Blog

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 August 2024.

This statement outlined the UK’s support for the expansion of safe access to nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes, including through UK projects.

Thank you, Chair,

The NPT plays a vital role in facilitating access to the peaceful uses of nuclear technologies, in a safe, secure and safeguarded manner. These technologies contribute to addressing some of the biggest challenges facing the world, including delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), tackling the climate crisis and achieving net zero. Sharing and expanding access to peaceful nuclear technologies has never been more important.

Chair,

Public confidence in the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies is an essential component in their deployment. The actions of one State Party are undermining this confidence. The UK remains gravely concerned about the implications for safety, security and safeguards of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and Russia’s continued presence at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. In his most recent report on Ukraine, the IAEA Director General noted that all of his ‘seven pillars of nuclear safety and security’ had been completely or partially compromised. Russia must immediately withdraw its forces and grant Ukrainian authorities and IAEA inspectors unfettered access to all areas of ZNPP.

As States Party to the NPT, we all have an important part to play in maintaining trust in nuclear technologies – not just for energy purposes, but for health, agriculture and climate applications. To do so, we must continually demonstrate our commitment to safety standards, security guidelines, and the robust application of safeguards. The UK fully supports the independent and impartial role of the IAEA in developing these standards and guidelines, and in verifying States compliance with their commitments under the NPT.

Chair,

The United Kingdom is committed to removing barriers to access to nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes. This is a priority for us in our work with the IAEA and under the UK and US led Sustained Dialogue on Peaceful Uses (SDPU).

We are a longstanding supporter of the IAEA’s work including its programme to support research, development and transfer of peaceful nuclear technologies to its Member States through the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Programme and Peaceful Uses Initiative. We have contributed more than £5 million to the IAEA for this programme this year alone. We have provided funding for projects to monitor changes in atmospheric processes as evidence of climate change, for research to assess the impacts of climate change on food security, and for projects to address marine plastic pollution.

Chair,

The UK is proud to champion the Sustained Dialogue on Peaceful Uses, as part of a group of States Parties who are raising the profile of nuclear technologies in addressing development challenges. Now in its second year, the Sustained Dialogue promotes international cooperation and aims to widen participation, ensuring and expanding the accessibility of peaceful uses of nuclear technology for development purposes. The programme brings a wide range of stakeholders together, including policy makers, the development community, scientific experts, the private sector, and of course the IAEA.

In its first 2 years, the SDPU has focused on promoting peaceful uses of nuclear science, paving the way for these technologies to:

• advance water security in the Middle East and North Africa
• improve outcomes for cancer patients in West Africa and
• tackle food insecurity and malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific

To build on this foundation, participants are developing additional activities across these continents to continue raising awareness, improving understanding and increasing uptake of the part nuclear technologies can play in responding to development needs of participating nations.

To demonstrate further this work at this PrepCom, the UK and US, alongside SDPU facilitator CRDF Global hosted a side event on the Sustained Dialogue on 25th July. The panel included national representatives, recent workshop participants and the IAEA. It discussed activities to date as well as sharing perspectives on improving peaceful nuclear technology use and empowering participants to contribute to future SDPU activities.

Chair,

As a practical means to support and champion the benefits of Pillar III we invite interested States Parties to support the SDPU to improve and expand peaceful uses assistance.

Thank you, Chair.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 August 2024.

This statement emphasised the UK’s support for comprehensive nuclear safeguards and other non-proliferation measures under the NPT, including via the IAEA.

Mr Chair,

For over half a century, the NPT has kept us safe. It has enabled the growth of a secure international civil nuclear sector while restricting the number of States possessing nuclear weapons to single figures. This is to be rightly celebrated, and we must recognise what has enabled that success, alongside looking to what should be done to ensure its work continues.

The NPT is underpinned by the tireless efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The UK remains one of the IAEA’s largest extra-budgetary contributors in support of its work on safeguards. This support has helped train IAEA inspectors, provided samples analysis to the IAEA, and supported open-source information collection. The UK will remain steadfast in our support for the Agency and will champion its independence and impartiality given its importance to international security.

In pursuing its mission, the IAEA provides expertise and confidence to its membership. The value of this is seen clearly in its verification of robust international safeguards. We encourage all states to sign and ratify the Additional Protocol, together with a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, as the universal verification standard under the NPT.

The UK supports the IAEA’s work on nuclear security. The high engagement with and participation at ICONS this year demonstrated strong global support for nuclear security. We encourage all remaining states to become party to nuclear security instruments. It was disappointing to most of us that the ICONS Ministerial Declaration was in the end not adopted and blocked by just one state. That must not distract from the vital work that is being carried out, and we fully support the co-Presidents’ statement.

