conference to review the historic accord, scheduled for 2020.
Nakamitsu regretted that humanity now lives in a world defined by “competition over cooperation, and the acquisition of arms, prioritised over the pursuit of diplomacy.”
The NPT, which entered into force in 1970, represents the only multilateral binding commitment to the goal of disarmament by the countries which officially stockpile nuclear weapons.
Nakamitsu warned that the use of nuclear weapons, “either intentionally, by accident, or through miscalculation,” was one of the greatest threats to international peace and security.”
She added that “the potential consequences of a nuclear war would be global and affect all member states.” The treaty, she said, was widely acknowledged as “the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime and the essential foundation of nuclear disarmament.”