DYB2011-Part-II-web

C h a p t e r I
Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
Nuclear disarmament is especially important because if we fail to achieve
it, our other goals will also be in grave jeopardy. International peace and
security is not a prerequisite for nuclear disarmament. Quite the contrary,
verified nuclear disarmament itself would make an immense contribution to
international peace and security, and should be pursued today, not deferred
because of the false notion that it should be undertaken only in a world fully
at peace.
Developments and trends, 2011
Ban Ki-moon, United nations secretary-General 1
Following the achievements in 2010 of important agreements on new
commitments aimed at attaining a world free of nuclear weapons and other
objectives related to nuclear non-proliferation and security, international
efforts in 2011 focused on implementation and consolidation of these gains.
Progress on advancing the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agenda
remained stagnant in many respects, although accomplishments in 2011 have
laid the groundwork for future improvement.
During the year, States undertook additional actions to implement the
commitments agreed to at the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). 2 On 5 February,
the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America
on Measures for Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive
Arms entered into force. From 30 June to 1 July, the nuclear-weapon States
(NWS) met in Paris to discuss the implementation of the action plan agreed to
at the 2010 NPT Review Conference, with a view, in particular, to elaborating
a standard form for reporting information on their nuclear arsenals.
At the same time, the NWS continued to modernize their nuclear
arsenals, including their nuclear-weapon delivery systems. Some NWS
also continued to develop and deploy new nuclear-weapon systems with
1 Secretary-General’s message to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, delivered by
Sergio Duarte, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Hiroshima, 6 August
2011. Available from http://www.un.org/disarmament/HomePage/SG/docs/2011/2011-08-
06_Peace_Memorial_hiroshima.pdf.
2 The treaty text and status of adherence are available from http://disarmament.un.org/
treaties/ (accessed 7 May 2012).
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