Joint Statement by Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands on L.31, "Treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices" to the First Committee of the 79th session of the United Nations

Check against delivery

New York, USA, November 1, 2024

We are delivering this statement on behalf of Canada, Germany, and The Netherlands, the main sponsors of this year’s decision “Treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices”. The resolution on this topic was supported by 155 states last year.

A treaty on fissile material for nuclear weapons would make an important contribution to advancing nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation.  Our shared objective of achieving a world without nuclear weapons will require trust and political will – but it will also require tangible, verifiable steps, including controlling and, ultimately, eliminating fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Year after year, we have underscored the urgent need to make substantial, practical, and verifiable progress. States that do not possess nuclear weapons, and that are party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), already have controls in place that amount to a de facto Fissile Material Treaty: we neither produce fissile material intended for nuclear weapons, nor stockpile any fissile material for use in nuclear weapons.

Therefore, those states that produce and possess fissile materials for nuclear weapons must take the initiative on this issue.

Important work in support of treaty negotiations has already been done by the Group of Governmental Experts (2014-2015) and the High-Level Expert Preparatory Group (2017-2018). Since then, we have continued to call for the immediate start of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament.

This year, we have reached the regrettable conclusion that there is currently not enough support amongst the key states to negotiate a treaty. We believe that there is insufficient justification to introduce another resolution at the 79th session of UNGA First Committee.

Instead, we introduced a decision this year. The operative elements of the 2023 resolution remain valid, but do not need to be repeated. However, it is clear that political will is urgently needed to break this deadlock.

We welcome the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs’ recent outreach to the states that produce or possess fissile material for nuclear weapons. This follows the adoption of OP4 in our resolution last year, which called for transparency and confidence building measures among those states.

In this context, we also welcome the launch of the Friends of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty at its high-level meeting in New York last September. This is a cross-regional group proposed by Japan that aims to maintain and enhance political support for a treaty. We look forward to actively participating in the efforts of the group.

We continue to believe that the CD would be the most appropriate venue for negotiating a treaty. However, given the CD’s lack of progress over the past 30 years, the international community, including those states that possess and produce fissile material for nuclear weapons, should be open to other venues.  

Summarizing, we call on all states that produce or possess fissile material for nuclear weapons to:

• adopt moratoria on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons;
• engage in transparency and confidence-building measures among themselves with a view to launching negotiations, with the Secretary-General and the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs facilitating any such efforts; and
• start negotiations in good faith.

The broader UN membership has an important role in this regard. We urge you to join us in holding to account – without exception – all those states that produce or possess fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Thank you.