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Mexico City. Noting that disarmament
is back on the global agenda, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has cautioned that the "world is over-armed
and peace is under-funded".
Ban opened a disarmament conference at the former
convent of San Hipolito in central Mexico City
recently, and said that there are more than 20,000
nuclear weapons around the world, and that many
of them may even be activated any time.
Despite the challenges, Ban said he was hopeful
for the future, adding that he had high expectations
for a UN Security Council meeting on non-proliferation
and nuclear disarmament Sep 24.
The UN-sponsored annual conference on disarmament
was set to be attended by delegates from 70 countries
and representatives of 1,700 NGOs.
The outcome of the discussions, which will range
from better monitoring of small arms to getting
rid of arsenals of nuclear weapons, would contribute
to the review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty at the UN next year and other disarmament
debates.
Mexico City is the birthplace of the Treaty of
Tlatelolco, the world's first nuclear-free zone
agreement applied in Latin America in 1969.
Jody Williams, who was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1997 for her work against landmines,
was also at the conference.
"Nuclear weapons are a danger to international
peace and security, an intolerable threat to the
very survival of our species," Mexican Foreign
Minister Patricia Espinosa said at the conference.
(IANS-DPA)
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