It was a win-win day for President Obama as he hosted a historic Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. This was the 6,191 meeting of the Security Council. The five permanent and ten rotating members of the Security Council (including to name a few— Uganda, Austria, Croatia, Mexico and Libya (although Qaddafi did not show) voted unanimously in support of Resolution 1887.
The Resolution affirmed the Council’s commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons and to ensure nuclear safety and security. Obama said he’d hoped the Resolution would strengthen the global nonproliferation regime. He added that he wanted all countries to stop producing nuclear materials within four years. Obama underscored the United Nations institution was created at the “dawn of the atomic age.” But now, the goal should be a global partnership to commit to put an end to the production, smuggling, trade and financing of nuclear materials.
“Once more, the United Nations has a pivotal role to play in preventing this crisis. The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. And it brings Security Council agreement on a broad framework for action to reduce nuclear dangers as we work toward that goal. It reflects the agenda I outlined in Prague, and builds on a consensus that all nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy; that nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move toward disarmament; and those without them have the responsibility to forsake them.”
The United States is expected to host a summit next April to keep nations on the four year agenda. The Summit proceedings further isolated North Korea and Iran and President Sarkozy of France emphasized that Iran has violated five security council resolutions and must be sanctioned and held accountable. He reiterated that North Korea has also threatened global security with the launch of missiles in April—and by ignoring several warnings by the Security Council to stop building its nuclear program.
United Nations US Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice met with reporters directly following the opening session:
“So we are very pleased at the outcome today. We view it as building important momentum going into next year’s Nonproliferation Review Conference, going into the president’s own Nuclear Security Summit next year. And of course, we had Secretary Clinton as well here today speaking before the CTBT session, underscoring our commitment to ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.”
The Ugandan representative said Africa was not interested in nuclear weapons but nuclear energy—which he said costs only 4-5 cents compared to 14 cents use in solar energy.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown from the United Kingdom added:
“Today we are at a watershed moment…a future of arms race or arms control.”