19 Apr 2010

UN / GA DISARMAMENT

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges the General Assembly to work on disarmament for “both weapons of mass destruction and the regulation of conventional armaments” as Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and US Ambassador Susan Rice express satisfaction with the bilateral New Start treaty to reduce strategic offensive arms. UNTV / FILE

Posted at: April 19, 2010 3:27 pm

Duration: 01:48

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / GA DISARMAMENT
TRT: 1:48
SOURCE: UNTV / FILE/ UNODC/ UNMIS/ UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ RUSSIAN/ NATS

DATELINE: 19 APRIL 2010, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations North Lawn building

19 APRIL 2010, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Wide shot, General Assembly 
3. 	Wide shot, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sits down
4.	Panning Medium Shot, General Assembly delegates
5.	 SOUNDBITE (English) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:
"Our work on disarmament should address both weapons of mass destruction and the regulation of conventional armaments. Small arms in the wrong hands destroy lives and livelihoods, impede peace efforts, hinder humanitarian aid, facilitate the illicit trade in narcotics and obstruct investment and development."
6.	Wide shot, General Assembly
7.         SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation:
"Russia and the United States have agreed to reduce the aggregate number of their warheads by one third and the number of strategic means of delivery by more than a half. Both in absolute and relative terms this marks real progress in nuclear non-proliferation."
8.	Wide shot, General Assembly
9.	SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States of America:
"This treaty demonstrates our joint determination to pursue responsible global leadership and meet our commitments under Article VI of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to pursue good-faith negotiations and make concrete progress towards nuclear disarmament."
10. 	Wide shot, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon leaves General Assembly daïs

FILE – UNODC - 16 - 17 MARCH 2010, GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA

11.	Med shot, a pile of firearms waiting to be destroyed
12. 	Med shot, magnetic arm moving firearms to be melted down in foundry oven
13.	Med shot, firearms being dropped into foundry oven to be melted down

FILE - UNMIS- 25 NOVEMBER 2008, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
14.	Med shot, "danger mines" sign

FILE – UNHCR – 26 AUGUST 2008 - AITA AL JABAL, LEBANON

15.	Various shots, clearing of a cluster bomb and explosion

FILE – UNMIS – 25 NOVEMBER 2008, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

16.	Wide shot, blast

STORYLINE:

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke to the UN General Assembly today on disarmament and world security, following the Washington, D.C. Summit on Nuclear Security and the three-week session of the Disarmament Commission.

Ban encouraged delegates to focus on disarmament efforts relating to "both weapons of mass destruction and the regulation of conventional armaments" and emphasized how even small arms in the wrong hands "destroy lives and livelihoods."

The Secretary-General had indicated last week that nuclear non-proliferation is a top priority for the UN and had pointed out his intention to push Member States to make substantive progress in strengthening the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin meanwhile praised the results of the Nuclear Summit, which saw Russia and the United States (US) agree on reducing the aggregate number of their warheads by one third and the number of strategic means of delivery by more than a half. Addressing the General Assembly, Churkin said that "both in absolute and relative terms this marks real progress in nuclear non-proliferation."

Last week, during the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., Russia's Minister for Foreign Affairs and the US Secretary of State signed the Protocol to the 2000 Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement of Plutonium Designated as No Longer Required for Defense Purposes and Related Cooperation, which provided for the disposition by each part of 34 metric tons of plutonium.

US Ambassador Susan Rice echoed Churkin's enthusiasm saying that the agreement between Russia and the US "demonstrates our joint determination to pursue responsible global leadership" and underlined how such an agreement would help make "concrete progress towards nuclear disarmament."

Next month, the UN will host the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and other important arms control meetings.