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Geneva: Sri Lanka has affirmed its support for the convening of a conference in 2017, to negotiate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha has affirmed the country’s support at the third and final session of the General Assembly mandated Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations, held in Geneva last week.
Expressing concern on the slow progress made over the decades on international multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts, Ambassador Aryasinha has noted that the agreement on such a negotiation would ensure the fulfilment of the wish of the UN membership at large.
“As already expressed by many States, Sri Lanka is also of the view that, over the years, the nuclear disarmament pillar of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has been consistently overlooked,” the Ambassador said.
During its final plenary meeting held on 19 August, the Group adopted the report by vote, and recommend to the General Assembly to convene a Conference in 2017, to negotiate a legally-binding instrument, to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination. The recommendation, which will be assessed by the General Assembly, is seen as a significant step towards nuclear disarmament.
Elaborating on Sri Lanka’s position at the plenary, Ambassador Aryasinha said, “While Sri Lanka together with the G-21 members will continue to work in favour of a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention at the Conference on Disarmament, Sri Lanka on its part considers that it is reasonable for the G-21 States to also extend support for other processes on nuclear disarmament such as the negotiation of a prohibition treaty, which can lead to the ultimate objective of complete elimination of nuclear weapons.”
He further stressed that this is an opportunity for States to come up with concrete steps, on multilateral nuclear disarmament and encouraged making forward-looking recommendations to the General Assembly.
Sri Lankan envoy noting that with 191 State Parties, the NPT has largely fulfilled the non - proliferation objective of the treaty said although nearly after a half a century (46 years), progress on the commitment towards the nuclear disarmament pillar of the treaty is yet to be seen.
“This raises the question as to whether the NPT is merely meant to be a non-proliferation treaty only,” he said.
Ambassador Aryasinha said Sri Lanka also believes that the work of the OEWG could further strengthen the collective obligation towards the full implementation of the NPT.
The Deputy Permanent Representative Samantha Jayasuriya and Second Secretary Mafusa Lafir of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations participated in the deliberations.
