Speech

19-09-19

Ciudad de México

Statement by Dr. Annika Thunborg, Ambassador of Sweden to Mexico and former Spokesperson of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization

On the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, Special Session of the UN General Assembly, 9 September 2019

President of the General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa

Secretary General of the , Antonio Guterres

Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, Dr Lassina Zerbo

Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen

It is a great honor for me to be here today commemorating together with you all the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, and thus the prohibition enshrined in the CTBT, one of the strongest and most comprehensive treaties negotiated and implemented in the area of non- proliferation and and thus in the field of security.

Es un gran honor y placer estar aquí junto con la Presidenta Espinosa, una destacada representante de su región, América Latina que fue la primera región del mundo que se convirtió a una zona libre de armas nucleares, bajo el Tratado de Tlatelolco. América Latina y Europa han sido aliados cercanos en la promoción del derecho internacional, asuntos multilaterales y proyectos de desarme y no proliferación desde la creación de la ONU. Como Embajadora de Suecia en México me gustaría hacer referencia a la colaboración cercana entre Suecia y México que fue reconocida en 1982 cuando Alfonso García Robles y Alva Myrdal obtuvieron el Premio Nobel de la Paz por su “magnífico trabajo en las negociaciones de desarme de las Naciones Unidas.” Más

Telefon: +52 (55) 91 78 50 10 Postadress: Paseo de las Palmas 1375, Col. Lomas de Chapultepec, 11 000 Mexico, CDMX Besöksadress: Embassy of Sweden, Paseo de las Palmas 1375, Col. Lomas de Chapultepec, 11 000 Mexico, CDMX E-post: [email protected] reciente, de 2011 a 2013, nuestros Cancilleres presidieron juntos sobre el proceso del Articulo XIV promoviendo la entrada en vigor del TPCE (Tratado de Prohibición Completa de los Ensayos Nucleares).

It is a great honor to be here with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the foremost representative of the organization that has helped make the world safer, more equal and a better place to live since it was created more than 70 years ago in the wake of the devasting world wars. As others in my generation, I grew up with the notion that it is the rule of law - international, regional and national - and the institutions that are there to implement it that is the foundation of our modern civilization. That it is because of the UN Family, regional organizations such as the , and from a national perspective that “the land shall be built upon the law” – which is a strong concept in the Swedish and Nordic tradition – that notions of peace and security have largely replaced notions of war and conflict, and that to be able to do better, we need more, not less rule of law, we need more, not less international and regional cooperation and agreements, we need more, not less dialogue and confidence-building measures.

It is thus a great honor to be here with Dr Lassina Zerbo, the foremost representative of a Treaty and an Organization that represent exactly this, the rule of law, and a safer, more secure, and thus more peaceful world. The CTBT prohibits comprehensively and non-discriminatorily one of the most devastating inventions of humankind, the nuclear explosion. The world saw over 2000 nuclear explosions, conducted for military and so-called peaceful purposes, with devastating effects on humans, animals and the environment, before the CTBT was achieved through dialogue and negotiations. The CTBT makes it very difficult to develop new and more advanced nuclear weapons and is a model Treaty not the least because of its well thought-out verification regime, a monitoring system complemented by on-side inspections, designed to detect any militarily significant nuclear explosion no matter where it occurs in the world, and accompanied by transparency

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and confidence-building measures and national technical means to resolve any dispute or compliance concern.

Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen

Unfortunately, the door to further nuclear testing remains ajar: Significant states have yet to ratify the Treaty, not only putting the world at risk but also denying themselves and others the full security benefits of the Treaty, including short-notice on-site inspections to better deter and detect clandestine nuclear testing and resolve whether it really took place.

In commemoration of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, the Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström honors the victims of nuclear testing and urges the entry into force of the Treaty. It is time to close and firmly lock the door on nuclear testing.

Thank you.

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