We also underline the importance of the IAEA’s role in protecting nuclear security in Ukraine, where Russia’s illegal invasion and continued presence at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant threatens nuclear safety, security and safeguards.

Mr Chair,

The UK is also working to ensure developments in technology and new partnerships uphold and strengthen safeguards. We are working closely with our US and Australian partners so that Australia’s development of a nuclear-powered submarine capability sets the highest non-proliferation standard. AUKUS partners will host a side event in Geneva on 26 July to discuss our non-proliferation objectives in developing a naval nuclear propulsion programme.

Mr Chair,

While the vast majority of NPT States Parties fully comply with their safeguards obligations and uphold the integrity of the NPT, there remain serious problems that should be of concern to us all.

Iran’s nuclear programme is more advanced than ever and poses a clear threat to regional and global security. Iran’s persistent lack of cooperation with the IAEA on its legally binding safeguards obligations undermines the safeguards system and the IAEA’s authority. The UK continues to hold Iran to account. At the June IAEA Board of Governors meeting, the Board adopted a resolution condemning Iran’s failure to cooperate and reiterated its support to the IAEA’s efforts to resolve the long outstanding safeguards issues. We call on Iran to fulfil its legal obligations and clarify and resolve all outstanding issues.

The DPRK’s illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes remain a serious threat to international security, including the threat of a seventh nuclear test. We call on the DPRK to abandon their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner, to return to their NPT obligations and IAEA safeguards oversight and to renew dialogue.

Mr Chair,

There are other tools that we must deploy to ensure Non-Proliferation standards are upheld. Export controls is one such tool, that facilitates the responsible exchange of civilian nuclear technology. They give states the confidence to transfer nuclear technology which supports economic growth and contributes to sustainable development while minimising proliferation risks. The UK continues to engage with the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Zangger Committee and urges all States to adhere to NSG’s Guidelines.

The UK also supports Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones and the contribution they can make to enhance regional and international security. The UK has signed and ratified the Protocols to the Treaties of Tlatelolco, Rarotonga, Pelindaba and Semipalatinsk providing legally binding negative security assurances to more than 100 countries. We stand ready to do sign and ratify the Treaty of Bangkok. The UK remains committed to a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems in the Middle East, based on arrangements freely arrived at by all countries in the region.

Mr Chair,

Non-proliferation and the protection that the NPT provides is in all our security interest. Over the coming review cycle the UK stands ready to work with all States Parties to reinforce the global non-proliferation system and through its application, expand access to the peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 August 2024.

This statement reiterated the UK’s commitment to transparent, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament, with undiminished security for all.

Chair,

The United Kingdom remains committed to the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons in a transparent, verifiable, and irreversible manner and with undiminished security for all. We firmly believe the best way to achieve this goal is through gradual multilateral disarmament negotiated through the NPT. The only viable, effective framework for achieving the complex technical requirements for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The global security environment remains extremely challenging – we are working on disarmament in a more contested and volatile world. There is greater need than ever for all states to recognise these challenges, and to work together to create the environment in which we can make disarmament a reality.

As a nuclear weapon state, the UK takes its responsibilities seriously. We remain committed to working with others – including those who may threaten our interests and security – to build stability, transparency, and better mutual understanding, and to identify and implement effective measures which will ultimately shape the conditions for achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.

Chair,

The UK remains proud of our contributions to the reduction in the global stockpile of nuclear weapons. We are the only nuclear-weapon state to reduce our deterrent capability to a single delivery system. We continue to be transparent on maintaining the safety, security, and effectiveness of our deterrent through our statements to Parliament, the public and in international fora.

Progress on disarmament is reflected not just through reduction in weapon numbers but also by building confidence in the disarmament process. Building collective trust and creating a suitable security environment is necessary if we want to achieve our ultimate goal.

Chair,

Notwithstanding the challenges, there are opportunities to make progress towards disarmament, through focusing our efforts on verification, irreversibility, and transparency, and building on the working papers the UK submitted, on our own and with partners, at the 2022 Review Conference. These areas remain the fundamental building blocks toward a trusted, verifiable process of disarmament.

On verification, the UK will continue our domestic research programme and international work including the QUAD Nuclear Verification Partnership with Norway, Sweden and the US and with the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification. This week, the UK will co-host a Nuclear Verification side event under the QUAD partnership giving an overview of our work, for both technical experts and policy makers alike.

