Vietnam emphasizes necessity of completely eliminating nuclear weapons

This statement was made by Ambassador to the US Dang Hoang Giang, permanent representative of Vietnam to the UN at the Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which is underway from 27 November to 1 December at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The event has attracted the large participation of member countries, observers, and representatives of many international and regional organizations.

During the course of the meeting, many countries expressed concern about the trend of increasing armament and modernizing nuclear weapons, going on to emphasized the catastrophic humanitarian consequences caused by nuclear weapons on humans and the environment.

Within this context, members called for the continued promotion of engagement in signing, ratifying, and joining the TPNW to further contribute to achieving the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.

In his speech, Ambassador Giang said that the current international security environment is facing numerous serious challenges and expressed concern regarding the level of destruction and humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

The Vietnamese diplomat went on to underline the need to consolidate strategic trust, in which the key is to promote compliance with basic principles of international law and the UN Charter, as well as seeking to intensify mechanisms on international disarmament and counter-proliferation.

To effectively implement the TPNW, Ambassador Giang called on treaty member countries to fully perform their obligations under the treaty and for non-member countries to swiftly sign, ratify, and join the TPNW as a contribution to univerzalisation of the treaty.

Furthermore, it is also necessary to continue to maintain the importance of the TPNW, raise the international community's general awareness of the consequences of nuclear weapons, whilst stepping up international collaboration on capacity building for developing countries, he went on to say.

Along with continuing to accelerate negotiations on international agreements on ensuring security for countries without nuclear weapons and building a treaty on fissile material reduction, the Ambassador also underscored the importance of nuclear weapon-free zones for the causes of international and regional peace and security.

In line with this, Vietnam welcomes countries possessing nuclear weapons to sign and ratify the Protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Nuclear Weapons in Southeast Asia to contribute to achieving the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

On this occasion, Ambassador Giang reaffirmed the country’s consistent policy of backing efforts in anti-proliferation and nuclear disarmament towards a nuclear-weapon-free world.

The nation is a member of many important multilateral international treaties in this field and is one of the first 10 countries to ratify the TPNW and has declared its obligations under Article 2 of the Treaty on time.

The Vietnamese Government issued Decree 81 in 2019 regarding establishing an important national legal framework for preventing weapons of mass destruction.

TPNW represents the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to take effect since 1990. For the first time in history the important document sets out comprehensive legally binding obligations for member states to completely ban the possession, development, storage, and use of nuclear weapons.

The treaty was adopted at the UN Conference negotiating binding legal documents on banning and working towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons held in New York from June 15 to July 7, 2017.

It officially came into force from January 22, 2021, and currently, a total of 69 countries have ratified and joined the treaty, while 93 countries signed it.