UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons may be adopted soon

United Nations: The president of the UN conference drafting what could be the first-ever treaty to ban nuclear weapons has expressed confidence that with "the necessary political will" more than 130 countries supporting the initiative can reach agreement by the July 7 target.

Elayne Whyte Gomez, Costa Rica's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the opening of negotiations on a draft treaty circulated on May 22 that delegates were representing their countries but they were also "united together in historic commitment" to finalising a treaty.

Last December, UN member states overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for negotiations on a treaty that would outlaw nuclear weapons, despite strong opposition from nuclear-armed nations and their allies. Not one of the nine countries believed to possess nuclear weapons the US, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel is supporting a treaty. Instead of adopting a total ban, the United States and other nuclear powers want to strengthen and reaffirm the nearly half-century-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The NPT, considered the cornerstone of global nonproliferation efforts, aims to prevent the spread of atomic arms beyond the five original weapons powers the US, Russia, Britain, France and China.

It requires non-nuclear signatory nations not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for a commitment by the five nuclear powers to move toward nuclear disarmament and to guarantee non-nuclear states access to peaceful nuclear technology.