NEW YORK - A South African diplomat who will chair an upcoming review conference for a treaty intended to ban nuclear weapons said he hopes the meeting will be a chance to affirm the abolition of such weapons as a norm.
Adopted and opened for signature in 2017, and entering into force in 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons bans its members from developing, testing, possessing or stationing nuclear weapons.
So far, 75 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty, with 26 additional signatories yet to become party to it. But none of the original five nuclear weapons states -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, all veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council -- or Japan is party to it.
With member states set to meet in New York from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4 for the treaty's first review conference, its president Xolisa Mabhongo stressed the importance of the gathering.
"The TPNW is unique because it provides a legal basis for the abolition of nuclear weapons. This is an opportunity, therefore, for the international community, for the states parties, to affirm this norm," he said in a recent interview.
Mabhongo, a deputy director-general at the South African Foreign Ministry in charge of global governance and the continental agenda, also described it as "very important" for Japan to participate in the conference.
He said he hopes Japan, as the only country to have experienced a nuclear attack, will accept an invitation to observe the proceedings.
At the conference, members will review the implementation of the nuclear ban treaty's provisions. They may also consider additional measures related to disarmament and the elimination of nuclear weapons programs.
Japan has skipped previous meetings of signatories to the treaty, citing its reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for security as one reason for not sending formal observers.
The upcoming gathering follows the failure in May of the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to adopt a final outcome document by consensus over divisions on whether to include language about Iran.
The NPT is seen as the world's main treaty governing nuclear weapons. Its members include the five original nuclear weapons states out of the nine countries possessing such weapons.
Regretting the outcome of the last NPT meeting, Mabhongo said the upcoming conference for the nuclear ban treaty will offer "another platform" for the international community to "discuss and deliberate on nuclear disarmament.
He said the increasing role of nuclear weapons in the security doctrines of some countries was a negative trend, adding that efforts by states to expand their nuclear arsenals ran counter to both the NPT and the nuclear weapons ban treaty.
The diplomat said that while no formal replies have yet been received, China showed positive signs in response to an invitation for the five recognized nuclear weapons states to participate in the upcoming meeting.
The agenda is expected to include discussions on an international trust fund for victims of nuclear use and testing, including environmental remediation for affected states. Mabhongo said he hoped members would decide to establish the fund.
"We are opening a door through the (meeting) for continued conversations between states parties to the TPNW, but also with member states of the U.N. that are not yet members" of the treaty, Mabhongo said.
