Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia accedes to UN nuclear weapon ban treaty
Politics
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Mongolia acceded to the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on December 10, becoming the 57th state
party. In a speech to the national parliament in October, Foreign Minister
of Mongolia B.Battsetseg, said that joining this landmark treaty would “meet
the fundamental interests of national security”.
With Russia located to its north and China to its south,
Mongolia is surrounded by nuclear-armed states and has long stressed the need
for greater action on disarmament. In 1992, it formally declared itself a
single-state nuclear-weapon-free zone.
In an address to the UN General Assembly this September,
Mongolia said that the TPNW’s entry into force “set a milestone in the
international efforts in banning these disastrous weapons”. It added that the
treaty will be “instrumental” in eliminating nuclear weapons.
Mongolia has actively promoted universal adherence to the TPNW,
including by co-sponsoring and consistently voting in favour of an annual UN
General Assembly resolution since 2018 that calls upon all states to sign,
ratify, or accede to the treaty “at the earliest possible date”. In 2017,
Mongolia participated in the TPNW’s negotiation at the United Nations and was
among 122 states that voted for its adoption.
In its opening statement to the negotiating conference, it
expressed hope that the treaty-making process would “establish a strong, robust
but effective legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading
towards their total elimination”. Following
the treaty’s adoption, the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Ts.Munkh-Orgil
welcomed the new agreement, noting that “current tensions have only deepened
the concern associated with nuclear weapons”.
icanw.org
