KEY POINTS:
New Zealand will, over the next few weeks, lead calls at the United Nations General Assembly for thousands of nuclear weapons to be removed from high alert status.
The move continues New Zealand's proud record as a staunch advocate for an end to the nuclear threat to global security.
Eighteen years have passed since the Berlin Wall came down, a hugely symbolic event which marked the end of the Cold War and led to a rise in confidence that the world could be freed from the threat of nuclear war. In the intervening years, the world has witnessed a general thawing of relations between nuclear weapon countries, allowing those countries without nuclear weapons to feel more assured that they would not suffer the catastrophic effects of a weapon they would never develop or use themselves.
But while climate change and international terrorism have taken over as today's predominant global security issues, is it accurate for us to consign the prospect of nuclear war to history? As much as countries like New Zealand wish that were the case, the answer is "no".
It is true that the global nuclear arsenal has dropped sharply from approximately 70,000 weapons at the peak of the Cold War, and we applaud that reduction. But 27,000 nuclear warheads still remain.
Of greatest concern is that several thousand of these remain on high alert, poised for rapid launch.
Holding nuclear weapons on high alert status greatly increases the chances of a catastrophe. There would be little time to prevent retaliation if a missile is fired by accident, miscalculation or through terrorist intrusion into a nuclear weapons facility.
For this reason, New Zealand, along with Sweden, Switzerland, Nigeria and Chile, is introducing a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly in New York tomorrow which aims to encourage concrete steps to tackle this risk to global security.
New Zealand's position befits our record as a world leader in calling for a nuclear-free world.
Twenty years ago, we were the first country to declare ourselves nuclear free, and to pass into legislation a ban on nuclear weapons on our soil and in our ports.
But there is clearly more still to be done. In 2000, nuclear weapons countries announced under The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that they no longer had their weapons targeted at specific sites.
While we welcome this sign of progress and subsequent moves to scale back the alert status of many of their weapons, we need to see further commitment that the continued risk of a nuclear attack is being reduced.
The New Zealand-led resolution to the UN asks that all nuclear weapons be taken of high alert status. And that further practical steps be taken to decrease their operational readiness.
Also that the General Assembly be kept informed of progress.
Our resolution will send a clear message that the current situation cannot persist. While we welcome the steps that have been taken, much more needs to be done. And it needs to happen much faster.
* Phil Goff is New Zealand's Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control
