Global peace arrangements ‘unravelling’, UN chief warns nuclear disarmament conference
Trust is sinking, while insecurity, impunity, military spending are rising, weakening the spirit of mutual restraint, says Antonio Guterres
Security arrangements that have supported global peace for decades are unravelling, the head of the United Nations warned on Monday as he urged countries to work together towards a nuclear free world.
“The bilateral and regional security arrangements that underwrote global peace and stability for decades are unravelling before our eyes,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Conference on Disarmament that gathered in Geneva.
“Trust is sinking, while uncertainty, insecurity, impunity and military spending are all rising,” Guterres added.
Such factors were weakening the spirit of “mutual restraint”, he said, as he called on countries to implement nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation commitments agreed at a summit in New York in September.
Sixty-five states, including the United States, China and Russia, are members of the Conference which was established in 1979 and is overseen by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.
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It focuses on negotiating deals to end the nuclear arms race and stop countries building up weapons in space, on top of pursuing general disarmament.