Committee on International Relations and Cooperation welcomes ratification of Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Siphosezwe Masango, has welcomed the National Assembly (NA) resolution to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
During his speech on the same matter in the NA earlier this week, Mr Masango reiterated that the committee is mindful and cognisant of the threat that Nuclear Weapons pose to humanity and is therefore fully supportive of the applicable international humanitarian law and the United Nations (UN) Charter on this matter adopted on 24 January 1946.
“We join the campaign by South Africa and other State Parties that all other Countries must sign, ratify, accept, approve or accede to this Treaty with the goal of universal adherence, unless such a State can prove to the UN that signing this Treaty will “jeopardize its supreme interest,” said Mr Masango.
South Africa was one of the original sponsors in the UN General Assembly of the resolution mandating the negotiations towards a Legally-Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, leading towards their total elimination. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted by the UN on 7 July 2017.
Mr Masango said he believed that the treaty will form part of the country’s strategic focus to commit to multilateralism and a rules-based international order, in which adequate attention is paid to all global threats facing humanity.
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Justice Molafo
Tel: 021 403 8444
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E-mail: jmolafo@parliament.gov.za
