A UN General Assembly committee has approved a resolution calling for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, despite strong opposition from nuclear-armed nations and their allies. The resolution was adopted yesterday by a majority vote at the General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament. 123 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while 38 voted against. 16 countries abstained.
The United States, Russia, Israel, France and the United Kingdom were among the countries voting against the measure. The resolution now goes to a full General Assembly vote in December. If adopted, treaty negotiations will start in March. The resolution aims to set up a conference in March 2017 to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.