Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East – First Cttee debate – Verbatim records (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-first session

First Committee

6th meeting

Thursday, 17 October 1996, 3 p.m.

New York

Chairman:  Mr. Alyaksandr Sychou ……………………. (Belarus)

The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m.

Agenda items 60 to 81 (continued)

General debate on all disarmament and international security agenda items

/…

Mr. Abdellah (Tunisia) (interpretation from French): …

/…

The denuclearized zone in Africa and that created in South-East Asia in December 1995 by the Bangkok Treaty join the denuclearized zones already created in Latin America and the Caribbean and in the South Pacific to consolidate a welcome evolution towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the whole of the southern hemisphere.

Yet, in the Middle East, a sphere of tension, the goal of creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone has not yet been achieved, notwithstanding the repeated appeals not only of the States of the region but of the whole of the international community, as reflected in the many consensus resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. With the accession of the United Arab Emirates and Djibouti to the NPT and the announced accession of the Sultanate of Oman, which we welcome with great satisfaction, Israel is the only country in the region not to have acceded to the NPT and the only one with an uncontrolled nuclear capability, posing a constant and direct threat to security in the Middle East and an obstacle to the establishment of a denuclearized zone in that region. We repeat our appeal to Israel to accede to the NPT and to place its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

/…

The meeting rose at 5.50 p.m.

This record contains the original texts of speeches delivered in English and interpretations of speeches delivered in the other languages.  Corrections should be submitted to original speeches only.  They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, Room C-178.  Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.