Ministry Statements & Speeches:
New Zealand remains deeply concerned by the deteriorating state of nuclear disarmament and arms control.
Nuclear arsenals continue to be modernised and expanded. The role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines is growing. Strategic competition between nuclear-armed States is intensifying and nuclear risks are increasing. Nuclear rhetoric and threats are becoming more common.
These developments should concern us all. We are moving further away from, rather than closer to, the world free of nuclear weapons that States have repeatedly committed themselves to achieving.
Chair,
The NPT remains indispensable to progress on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. However, three review cycles without consensus have weakened the Treaty and impeded its full implementation. This trend must be reversed. The NPT was never intended to legitimise the permanent possession of nuclear weapons. We call on nuclear-weapon States to take practical and measurable steps to implement all their NPT commitments.
In the interests of transparency and accountability, nuclear-weapon States should provide clear, measurable and comparable information on the implementation of their disarmament obligations and commitments.
Further to this, we call on states with nuclear weapons to engage in strategic dialogue to reduce the risk of use, and to curb arms racing. We also urge them to negotiate verifiable reductions in their nuclear arsenals.
Our discussions in this Committee have clearly shown the importance of maintaining and strengthening the global moratorium against nuclear explosive testing. New Zealand calls on States that have not yet joined the CTBT to do so without delay. Its entry into force is long overdue. We welcome the recent ratification of the Treaty by Tonga, completing universalisation across the Pacific.
Chair,
The catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons remain central to the need for their elimination. New Zealand supports the TPNW as the clearest legal rejection of nuclear weapons. We encourage states to contribute constructively to the TPNW’s First Review Conference to strengthen implementation, broaden participation, and reinforce the norm against nuclear weapons.
The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty reinforces that norm and the Pacific’s commitment to peace and security. This, and inadequate prior pre-launch notification, made the recent test of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile into the Zone all the more concerning to New Zealand and other Pacific states.
New Zealand welcomes the work of the United Nations Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War. Decisions relating to humanity's most destructive weapons must be informed by the best available evidence. We await its independent findings. We are confident that as global understanding deepens, so too will momentum for reducing the salience of nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament.
Closing the gap between commitment and implementation in nuclear disarmament and arms control must remain our collective priority.
Thank you.