In follow-up to the UN Summit of the Future, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is undertaking an analysis of the impact of the global increase in military expenditure on achievement of the SDGs. UNODA has called for papers to feed into this review.
In response, PNND has joined with eight other organizations in submitting a paper to UNODA on The UN Pact for the Future: Nuclear weapons spending and the Sustainable Development Goals in a turbulent world.
The UN General Assembly, in follow-up to actions agreed by governments at the Summit of the Future, has requested that UN Secretary-General António Guterres undertake an analysis of the impact of the global increase in military expenditure on achievement of the SDGs. The UN Office of Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) has announced an invitation for papers on this issue to assist the UNSG in his task.
On March 20, in response to the invitation, PNND and eight other organizations submitted a paper to the UNODA entitled The UN Pact for the Future: Nuclear weapons spending and the Sustainable Development Goals in a turbulent world. The paper calls on the nuclear-armed and allied states to implement nuclear disarmament commitments they made at the 2024 Summit of the Future by:
Parliamentarians and representatives of peace and disarmament organizations are invited to support this paper, or submit your own papers to UNODA by the deadline of April 1, 2025
The joint paper to the UNODA reports that an increase in international tensions and armed conflicts has led to a corresponding increase in spending on conventional and nuclear weapons, with negative repercussions for most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including diminished investment in the SDGs.
In order to reverse the trend on conventional weapons spending, greater emphasis will be needed on conflict resolution, common security and the rule of law.
Spending on nuclear weapons, however, could be cut by significant amounts regardless of current international tensions. Indeed, in Action 25 of the Pact for the Future adopted in September last year, UN Member States committed to reducing the risks of nuclear war and re-affirmed their commitment to achieve the global elimination of nuclear weapons.
The paper recommends that nuclear armed and allied states implement these commitments by adopting no-first-use policies, ending spending on new nuclear weapons (as promoted, for example, in the HALT Act), replacing nuclear deterrence with common security, and developing a time-bound framework to achieve nuclear abolition no later than 2045, the 100th anniversary of the United Nations.
This would help reduce global tensions, advance the rule of international law, build peace and common security, and free up further resources for the SDGs. The paper highlights a range of legislative, diplomatic and civil society-led initiatives being undertaken to advance these.
Please read the full paper for further analysis on the issue and details of the recommendations.
Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, Basel Peace Office, Citizens for Global Solutions, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Peace and Disarmament Collective Aotearoa, UNFOLD ZERO, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy, World Future Council and Youth Fusion.
