India, US boycott UN nuke ban talks

Countries say discussions impractical

United Nations, March

28: India is not participating in the first UN conference in more than 20 years on a global nuclear weapons ban which opened here amid objections from major nuclear powers.

The United States, Russia, China and several other countries are also skipping the discussion which they see as impractical.

Supporters of the potential pact say it’s time to push harder toward eliminating atomic weapons than nations have been doing through the nearly 50year-old Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty.

With international tensions rising while public awareness of the nuclear threat has waned, “the need for progress on nuclear disarmament has rarely been as urgent as it is today,” UN Under Secretary-General for disarmament Kim Wonsoo said as the talks opened.

More than 100 countries voted for a UN General Assembly resolution last year to start discussions, with nations including Austria, Brazil and Ireland leading the effort.

But the US and several other nuclear powers say a ban won’t work and the world should instead stick with a more gradual approach.

“As a mom, as a daughter, there is nothing I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons. But we have to be realistic,” US ambassador Nikki Haley said as she and colleagues from Britain, France and about 20 other nations, not all of them nuclear states, gathered outside the General Assembly hall to show opposition to the talks starting inside.

She argued that a treaty would end up disarming nations “trying to keep peace and safety,” while “bad actors” wouldn’t sign on or comply.

“North Korea would be the one cheering, and all of us and the people we represent would be the ones at risk,” Ms Haley said.