Work of international actors in preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons in focus at OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation | WPN World People News

The work of international actors, including the OSCE’s contribution, in supporting the implementation of the 2004 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 on preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons was explored at the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) meeting in Vienna, held under Slovakia’s Chairmanship.

Dr. Lassina Zerbo (l-r), Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), H. E. Ambassador Maria Assunta Accili Sabbatini, Chairperson of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, and Marta Žiaková, Chairperson of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Slovakia at the meeting of the Forum for Security Co-operation, Vienna, 7 February 2018.

“Recognizing the threat to international peace and security posed by nuclear weapons, UNSCR 1540 represents a landmark decision and marks an important step towards limiting this threat by outlining provisions and measures and providing a framework for preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” said Ambassador Radomír Boháč, Chairperson of the Forum and Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the OSCE. “Sadly, the importance and necessity of this resolution is particularly relevant in the light of the volatile and unpredictable nuclear environment.”

He added OSCE fully supports the implementation of UNSCR 1540, as the Organization’s vision to promote peace and ensure security across the OSCE region is inextricably linked to the resolution’s aim of maintaining a system that regulates the spread and use of nuclear weapons.

Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), said that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is currently the only basis for convergence on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, adding the OSCE has a role in highlighting the Treaty’s importance and the need for its ratification so it can enter into force.

“The strengthened co-operation between the CTBTO and the OSCE can be a force multiplier,” he said. “The OSCE has initiated the concept of a strategic dialogue to address divergent regional and global threat perceptions. Let us remember how generations of the past addressed some of the most serious political and technological challenges: not because they were easy, but because they were hard. The Helsinki Final Act is one of these examples.”

Ambassador Maria Assunta Accili Sabbatini, Chairperson of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission and Permanent Representative of Italy to the International Organizations in Vienna, said: “The CTBT is a major building block of the current multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation architecture, having as its cornerstone the treaty, its universalization and the interdependence of its three pillars - disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Today, in an international scenario where nuclear threats give rise to renewed tensions, we cannot afford to relent in our efforts towards the universalization of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and, ultimately, its entry into force. Quite the reverse.”

Marta Žiaková, Chairperson of Slovakia’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority said we need to work together and focus on finding consensus in order to take our multilateral efforts forward.

“The CTBTO remains a unique and irreplaceable framework for maintaining and strengthening international peace, security and stability,” she said. “Slovakia has been an active contributor to this end since 2001 through active co-operation with the CTBTO's Provisional Technical Secretariat, mainly by hosting various On-Site Inspection training and testing activities on our territory, where the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic was designated as the responsible National Authority. I would like to reiterate my country's readiness to assist the CTBTO's Provisional Technical Secretariat, as well as its Executive Secretary, his Excellency Mr. Lassina Zerbo, in any way needed, in order to jointly further enhance and strengthen the global nuclear security regime.”

Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe