NEW YORK -- A United Nations conference to negotiate a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons is set to open at U.N. Headquarters here on March 27, with a tug-of-war expected between nuclear powers and non-nuclear countries, and Japan's presence as the world's only atomic-bombed country thrust into the spotlight.
About 40 countries, including nuclear powers and countries that are under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, are expected to boycott the conference on the Nuclear Weapons Convention, while non-nuclear nations are seeking to introduce a ban treaty at an early date.
"It will be an historic treaty," said one member supporting the global pact, as survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and other citizens groups arrived in New York ahead of the conference.
At a U.N. General Assembly meeting in December last year, it was decided that the conference will be held in two parts, the first of which is scheduled for March 27-31. The first round of talks is expected to focus on the purpose, content and format of the treaty, and will apparently be led by Austria, Mexico and other countries underlining the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons. By banning nuclear weapons under international law and creating a global norm that the use of nuclear weapons is a crime, countries rallying behind the treaty are hoping it will apply pressure on nuclear powers.
Opinions are, however, divided over the scope of the nuclear weapons ban under the treaty. Issues include whether only the use of nuclear arms should be prohibited, or if the ban should be extended to their possession, development, production and transfer.
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