A joint declaration by 29 political, diplomatic,military and scientific leaders from 14 Asia-Pacific countries strongly supporting a nuclear weapon-free region and world and calling on policymakers to urgently re-energize the nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and security agendas. The Jakarta Declaration on Nuclear Weapons calls for immediate,realistically achievable confidence-building steps towards disarmament by each of the nuclear-armed states in the region.

 

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5. Russia and the US should continue to abide by and implement all existing bilateral and multilateral agreements and understandings, including the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and negotiate a follow-on agreement to New START to reduce dramatically the number of all nuclear weapons in their stockpiles.

6. Pending the elimination of nuclear weapons, the acknowledged nuclear-armed states should commit not only to not increasing their nuclear weapon stockpiles, but to reducing them to the lowest levels consistent with maintaining minimum effective retaliatory capability, and provide sufficient transparent information to give the international community confidence in these commitments.

7. To help to create the conditions for reducing nuclear weapons numbers, those states pursuing advanced conventional capabilities, including missile defence and long-range precision strike, should make special efforts not to let these capabilities impede progress on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

 

OTHER STEPS

8. All nuclear-armed states should attend, and participate constructively in, the next conference of the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, to be held in Vienna on 8–9 December 2014.

9. All NPT Member States should support efforts by the United Nations and the co-sponsors of the 1995 resolution to convene a conference on a Middle East Zone Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction before the 2015 NPT Review Conference.

10. The leaders attending the November 2014 East Asia Summit should set the 2015 East Asia Summit as the target for developing and announcing both general and nuclear confidence-building measures.

11. The 70th anniversary commemoration in August 2015 of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings should be seen as an opportunity for world leaders to demonstrate their commitment to, and to generate momentum towards the achievement of, a nuclear-weapon-free world.

12. Following the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion in 1996 on the legality of nuclear weapons, there should be confirmation and clarification of the status under international law of the possession and use of nuclear weapons. We note in this respect the case brought by the Marshall Islands to the ICJ alleging violation by the nuclear-armed states of their legal obligation to disarm.

 

ON NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION

13. NPT States Parties should work energetically and constructively at the 2015 NPT Review Conference to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation as well as disarmament regime, including by universal adoption of the IAEA Additional Protocol.

14. Welcoming the signatures of all nuclear-weapon states of the protocol to the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty, all such states should also accede to the protocols of the other relevant regional nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZ) and, where outstanding issues prevent this, work with NWFZ parties to find solutions.

15. Recognizing that North Korea’s nuclear program poses a serious threat to regional and global non-proliferation efforts and to the peace and stability of this region, all countries concerned should explore all ways and means to advance the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, including North Korea abandoning all its nuclear weapons and programs as stipulated by the Joint Statement of September 2005.

16. The P5 plus Germany and Iran should continue to engage positively on resolving the concerns about the possible weapons dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program and Iran should maintain its cooperation with the IAEA on resolving present and past issues.

17. Welcoming the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by our host state Indonesia, other states whose signature and/or ratification is necessary to bring that treaty into force should so act as soon as possible, without awaiting such action by any other State Party, and in the meantime maintain a moratorium on all nuclear tests.

18. Pakistan and all other states should support the urgent commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), preferably within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament. Pending negotiation of an FMCT, all relevant states should announce and apply a moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and declare their past production of fissile material, including current stockpiles.

19. All states should implement fully the requirements of UN Security Council Resolution 1540, to prohibit non-state actors developing, acquiring, or transferring weapons of mass destruction, including enacting and enforcing the required legislation and reporting to the UNSC 1540 Committee.

20. All states should ensure that peaceful nuclear energy programs do not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and do not endanger human and environmental health and safety.

 

ON NUCLEAR SECURITY AND SAFETY

21. All states should build and sustain strong nuclear security and safety cultures in relation to all fissile material, nuclear weapons and military and civil nuclear facilities, share best practices and take serious steps to strengthen the international nuclear security architecture.

22. All states should implement UN Security Council Resolution 1540, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and its 2005 Amendment, and the provisions of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT).

23. All states should minimize stocks of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and separated plutonium, convert reactor fuel from HEU to low enriched uranium, and support efforts to use non-HEU technologies for the production of radioisotopes.

24. All states should secure all radioactive sources, consistent with guidance in the IAEA Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and Nuclear Security Series recommendations.

25. All states should ratify and abide by the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. They should strive to attain higher nuclear safety standards and disaster preparedness, and intensify the peer review process for nuclear safety.

26. All states should promote intensive dialogue among and between nuclear industry and government bodies, including national regulators, with a view to improving nuclear security and safety regulations, regulatory effectiveness and transparency, and, supplementing other mechanisms like South Korea’s proposed North East Asia nuclear safety consultative mechanism, there should be established an Asia Pacific Regulators’ Network, focusing on consolidating and sharing best practices in nuclear security.

27. The East Asia Summit should explore the concept of an Asia Pacific Nuclear Energy Community, which would strengthen nuclear energy governance in the region across all three crucial areas of safeguards, security and safety.

28. All states should use all tools available to regulate nuclear transfers and counter illicit transfers of nuclear material, including through effective export control arrangements.

 

ON BROADENING APLN AND IDENTIFYING THE NEXT GENERATION OF NUCLEAR POLICY LEADERS

29. The APLN collectively, and its Members individually, will work:

Gareth Evans (Australia), Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia (APLN Convenor)

Hasmy Agam (Malaysia), Former Ambassador to the United Nations

P. R. Chari (India), Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence

Cui Liru (China), Former President, Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations

Aiko Doden (Japan), Senior Commentator, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

Robert Hill (Australia), Former Defence Minister

Kuniko Inoguchi (Japan), Diet Member, Former Minister, Ambassador to Geneva Conference on Disarmament

Yoriko Kawaguchi (Japan), Former Foreign Minister

Kishore Mahbubani (Singapore), Former Ambassador to the United Nations

Moon Chung-in (Republic of Korea), Editor in Chief, Global Asia

Pan Zhenqiang (China), Maj.-Gen. (ret.); Former Director, Institute of Strategic Studies, National Defence University

ShaZukang (China), Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General

Rakesh Sood (India), Former Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation

Nyamosor Tuya (Mongolia), Former Foreign Minister

Nur Hassan Wirajuda (Indonesia), Former Foreign Minister

 

Image: Unsplash stock, Uray Zulfikar.