Nuclear weapons are ‘one-way road to annihilation’ warns Guterres

This article is published in association with United Nations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday warned that the risk of nuclear conflict is rising – as global security arrangements unravel and military spending soars – urging governments to push for total disarmament.

“The nuclear option is not an option at all,” he said, addressing the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

“It is a one-way road to annihilation. We need to avoid this dead-end at all costs.”

Arms race spreading to space

Mr. Guterres warned delegates of heightened global security concerns, noting that trust between nations is crumbling, international law is being undermined and multilateral treaties are under strain.

The so called “Doomsday Clock” – a metaphorical indicator of how close humanity is to destroying the world – moved one second closer to midnight last month, underscoring the growing peril.

“Others are expanding their inventories of nuclear weapons and materials. Some continue to rattle the nuclear sabre as a means of coercion. We see signs of new arms races including in outer space,” Mr. Guterres said. 

“And the weaponization of Artificial Intelligence is moving forward at an alarming pace.”

Sign of hope

Despite the grim picture, the Secretary-General highlighted the Pact for the Future adopted by world leaders at the General Assembly last September, as a sign of hope.

It marked the first new international nuclear disarmament agreement in over a decade.

“Through the Pact, Member States also committed to revitalizing the role of the United Nations in disarmament,” he continued, calling also for holding accountable anyone who uses chemical or biological weapons.

Alongside, he urged delegates to prevent an arms race in outer space through new negotiations, calling for the UN’s role in disarmament and global security to be strengthened.

“Humanity is counting on us to get this right. Let us keep working to deliver the safe, secure and peaceful world that every person needs and deserves,” Mr. Guterres said.

The Conference on Disarmament

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is the world’s sole multilateral forum for negotiating arms control and disarmament agreements.

Comprising 65 member states, including nuclear and militarily significant nations, the Conference has played a key role in shaping treaties such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Its agenda includes nuclear disarmament, preventing an arms race in outer space, and addressing new weapons of mass destruction. Non-member States also attend its sessions, with 50 joining discussions in 2019, the highest in two decades.