CIAO DATE: 07/2013
July 2013
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
There is an Arab proverb that says: “Not realizing all of an objective doesn’t mean some of it can’t be realized.” This is certainly the case when tackling the issue of nuclear non-proliferation by the international community. For instance, establishing regional nuclear free zones was a rational necessary step toward ridding the world of this dire threat. And this is well stated in paragraph 6 of the UN General Assembly Resolution Number 3263 which calls for the creation of such a zone in the Middle East. It reads: “the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, on the initiative of the States situated within each zone concerned, is one of the measures which can contribute most effectively to halting the proliferation of those instruments of mass destruction and to promoting progress towards nuclear disarmament, with the goal of total destruction of all nuclear weapons and their means of delivery.
Resource link: A Political Plan for a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East [PDF]