Biden Should Recognize Value Of UN Nuclear Ban Treaty - Arms Control Association

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2021) President Joe Biden's administration should embrace the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as a way for other states to achieve disarmament obligations, the US Arms Control Association (ACA) said on Thursday.

The TPNW, signed by more than 84 states after being passed in 2017, enters into force on Friday. The TPNW bans signatories from the development, production, testing, acquisition or transfer of nuclear weapons. All five permanent members of the UN Security Council oppose the pact because they fear it will undermine the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

"The incoming Biden administration should make it clear that the United States views the TPNW [as] a good faith effort by the majority of the world's nations to fulfill their own NPT-related disarmament obligations and help build the legal framework for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons," former US State Department arms control official and ACA board chairman, Tom Countryman, said in the statement.

Under the NPT, which entered into force in 1970 and includes at least 190 states, the nuclear powers are supposed to pursue general and complete disarmament. The NPT also requires non-nuclear-weapon states to forego developing or acquiring nuclear weapons, according to the ACA.

The former US official also advised Biden to abandon the Trump administration's "clumsy" effort to force countries to "un-sign" the agreement. The US should rally support around a meaningful consensus and develop an action plan for the pivotal 10th NPT Review Conference in August 2021, he added.

The ACA is a US-based group of former officials and experts who promote effective arms control policies.