UN votes against nukes

The Security Council resolution commits member nations to work toward a world without nuclear weapons and endorses a comprehensive framework of actions to reduce global nuclear dangers.

US President Barack Obama called for the vote immediately after opening the 15-nation council's meeting on Thursday. It was the first time a U.S. president has chaired a Security Council summit.

The world must avert a nuclear nightmare, the US president said: “Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city, be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris, could kill hundreds of thousands of people."

All five permanent Security Council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - have nuclear bombs.

Obama pledges to bring the US up to date with test ban treaty

The U.S.-drafted resolution also supports and strengthens the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors nuclear plants and attempts to minimize the risk of nuclear proliferation worldwide. The resolution reaffirmed nations' alienable rights to possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes "without discrimination."

The resolution calls on countries to sign and ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). NPT is in already in effect, CTBT is not. The two countries that the West regards as the biggest proliferation threats - Iran and North Korea - were not named in the resolution.

Analysts say the U.S. determination to organize Thursday's UN nuclear disarmament summit marked a clear shift on disarmament policy by the Obama administration. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had angered many NPT members by ignoring disarmament commitments undertaken by previous U.S. governments. The US has signed the test ban treaty, but has not ratified it.

db/dpa/Reuters/EPD/AFP
Editor: Michael Lawton