The State of Qatar underscored its commitment to the international mechanisms and measures dedicated to disarmament and arms control and continuing its efforts to safeguard regional and global peace, This came in the remarks delivered by HE Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater before the Conference on Disarmament High Level Segment convened in Geneva on Monday.
Her Excellency pointed out that multilateralism in disarmament ensures social security and generates cooperation and agreement on monitoring, verification and compliance, affirming that this was the designated purpose of establishing the disarmament conference as the sole multilateral forum to negotiate disarmament, but unfortunately after more than two decades, she said the conference is still unable to assent to its agenda due to lack of political desire on the part of a number of countries.
The mounting challenges facing the global security, along with the heightened crises facing the international environment, the surge of geopolitical tensions and the accelerated return to nuclear arms race and nuclear saber-rattling prompt the international community to be in desperate position for further efforts, reinforce shared confidence and pursue the political desire to overcome the odds, reach the work program for which the conference on disarmament has been established to negotiate important multilateral, non-discriminatory instruments in disarmament, giving priority to nuclear disarmament to restore confidence in the credibility of the Conference and in its ability to support and bolster international peace and security, Her Excellency said.
HE Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs underscored the State of Qatar's strong condemnation of the threats unleashed by the Israeli Heritage Minister in November to pound the besieged Gaza Strip which indubitably proves the fact that Israel possesses nuclear weapons and is bent on using them against the unarmed civilians whose land has been occupied for 67 years, in a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions No. 242 and 338.
Her Excellency highlighted that these threats overtly expose the reason behind the Israeli rejection of joining the efforts of the countries of the region that are based on the international resolutions to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, urging the relevant international organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to uphold its responsibility towards these threats and their fallout.
Her Excellency reiterated the State of Qatar's condemnation of the genocidal war being committed by the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, using heavy, lethal and internationally-banned weapons, the intentional and indiscriminate targeting of the civilian facilities, especially hospitals, schools, places of worship, using the policy of starvation as collective punishment against the Palestinian civilians and depriving them of humanitarian aid, as well as food and medicine, in addition to forced displacement which led to the martyrdom of nearly 30,000 Palestinians and injured over 69,000 most of them women and children in a flagrant violation of the laws and the relevant international agreements.
Her Excellency urged the international community to take all necessary measures to enforce an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, lifting all restrictions that hamper the flow of humanitarian assistance, ceasing forced displacement and ensuring the protection of civilians based on the international law and international humanitarian law.
The State of Qatar has joined numerous and major international treaties in disarmament and arms control, chiefly the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the Chemical Weapons Convention (OPCW), the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the establishment of the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons in 2004 to provide advice to the competent government agencies in everything related to living up to its obligations in international treaties and implement the essential programs to promote awareness on the dimensions of disarmament and arms control efforts, as well as the humanitarian, economic and environmental impacts of the arms race, she underlined.
Her Excellency pointed out that Doha Regional Training Centre (RTC) keeps holding training sessions concerning the conventions of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) at the national, regional and global levels, affirming that it is a first-of-its-kind center in the Middle East to provide the capacity-building program, in addition to helping the institutions live up to their international obligations in security and non-proliferation.
The State of Qatar underscores the right of all nations to peacefully use atomic energy with strict compliance with the enforced international treaties and IAEA criteria, including the safeguards agreements, Her Excellency said, pointing out that Qatar has adopted the appropriate legislations to reinforce the safety and security of radioactive materials and endorsed the 2005 amendment of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM).
Qatar has issued the National Nuclear Materials Inventory and Control System Law of 2018 and joined the Nuclear Safety Convention in 2020, and its accession entered into force in March 2021, She added, underlining that Qatar intends to hold a national forum for the peaceful uses of atomic energy and its role in national development with the aim of enhancing knowledge of nuclear technologies and their peaceful uses, with the participation of all relevant state institutions, in the first quarter of 2024.