Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Mideast – First Cttee debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-eighth session 

First Committee

4th meeting

Wednesday, 8 October 2003, 10.05 a.m. 

New York

    The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

Agenda items 62 to 80( continued)

General debate on all disarmament and international security items 

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 Mr. Al-Bader (Qatar) (spoke in Arabic): …

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  Regarding the threat of weapons of mass destruction, I refer agenda item 70, “Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East.” The region is in crisis due to the Israeli occupation of the Arab territories in Palestine and Syria and the resulting imbalance of power in favour of Israel. As in previous sessions, at its fifty-seventh session the General Assembly urged all parties in the Middle East to consider seriously taking the practical and urgent steps required for the implementation of the proposal to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. The Assembly also called upon all countries of the region that have not yet done so to agree to place their nuclear activities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

  All States in the area have responded positively to these proposals and acceded to the relevant conventions, except for the State of Israel; it is still outside the realm of accountability and international pressures exerted by the international community, which clearly deals selectively with some States and lacks true credibility. This double standard is totally unacceptable. 

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 Mr. Sardenberg (Brazil): …

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  We call upon Israel, India and Pakistan to accede to the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon States and to place their nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We also call upon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to reconsider the announcement of its intention to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and upon Iran to cooperate fully and immediately with the International Atomic Energy Agency, in resolving issues arising from the implementation of their obligations. With the same emphasis, we urge the speedy fulfilment of the commitments undertaken by the nuclear-weapon Powers under article VI of the NPT.

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    The meeting rose at 11.50 a.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.