A few weeks ago,traveling in Kazakhstan,I had the sobering experience of standing at Ground Zero. This was the notorious test site at Semipalatinsk,where the USSR detonated 456 nuclear weapons. There was little on the vast and featureless steppe to distinguish this place. Yet for decades it was an epicentre of the Cold War like similar sites in the US,a threat to life on our planet. Its dark legacy endures: poisoned rivers and lakes,children suffering from cancer and birth defects.
Today,Semipalatinsk has become a powerful symbol of hope. On August 29,1991,shortly after Kazakh independence,President Nursultan Nazarbayev,closed it and abolished nuclear weapons. It was a tangible expression of a dream that has long eluded us a world free of nuclear weapons.
Momentum is building around the world. Governments and civil society groups,often at odds,have begun working in common cause. At the recent nuclear security summit in Washington,47 world leaders agreed to do whatever is necessary to keep such weapons and materials safe. Their shared sense of urgency reflects an accepted reality. Nuclear terrorism is not a Hollywood fantasy. It can happen.
The United Nations is destined to be at the centre of these efforts. I proposed a five-point nuclear action plan in late 2008,as well as a historic summit meeting of the Security Council last September. On Monday,leaders come together at the UN for the periodic NPT review conference. Their last gathering,five years ago,was a failure. This year we can look for advances on a range of issues.
We should not be unrealistic in our expectations. But neither can we afford to lose this opportunity for progress: on disarmament; on compliance with non-proliferation commitments; on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Looking ahead,I have proposed a UN conference later this year to review the implementation of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. We will host a ministerial-level meeting to push the pace on bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force,and I have urged leaders to begin negotiations for a binding treaty on fissile materials. In October,the General Assembly will consider more than 50 resolutions on various nuclear issues. Our aim: to take the many small steps,today,that will set the stage for a larger breakthrough tomorrow.
All this work reflects the priorities of our member states,shaped in turn by public opinion. Everyone recognises the catastrophic danger of nuclear weapons. Just as clearly,we know the threat will last as long as these weapons exist. The earths very future leaves us no alternative but to pursue disarmament. And there is little prospect of that without global cooperation.
Where,if not at the United Nations,could we look for such cooperation? Bilateral and regional negotiation can accomplish much,but long-lasting and effective cooperation on a global scale requires more. The UN is the worlds sole universally accepted arena for debate and concord,among nations as well as broader society. It serves not only as a repository of treaties but also of information documenting their implementation. It is a source of independent expertise.
The United Nations stands today at a new Ground Zero a ground zero for global disarmament,no longer a place of dread but of hope. Those who stand with us share the vision of a nuclear-free world. If ever there were a time for the worlds people to demand change,to demand action beyond the cautious half measures of the past,it is now.
