UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world is plunging into a new nuclear arms race, with nuclear-armed nations expanding and modernizing their arsenals. He called for a revitalized push to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons.
Guterres said that any use of a nuclear weapon would unleash a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions, and that the world must reverse course on the nuclear arms race.
He cited a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which found that the world’s nuclear powers increased investment in their arsenals for a third consecutive year in 2022. The report also found that the number of usable nuclear weapons has actually increased, with China increasing its stockpile from 350 to 410 warheads.
Guterres said that the situation is a matter of urgency for the world, and that nuclear powers are making their arsenals faster, more accurate, and more difficult to detect. He also said that the architecture for stopping nuclear proliferation and advancing disarmament has eroded.
To get back on track towards a reduction of nuclear weapons, Guterres called for countries to commit to never using their nuclear weapons under any circumstances. He also urged reinvigoration and strengthening of the Treaties on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Guterres concluded by saying that the world has spent too long under the shadow of nuclear weapons, and that it must step back from the edge of disaster.
In other words, Guterres is saying that the world is on a dangerous track, with nuclear-armed nations increasing their weapons stockpiles and the risk of nuclear war rising. He is calling for all countries to work together to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons, and to prevent a nuclear catastrophe.