Crisis to Crisis

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned in a major speech last week that “we cannot continue to lurch from crisis to crisis, until the regime is buried beneath a cascade of nuclear proliferation.”

With global attention now focused on the specific case of Iran, the Secretary General noted that “twice last year, governments had the chance to strengthen the foundations of the NPT regime, by agreeing on more robust IAEA inspections; incentives and guarantees for countries to forgo the enrichment and reprocessing of fissile materials; and energetic steps to meet disarmament commitments. Both times, they failed. We cannot afford any more such squandered chances.”

Annan warned the audience gathered for the UN Association of the United Kingdom meeting in London on January 31 that we cannot take a piece-meal approach to proliferation. We cannot expect to prevent nuclear terrorism or stop nations from acquiring nuclear weapons if “those states that already have them increase their arsenals, or insist that such weapons are essential to their national security.” Other states, he said, “feel that they too must have them, for their security.”

An excerpt and a link to the full text of Secretary General’s speech are provided below.

Excerpt from speech of Secretary General Kofi Annan to the United Nations Association of the United Kingdom, January 31

The World Summit last September… took important steps forward...

[But], there are areas where world leaders failed to reach any agreement at all. The biggest disappointment, for me, was their failure to chart a way forward on disarmament and non-proliferation.

Can there be any threat more alarming, in today’s world, than that of a nuclear or biological weapon falling into the hands of terrorists, or being used by a State, as a result of some terrible misunderstanding or miscalculation?  The more States have such weapons, the greater the risk.  And, the more those States that already have them increase their arsenals, or insist that such weapons are essential to their national security, the more other States feel that they too must have them, for their security.

For 35 years the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been remarkably successful in protecting mankind from this danger.  But now, it faces a very serious challenge.

Today’s headlines concern Iran -- rightly so, for basic treaty obligations and commitments are at stake.  For signatories of the NPT, the right to develop nuclear energy is conditional, on the solemn obligation not to build or acquire nuclear weapons, and to comply with standards set and monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But, when we step back from the headlines, it should be clear that we cannot continue to lurch from crisis to crisis, until the regime is buried beneath a cascade of nuclear proliferation.

Twice last year, Governments had the chance to strengthen the foundations of the NPT regime, by agreeing on more robust IAEA inspections; incentives and guarantees for countries to forgo the enrichment and reprocessing of fissile materials; and energetic steps to meet disarmament commitments.

Both times, they failed.  We cannot afford any more such squandered chances.

For the full text of the Secretary General's speech, click here.