UN chief launches new disarmament agenda ‘to secure our world and our future’

“The United Nations was created with the goal of eliminating war as an instrument of foreign policy,” Secretary-General António Guterres said, unveiling his new agenda, entitled, Securing Our Common Future, at the University of Geneva, in Switzerland.“But seven decades on, our world is as dangerous as it has ever been,” he warned.“Disarmament prevents and ends violence. Disarmament supports sustainable development. And disarmament is true to our values and principles,” he explained.We are one mechanical, electronic or human error away from a catastrophe that could eradicate entire cities from the map – UN chief GuterresThe launch comes at a time when “arms control has been in the news every day, sometimes in relation to Iran and Syria, sometimes the Korean Peninsula,” said the UN chief.The new Agenda focuses on three priorities – weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons, and new battlefield technologies.First, he stressed that disarmament of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons could “save humanity,” noting that some 15,000 nuclear weapons remain stockpiled around the world and hundreds are ready to be launched within minutes.

 

Source: UN chief launches new disarmament agenda ‘to secure our world and our future’ | UN News