On 23 December the UN General Assembly voted to convene a conference at the UN to negotiate a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. It will be convened for 15 days during 27 to 31 March and 15 June to 7 July, 2017. All the member countries are invited to participate. The next General Assembly, 72nd, beginning in September 2017, will be hearing the results of the negotiation. Not only the Governments but those representing the civil society will also be participating.
What a fine Christmas present it was! The proposal was based on an earlier one which had been voted in the First Committee of the General Assembly on 27 October. Further, it had been based on the enthusiastic hopes and wishes of the innumerable number of people all over the world who sincerely wanted to see a nuclear-free world. Biological weapons were already banned in 1975, and the chemical weapons in 1997. Now is the time for the nuclear weapons.
Predictably the voting was not without some disappointment. There were 113 for and 35 against, with 13 abstentions. All the Permanent Members of the Security Council, except China who abstained, voted against it.
Probably more startling was the fact that Japan, the only country victimized by the nuclear weapons in a war, voted against it. It did so also on the previous October proposal. The Government is saying that it is because the proposal will make the distance between the nuclear powers and others wider. It is an ill-concealed excuse for following the US policy, and is bound to intensify the political divide in Japan.
What a fine Christmas present it was! The proposal was based on an earlier one which had been voted in the First Committee of the General Assembly on 27 October. Further, it had been based on the enthusiastic hopes and wishes of the innumerable number of people all over the world who sincerely wanted to see a nuclear-free world. Biological weapons were already banned in 1975, and the chemical weapons in 1997. Now is the time for the nuclear weapons.
Predictably the voting was not without some disappointment. There were 113 for and 35 against, with 13 abstentions. All the Permanent Members of the Security Council, except China who abstained, voted against it.
Probably more startling was the fact that Japan, the only country victimized by the nuclear weapons in a war, voted against it. It did so also on the previous October proposal. The Government is saying that it is because the proposal will make the distance between the nuclear powers and others wider. It is an ill-concealed excuse for following the US policy, and is bound to intensify the political divide in Japan.
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