We will continue our efforts on irreversibility. With Norway, we are facilitating an enhanced dialogue among States parties to build a common understanding of the conditions that would make nuclear re-armament as difficult and unlikely as possible. We will be hosting a side event later this week and aim to broaden this work with a wider range of States.

The UK will continue to focus on transparency as a priority. We publish the UK’s overall warhead stockpile limit. We issue regular updates on maintaining the safety, security and effectiveness of our deterrent through our statements to Parliament, the public and in international fora. We will continue to pursue strategic dialogues to develop greater trust, confidence, and transparency between states in relation to nuclear weapons. The UK recently published the Defence Nuclear Enterprise Command Paper, which sets out, for the first time, a full account of what it takes to deliver the UK’s nuclear deterrent. We are ready to explore integrating discussion of National Reports within the NPT cycle and we look forward to sharing a draft of our National Report ahead of the next PrepCom in 2025.

Chair,

We reiterate our long-standing positions calling for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and we urge all States that have not already done so to sign and ratify the Treaty, and particularly those listed in Annex 2. We also call for the commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on an international and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices.

Chair,

Let me conclude by assuring you, once again, of the UK’s continued commitment to progress on this issue throughout this Review Cycle.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 August 2024.

This statement outlines the UK’s ongoing support for the Non Proliferation Treaty across the 3 pillars of disarmament, non-proliferation, and peaceful uses.

Thank you Chair,

I would first like to congratulate you on your election, and to extend the thanks of the United Kingdom’s delegation to you and to the secretariat for your efforts to deliver a constructive and productive PrepCom.

This PrepCom marks the half-way point on the road to the 2026 Review Conference. It is an important opportunity to reflect on the core principles that should guide our work. The rule of law is the cornerstone of any just and prosperous society, and in an increasingly connected world the importance of international rules, multilateral institutions and political leadership cannot be overstated.

For more than half a century, the NPT has been a vital pillar of the international peace and security architecture, and the rules based international order, in which nations can thrive. The NPT provides the only credible and sustainable route to multilateral nuclear disarmament. It has created the non-proliferation framework that has both limited the spread of nuclear weapons and enabled safe access to nuclear technologies for peaceful uses. As a Government that believes in the rule of law at home and internationally, the United Kingdom remains as committed to its full implementation and universalisation as we did when the Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, signed it in 1968.

Chair,

This PrepCom takes place in an ever more unstable and dangerous world. Global arms control is under huge strain. Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, its irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, and reckless endangering of nuclear power plants are not the behaviours of a responsible nuclear weapons state. Iran and the DPRK continue to undermine the non-proliferation architecture and threaten international security. A lack of transparency from other states, including China, on the nature and extent of their nuclear programmes also fuels international concern.

It is against this backdrop that now, more than ever, the first duty of any responsible government must be to keep their nation safe. My Prime Minister has made clear that for as long as others have nuclear weapons, the UK will maintain a nuclear deterrent. Our posture of minimum credible nuclear deterrence, assigned to the defence of NATO, is a vital safeguard for the UK, our Allies, and for maintaining global peace and security.

By the same token, it is at the moments of the greatest geopolitical tension that efforts to reduce nuclear risk and miscalculation are most important. The UK is taking practical steps to reduce the risk of nuclear war and prepare for a future where meaningful progress towards a world without nuclear weapons is possible. We remain committed to the P5 nuclear process, which was first proposed by the UK Defence Secretary, Desmond Browne, in 2008. We will deepen our conversations with non-nuclear weapons states, including in the Global South, and with civil society; and continue to develop practical initiatives on irreversibility, verification, transparency, and accountability. Building a more secure environment is a collective responsibility.

Chair,

The NPT also enables the safe and secure exchange of transformative nuclear technologies for peaceful uses. Alongside addressing energy challenges, it can make a significant contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by supporting a range of applications of nuclear technology in areas such as climate change, agriculture, and health, that can help to protect our planet and improve lives across the world.

The UK is pleased to champion the Sustained Dialogue on Peaceful Uses, which aims to expand access to the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology, breaking down barriers to equal access, to allow all states the opportunity to realise the benefit of nuclear technology.

Robust non-proliferation, safety, and security standards enable full access to those peaceful uses. The UK strongly supports the IAEA’s independence and safeguards mandate. The IAEA plays a critical role in verifying that nuclear material remains in peaceful uses, as well as promoting global nuclear safety and security. It is essential that all States Parties bring into force full safeguards measures, including the Additional Protocol as well as export controls, as key enablers of peaceful nuclear trade.

As new technologies emerge, such as new reactor designs and novel fuel types, we need to ensure that safeguards, safety and security are implemented at the design phase.

