On Fiftieth Anniversary of General Assembly Resolution 2028, Secretary-General Calls for Member States’ Recommitment to Nuclear-Free World

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General welcomes the fiftieth anniversary of General Assembly resolution 2028, the historic resolution that established the five principles for a Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1965.

The NPT, which subsequently entered into force in 1970, remains the cornerstone of the non-proliferation regime and the only legally binding multilateral commitment to nuclear disarmament.

Since then, the world has made remarkable gains in stemming the spread of nuclear weapons, reducing deployed nuclear arsenals and diminishing the role of nuclear weapons in national security strategies.

However, while the international community shares the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, it is divided over how to achieve it.

The Secretary-General calls on Member States to use this occasion to recommit themselves to a nuclear-weapon-free world, to strengthening dialogue and finding common ground, and to devising a way forward for the sake of our collective security.