The Secretary General of OPANAL participates in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPAN).
New York, November 27 – December 1, 2023. The Secretary General of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL), Ambassador Flávio Roberto Bonzanini, participates in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPAN).
In his speech at the high-level segment, the Secretary General:
• Reiterated the historical commitment of Latin America and the Caribbean to nuclear disarmament
• He highlighted that the TPAN, by establishing an international norm that prohibits nuclear weapons, joins the path towards the total elimination of this type of weapons of mass destruction that has been marked by the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons. Nuclear (NPT)
• Called on all States party to the Treaties that establish nuclear weapon-free zones to adhere and/or redouble their efforts to advance their ratification processes of the TPAN.
• Reiterated the support of OPANAL in the discussions on the design, structure and operation of this new competent international institution designated to ensure compliance with key provisions of the TPAN
• He stressed that the Final Declaration must reflect the importance of nuclear weapon-free zones and their contribution to general and complete nuclear disarmament, as well as the complementarity of the treaties that establish these zones with the TPAN itself.
• Called on all States Parties; Signatory States; observers and civil society organizations to redouble their efforts with a view to strengthening, consolidating and universalizing the TPAN.
Chaired by Ambassador Juan Ramón de la Fuente (Mexico), the Second Meeting will review the reports of the working groups on the implementation of the Treaty in the intersessional period, and will lay the foundations for making key decisions, such as actions for universalization and institutionalization of the TPAN, its complementarity with other instruments, among others. Likewise, the Meeting will include a thematic debate on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons.
Read the text of the intervention, here