(Eagle News) — The Philippines has signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, as it called on nuclear weapons states to join the international community in making the world a safer place by also signing the Treaty.
“We call on Member-States that possess the world’s largest nuclear arsenals to sign on to the treaty,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said after signing the instrument in New York during the sidelines of the important UN event on Wednesday, September 20.
“The world will only be safe if we eliminate all weapons of mass destruction… As a signatory, the Philippines stands ready to contribute to the work ahead,” he added.
The Philippines is currently the chairman of the influential Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
North Korea, which has been actively conducting nuclear missile tests amid worldwide condemnation, had recently been imposed a fresh round of sanctions by the United Nations after its sixth and largest nuclear test.
The US sanctions restrict oil imports and ban textile exports to pressure North Korea not to continue with its nuclear weapons programs. North Korea is a member of the ASEAN regional forum.
On August 5, 2017, the ASEAN foreign minister issued a statement reiterating their “grave concerns over the escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula, and calling for a “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.”
Cayetano said that with the Philippines signing the treaty, the country affirms its “unequivocal commitment to put nuclear weapons firmly on the path of extinction, a cause of the highest priority embodied in our country’s constitution.”
He said the treaty presents a unique opportunity for nuclear weapon states to demonstrate that they remain committed to their own cause of nuclear disarmament and the United Nations Charter.
The Philippines is among 121 UN member-states that adopted the treaty, the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the goal of leading towards their total elimination.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Bayani Mercado of the Office of United Nations and Other International Organizations said the adoption of the treaty not only recognized the catastrophic effects of nuclear weapons on humanity and the environment but also reaffirmed the universal aspiration of a world free from such weapons.
“The treaty acknowledged global geopolitical dynamics that call for the elimination of nuclear weapons before these weapons could annihilate humanity,” Assistant Secretary Mercado said.
The Philippines has been consistent in its nuclear disarmament advocacy. It contributed to the effort when it presided over the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (based on a DFA release)
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