Holy See’s UN envoy calls for renewed arms-control efforts

October 14, 2016

The Holy See’s leading diplomat at the United Nations has called for renewed efforts against arms trafficking and in favor of the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza made his remarks on October 11 during a committee discussion of weapons proliferation.

“While progress has been made in limiting the arms trade, land mines, and cluster munitions, the continued use of small arms and incendiary weapons is deeply disturbing,” he said. “More powerful and sophisticated conventional weapons are devastating entire communities, hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure and must now be treated with the same condemnation we attach to weapons of mass destruction.”

He added:

The Holy See believes that nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence. We must work urgently and without ceasing to find the legal path to the elimination of all nuclear weapons.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• First Committee Speakers Raise Grave Concerns about Broad Range of Weapons Widely Circulating in Volatile Regions Plagued by Terrorist Groups (United Nations)
• Full text of remarks (Holy See Mission)