|
With the 2005 review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) set to kick off yesterday at United Nations Headquarters in New York, senior officials stressed the importance of restoring confidence in the landmark accord, some 35 years after it came into force.
Although concerned about an 'erosion of confidence' in the NPT - a sentiment expressed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his recent report 'In Larger Freedom' - the States parties to the Treaty believed it was an important instrument, which must fulfil its objectives and purposes, said Brazilian Ambassador Sergio de Queiroz Duarte.
Briefing correspondents in his capacity as President of the 2005 Review Conference of the State parties to the NPT, which will run through 27 May, Mr. Duarte said he was positive that all parties would work together to increase confidence in the Treaty and increase its capacity to respond to the challenges of the day.
Considered a landmark agreement, the 1968 Treaty seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology, foster the peaceful use of nuclear energy and further the goal of general and complete disarmament.
Adherence to the NPT by 188 States, including the five nuclear-weapon States, renders the accord the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament instrument.
Joining Mr. Duarte was UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu Abe. To a question on how important the Conference was to the success of the Secretary-General's reform agenda, Mr. Abe said the Conference was a key occasion to discuss some of the points presented in the 'In Larger Freedom' report, and that he hoped a positive result would emerge.
Many of the nuclear-related proposals of that report were in the hands of the Review Conference or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he noted. Therefore, it was an important opportunity to implement the report's proposals.
Asked how important a successful outcome of the review was to the Treaty's future, Mr. Duarte said he felt it was very essential to reach a successful, consensus outcome on ways and means to reinforce the Treaty, which would help fulfil its objectives in a manner that was seen as useful.
'Personally, I feel that not reaching a consensus outcome...could be very negative for the Treaty itself,' he said, adding that all parties had a genuine desire to make the Treaty effective in the cause of disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
As for how the Conference intended to deal with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran, Mr. Duarte recalled that the former had withdrawn from the Treaty [in January 2003] and so was not a party to it.
Some parties, however, believed that the status of the DPRK should not be the subject of discussion right now, so as not to prejudice the ongoing consultations known as the 'six-party talks.'
In previous conferences, it was agreed not to consider the status of the DPRK in order not to prejudice those talks. While that idea still prevailed, it would not prevent the parties from discussing the issue of Article 10, which dealt with withdrawal.
He added that the results of the deliberations by the IAEA on Iran, which was a party to the Treaty, would be examined by the Conference.
Asked what was being done to draw in the three nuclear powers not party to the Treaty - India, Israel and Pakistan - Mr. Duarte recalled that past review conferences had called on those States to join the Treaty as non-nuclear powers, a call he expected the 2005 Conference to renew.
United Nations
www.un.org
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.