Chair,

This approach embodies the Foreign Secretary’s commitment to progressive realism as the foundation of our foreign policy. We are both realistic about the conditions we find ourselves in, yet progressive in our commitment to the ultimate goal of peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons.

We all have our part to play. The UK stands ready to play its part, and calls on all states to work together, in good faith, to lay the foundations for a successful Review Conference in 2026.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 August 2024.

The United Kingdom’s Minister for International Development and Women & Equalities, Anneliese Dodds, visited Ethiopia yesterday, where she met Foreign Minister, Taye Atske-Selassie, to discuss UK support for peace and security across Ethiopia and the wider region; as well as economic growth and development priorities.

The Minister also raised concern about the devasting impact of conflict in Amhara and Oromia on civilians. The UK continues to urge all parties to the conflicts to de-escalate and engage in peaceful and inclusive dialogue.

During her visit, the Minister set out her priorities under the new UK Government, including in areas of common interest like economic transformation; support to humanitarian crises; and tackling global poverty, instability, and the climate and nature crisis. The Minister will support and champion the rights of women and girls.

Her visit, which was preceded by a trip to South Sudan and is her first to the region as newly appointed Minister of State for International Development and Women & Equalities, is a strong indication of the UK’s commitment to the UK-Ethiopia partnership, as well as of UK support for security, stability, and prosperity across the wider region.

While in Addis, the Minister also met with African Union Commissioner Bankole Adeoye, and discussed peace and security issues across the continent, including in Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia. She also discussed efforts to end the conflict in Sudan during a meeting with representatives of Sudanese political parties and civil society in Ethiopia.

Further information

• Minister Dodds’ visit to Ethiopia yesterday follows a warm and wide-ranging phone call between Foreign Minister Taye and UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, last week.
• follow UKinEthiopia on X for further updates on UK activity in Ethiopia.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 August 2024.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Gaza.

Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child. Women and children continue to bear the brunt of this brutal conflict that since October 7 has killed over 40,000 people. Children account for nearly a third of identified casualties. We call on Israel to take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties.

Over 100 innocent hostages remain captured by Hamas in Gaza. Time is running out for them as they remain in captivity subject to unimaginable horror. We call again for their immediate and unconditional release.

President, we’ve heard today that Gaza is on the brink of a devastating polio outbreak. Another deadly threat to a people already facing a multitude of deadly threats: ongoing bombardment, risk of famine and dire sanitary conditions. Meanwhile regional tensions remain high – any attack by Iran would have devastating consequences.

Urgent action is needed, on three fronts:

First, we need an immediate ceasefire. All sides need to focus on the negotiations led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar. These talks offer a vital opportunity to secure an immediate ceasefire that ends the conflict, gets the hostages out, allows urgent access to aid and de-escalates regional tensions.

We also urge Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and other Iranian-aligned militia groups to stand down the ongoing threats of military escalation against Israel. All parties need to exercise restraint, as my Prime Minister has made clear in recent weeks.

Second, Gaza stands on the precipice of a polio outbreak with over 640,000 children under the age of 10 in need of vaccinations. We call on the parties to continue cooperating with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and partners to facilitate vaccine rollouts.

Israel needs to allow safe and unhindered aid access into and across Gaza and to put in place an effective deconfliction mechanism to ensure aid and vaccines can be delivered and administered safely.

Israel’s ramping up of new evacuation orders is causing chaos in Gaza. The humanitarian zone, now just covering 11% of Gaza, is chronically overcrowded with people desperately seeking shelter. It is not safe and it is still receiving fire.

British NGO, UK Med, reports that just last night their residential compound in a humanitarian zone was damaged by Israeli shelling.

Humanitarian actors are being forced to evacuate their offices and abandon warehouses full of aid. If this does not stop, a polio vaccine rollout may become impossible.  All parties must comply with their obligations under International Humanitarian Law.

Third, President, settler violence in the West Bank is inexcusable. The violence in the Palestinian village of Jit last week was abhorrent. We call on Israel to take action against these extremists. The UK has sanctioned eight individuals and two entities related to settler violence.

We condemn the continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank – it is a clear violation of international law.

Finally, President, my Foreign Secretary and French Foreign Minister Sejourne visited Israel and the OPTs last week. They conveyed three key messages: that the current ceasefire talks were the only way to avert a full regional crisis; that the humanitarian situation was catastrophic and we needed to see immediate improvements; and that there had to be accountability for the appalling settler violence in the West Bank. I hope that we can all unite around these three messages today.