DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
280
First Committee. After voting in favour of the draft resolution, Sweden took
the floor, commenting with regard to the fifteenth preambular paragraph, in which
the General Assembly took note of the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention. Sweden
believed that that was done without prejudice to any future negotiating process on
a nuclear weapons convention or on a framework of separate, mutually reinforcing
instruments.
Having abstained in the vote, Japan stressed that nuclear weapons should never
again be used, and supported the unanimous opinion of the judges of the International
Court of Justice on the existing obligations under international law to pursue nuclear
disarmament and to conclude negotiations on the matter in good faith. For that, States
must take concrete measures to achieve steady, step-by-step progress in nuclear
disarmament and non-proliferation. Japan believed that such progress should be made
prior to embarking upon the negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention.
66/48. Reducing nuclear danger
The General Assembly, by this annual
resolution, continued to call for a review of nuclear
doctrines and, in that context, for immediate and
urgent steps to reduce the risks of unintentional
and accidental use of nuclear weapons. It also
requested the Secretary-General to intensify efforts
and support initiatives that would contribute
Submitted by: sponsors (26 Oct.) a
GA vote: 117-49-13 (2 Dec.)
1st Cttee vote: 110-48-12 (26 Oct.)
For text, sponsors and voting pattern, see
Yearbook, Part I, pp. 126-128.
towards the full implementation of the seven recommendations in the report of the
Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, b and to continue
encouraging Member States to consider the convening of an international conference
to identify ways of eliminating nuclear dangers, as proposed in the United Nations
Millennium Declaration.
First Committee. In a general statement before the vote, Cuba said that it
intended to support the draft resolution, reaffirming that security guarantees received
to date had not been effective and that a single international, legally binding judicial
instrument, through which nuclear-weapon States could provide non-nuclear-weapon
States with security guarantees against the use or threat of use of such weapons,
should be created. Cuba had repeatedly called for the complete elimination of nuclear
weapons and supported the call for a high-level international conference to reach
an agreement on that matter. Furthermore, it believed that the concept of nuclear
deterrence as a basis for unsustainable and unacceptable military doctrines should be
abandoned once and for all, since, far from contributing to nuclear disarmament, it
encouraged the perpetual possession of nuclear weapons.
After voting favour of the draft resolution, Brazil stressed that nuclear
doctrines must be reviewed, as called for in paragraph 1, in order to reduce the risks
of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons. Measures such as de-alerting
and de-targeting nuclear weapons could not substitute for multilateral agreements
a Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Chile, Congo, Cuba, Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Gabon, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar,
Nepal, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Viet Nam and Zambia.
b See A/56/400, para. 3.