UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaks to the media ahead of the 2022 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations in New York City on 1 of August (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)
Humanity is only “one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation”, the Secretary-General of the United Nations has warned.
According to Antonio Guterres, geopolitical threats such as the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and armed conflicts are putting the world at risk of a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.
“Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” Guterres said at the opening of a conference on the United Nations nuclear treaty at its headquarters in New York.
On Monday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, met for the 10th annual review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
“The climate crisis, stark inequalities, conflict and human rights violations, and the personal and economic devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, have put our world under more stress than it has faced in a long time. of our lives,” Guterres said.
“Humanity is in danger of forgetting the lessons forged in the terrifying fires of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
Guterres added that “geopolitical tensions are reaching new highs” and “mistrust has replaced dialogue”.
“States seek false security to stockpile and spend hundreds of billions of dollars on doomsday weapons that have no place on our planet.”
Nearly 13,000 nuclear weapons now remain in arsenals around the world, Guterres added, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and crises in the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula as areas where nuclear weapons ” they’re getting worse.”
He listed five “action areas” that are central to the treaty. This includes a firm commitment to strengthen and reaffirm the 77-year-old norm against the use of nuclear weapons, working towards the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, addressing simmering tensions in the Middle East and Asia , promoting the peaceful use of nuclear technology for medical and other uses and fulfilling all outstanding commitments in the same treaty.
“We need the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons more than ever. That’s why this review conference is so important. It’s an opportunity to define the measures that will help avoid certain disasters.”