NEW YORK: The State of Qatar has confirmed its firm position regarding disarmament issues in the world calling on the Member States of the United Nations General Assembly to meet their disarmament obligations especially nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.

Qatar also demanded the need to take measures that will help to build trust and prevent outer space becomes a conflict zone considering that its position in this file comes from its commitment to its responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security and its belief in the need to support all efforts for disarmament in the world according to the principles of the United Nations and its noble message to maintain international peace and security.

This came in a statement of the State of Qatar delivered by the Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the UN Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Thani to the First Committee of the 70th session of the General Assembly during the general debate on all disarmament and international security related agenda items.

He said that the State of Qatar has acceded to many of the major international conventions in the field of disarmament notably the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and other treaties to support the international efforts to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

He explained that since its inception in 2004 Qatar's National Committee on Arms Embargo has carried out its mandated role in advising the competent government bodies in all matters relating to the arms embargo in order to achieve the objectives of the relevant international conventions to which the State of Qatar acceded.

Qatar's statement emphasised on the importance of the role played by the First Committee on Disarmament as a multilateral deliberative body on the disarmament issues within the United Nations and its ability to advance the mission of disarmament and strengthening security but he said that it was unable recently to make the desired progress.

He attributed the reasons for this to the lack of political will in some countries noting that this was reflected during the Review Conference of the parties of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons held in May 2015 and which has failed to establish a nuclear-weapons-free zone and all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East despite the great efforts that have been made in the hope of achieving this goal.

He said that the most important reasons for the lack of security and political stability in the Middle East is the refusal of some countries to join efforts to create a nuclear weapons-free zone as well as their refusal to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

He also pointed to Qatar's support of the right of countries to the peaceful use of nuclear energy which was confirmed by the NPT as an "inalienable right" including the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

On the other hand Qatar's statement noted to the consequences of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons because they constitute one of the major challenges facing the world in the field of disarmament warning that such illicit transfer and misuse of these weapons help fuel conflicts which have a devastating impact on the civilians.

The statement of Qatar's Permanent Delegation to the UN stressed in the conclusion that the use of outer space for peaceful purposes today plays a pivotal role in achieving economic development calling on at the same time the disarmament conference to strengthen international cooperation in the use of outer space for peaceful purposes and prohibit the deployment of any kind of weapons in outer space or the use or threat of use of force against targets in outer space.

QNA