VCDNP Programme Director Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova Addresses the UN Security Council

On 18 March 2024, VCDNP Programme Director Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova delivered a briefing at the United Nations Security Council, calling on the five nuclear-weapon States and permanent members of the Council to live up to their responsibility to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons use.

During the session, chaired by Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa and dedicated to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the Council also heard briefings from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr. Robert Floyd.

Describing the devastating effects of a potential nuclear weapon use, Ms. Mukhatzhanova emphasised that the risk of such an “unthinkable scenario” materialising is higher than it has been in decades. She warned that the nuclear taboo was undermined by reckless rhetoric and threats, while the modernisation and numerical increase of nuclear arsenals was sending a message of long-term reliance on nuclear weapons.    

“The briefing the Council has not received and must never receive is one on the effects and consequences of a new use of nuclear weapons.”

In her remarks, Ms. Mukhatzhanova appealed to the special responsibility of the five permanent members of the Council as custodians of international peace and security under the UN Charter to work together to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. She urged the P5, who are also the nuclear-weapon States under the NPT, to issue risk reduction commitments ahead of the 2026 NPT Review Conference and formalise them in a Security Council resolution, similarly to UNSCR 984 (1995) on assurances against the use of nuclear weapons. Next to a firm declaration that nuclear weapons must never be used again under any circumstances, she put forward the following commitments:

“No increase in nuclear arsenals, no new weapon designs, no new deployments of weapons, no nuclear testing, and no threats to use nuclear weapons.”

Ms. Mukhatzhanova thanked the Government of Japan for inviting a civil society speaker to brief the Security Council. She stressed that the inclusion of diverse actors and perspectives in forums like the NPT review process enables a more holistic understanding of nuclear weapons issues and produces more effective solutions.

Ms. Mukhatzhanova closed with a reference to the acceptance speech by actor Cillian Murphy at the 2024 Academy Awards, who dedicated his win for the portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer to “the peacemakers everywhere”. She called on all members of the Security Council, and particularly the five permanent members, “In a world of heightened nuclear threat, be the peacemakers.”