GENEVA, FEBRUARY 25 – Effective multilateralism is key to address global challenges, including non-proliferation and disarmament. Italy firmly believes in progressive concrete measures to attain a world without nuclear weapons, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said in her address to the High-Level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva.
Deputy Minister Del Re highlighted the importance of a rules-based international system and effective multilateralism in addressing global challenges and threats to international peace and security. In this context, she reaffirmed the crucial role of the CD as a unique multilateral disarmament negotiating body.
The Geneva meeting was opened by the UN Secretary General Antoni Guterres who highlighted several threats to world security, from chemical weapons to lethal autonomous weapons and hypersonic missiles. His comments – which called for action to “alleviate tensions and take us back from the nuclear brink” – came ahead of a second planned summit later this week between US President Donald Trump and the leader of North Korea, known officially as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong-un.
Deputy Minister Del Re restated the centrality of disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation in Italian foreign policy. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with its three mutually reinforcing pillars of non-proliferation, disarmament and promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear technology, is the key instrument to attain a world without nuclear weapons. Such goal can be achieved only through a progressive approach based on effective measures, including the prompt entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the beginning of negotiations, within the CD, of a treaty dealing with fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Recalling the fundamental responsibility of nuclear weapons states in implementing Article VI of the NPT, Deputy Minister Del Re welcomed the progress made by the Russian Federation and the United States under the terms of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
The Deputy Minister stressed the effective results achieved in the past thanks to concerted efforts and multilateral diplomacy. In particular, she referred to the positive developments in the Korean Peninsula, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, and the improvements made in tackling the risk that weapons of mass destruction may fall into the hands of non-state actors, including terrorist groups. She also underlined the Italian commitment to the full implementation of international instruments on conventional weapons and to international efforts to address their negative humanitarian, socio-economic and security impacts. In this context, she recalled Italian policies that take into account the gendered impacts of armed violence and promote the inclusion of women in disarmament negotiations and peacebuilding programs. (@OnuItalia)
