NEW YORK: A UN committee on disarmament adopted a Japan-sponsored draft resolution for the abolition of nuclear weapons Wednesday, with support from 13 more countries than the previous year’s similar resolution.

At the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, the resolution received 152 votes in favor, four against and 30 abstentions. It is expected to be adopted at a plenary meeting of the General Assembly in early December.

The First Committee has adopted such a resolution for 28 straight years.

A senior official of the Japanese Foreign Ministry attributed the increased support to the country’s “steady efforts to build a common base between nuclear and nonnuclear powers,” including by adjusting the wording in a draft resolution.

Among nuclear powers, the United States and Britain co-sponsored the 2021 resolution, while China and Russia opposed it. France affirmed the resolution after abstaining from voting last year.

Australia and Mexico, which promote the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, abstained from voting this time. The treaty took effect in January.

The draft resolution makes no direct reference to the nuclear ban treaty. There are various approaches to realizing a world without nuclear weapons, the resolution said.

Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio has been cautious about joining the treaty, saying that cooperation from nuclear states is essential to change the status quo.

Ahead of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference in January 2022, the resolution said it reaffirms its support for an initiative to create a zone free of nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. The initiative led to the failure of the 2015 NPT review conference.

JIJI Press