Nuclear Weapons Elimination Ensures Global Peace: Minister Retno Marsudi

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi believes that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is a criterion for creating global peace and security, according to the Foreign Ministry’s written statement released on Saturday.

"Nearly 75 years since the establishment of the UN and 50 years since the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the world is still far from the total elimination of nuclear weapons," the minister stated at a high-level virtual meeting to mark the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on Friday.

The meeting is part of a series of high-level meetings of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly held until October 2, 2020.

The lack of progress made in the elimination of nuclear arsenals has resulted in a trust deficit among countries, she remarked.

Marsudi further drew attention to three vital steps to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons, with the first being the application and enforcement of NPT.

To this end, the minister pushed for full participation and commitment of all countries, including nuclear weapon states.

The second step aims to strengthen the mechanism and architecture of global disarmament. Several mechanisms of disarmament, such as the Conference of Disarmament and Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) must be enforced to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons, she emphasized.

The third step pertains to ensuring that nuclear disarmament will have a positive impact on global welfare, she stated.

The minister affirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a reminder that humans and protection of humanity can only be achieved through global solidarity rather than nuclear weapons.

Maintaining nuclear weapons is apparently a zero-sum situation, while total destruction of nuclear weapons will ensure the survival of humans in future, she stated.

Zero-sum is a situation in which the profit gained and loss suffered by all participants of a game is zero. This means the profit gained by a player in the game results from the other player's loss.

Read also: Greenpeace Indonesia Questions Govt's Nuclear Capability

ANTARA