Press Releases
The Adoption of the Draft Resolution on Nuclear Disarmament submitted by Japan to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly
(Statement by Foreign Minister MOTEGI Toshimitsu)
1. On November 4 (November 3 local time), the draft resolution entitled “Joint Courses of Action and Future-oriented Dialogue towards a world without nuclear weapons,” submitted by Japan to the First Committee of the United Nation (UN) General Assembly in New York, was adopted with the support of 139 countries. The draft resolution is scheduled to be considered in a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly in early December.
2. The year 2020 marks the 50th year since the entry into force of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the 75th year since the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This year’s draft resolution reaffirms the commitment to the ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear weapons. The draft resolution presents concrete actions to advance nuclear disarmament, and stresses the importance of future-oriented dialogue, with a view to maintaining and strengthening the NPT regime.
3. Through this draft resolution, Japan aims at contributing to a successful outcome of the 10th NPT Review Conference. In this endeavor, Japan believes that the adoption of the draft resolution with broad support from many states with various positions including the United States of America and the United Kingdom, which are nuclear-weapon-States, is a significant step towards consensus building at the 10th NPT Review Conference.
4. Japan will continue to work tenaciously to build bridges among states in order to proceed steadily towards the realization of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Reference: Results of the voting for the adoption of the draft resolution
Affirmative votes: 139
Negative votes: 5 (China, DPRK, Russia, Syria, Zimbabwe)
Abstentions: 33