United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on governments to start negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention as part of a five point plan to eliminate the risks from nuclear weapons.

In an address to a conference organised in the United Nations by the East-West Institute , Ban Ki-moon called for ‘the nuclear-weapon States, to fulfil their obligation under the [nuclear Non-Proliferation] Treaty’ by pursuing ‘a framework of separate, mutually reinforcing instruments. Or they could consider negotiating a nuclear-weapons convention, backed by a strong system of verification, as has long been proposed at the United Nations.” Ban Ki-Moon informed the conference that “Upon the request of Costa Rica and Malaysia, I have circulated to all United Nations Member States a draft of such a convention, which offers a good point of departure.”