MESSAGE FROM SENATOR LAURA ROJAS (MEXICO) DURING

THE ROUNDTABLE DIALOGUE SPONSORED BY

PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION AND
DISARMAMENT REDUCING NUCLEAR THREATS- THE ROLE OF
PARLIAMENTARIANS
134th IPU Assembly, Lusaka
Tuesday 22 March 12:15-13:45
Room: Muchinga, New Wing, MICC

It is a great honour for me to participate in such an important workshop

organized by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and
Disarmament (PNND) and hosted by the Standing Committee on
Peace and International Security as a side event of the ongoing 134th
Interparliamentary Union Assembly. Thank you for your hospitality and
leadership Mr. Chairman Raseriti Johaness Tau, and congratulations
Alyn for your tireless efforts in organizing this roundtable dialogue. I
am really thrilled to share this panel with you as much as with our
distinguished speakers Margret and Noel.

A call to inspire parliamentary actions in terms of reducing nuclear

threats, appeals directly, at least to Latin American parliamentarians, to
one of Mexicos historical foreign policy initiatives and one of the most
important precedents of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation (NPT) of
Nuclear Weapons: namely the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear
1

Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as the

Treaty of Tlatelolco, which established the first Nuclear-Weapon-FreeZone in the world and was critical to inspire and give impetus to
subsequent efforts towards the universal elimination of nuclear
weapons. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Kimoon, has hailed the Treaty as an example of how regional initiatives
can advance global norms on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation
and the peaceful use of atomic energy even in turbulent political times.

The Treaty entered into force around 47 years ago. From then
onwards,

Mexico

has

stressed

the

devastating

humanitarian,

environmental and economic consequences of the use of nuclear

weapons stating that nuclear disarmament is not only a moral
imperative but also an international legal obligation. This statement has
been actually one in which both Government and Congress historically
have found a genuine source of political consensus and concerted
action.

As the IPU members acknowledged in the resolution, adopted during

the 130th IPU Assembly Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World: the

Contribution of Parliaments, we need to engage in building multiparty

networks and coalitions at all levels in the pursuit of reducing nuclear
threats and eliminating the role of nuclear weapons in our security
doctrines.

That is precisely the aim of some of the most recent actions that both
the Government and both chambers of Congress in Mexico have jointly
pursued over the last months. The Humanitarian Initiative has
generated a new momentum and has given voice to several countries
who were extremely frustrated with the protracted paralysis in the
multilateral negotiations taking place, for instance, within the
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

As a result, Mexico, with the support and commitment of a growing

number of co-sponsors presented, in the United Nations, a resolution
entitled Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations,
which was adopted last December. With this resolution the General
Assembly established, last month, a Working Group as one of its
subsidiary bodies entitled to work on concrete effective legal
measures, provisions and norms in order to achieve the objective of a

world without nuclear weapons. The Working Group has also a clear
mandate to address recommendations that could contribute to take
forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations including but not
limited to a) transparency measures related to the risks associated with
existing nuclear weapons; b) measures to reduce and eliminate the risk
of accidental, mistaken, unauthorized or intentional nuclear weapon
detonations, and c) additional measures to increase awareness of the
humanitarian consequences from any nuclear detonation.

Parliamentarians can do a lot in this context. We can push our

governments to change national security doctrines largely based on
the accumulation of those weapons, work together in order to establish
alliances promoting new nuclear-free-zones and share experiences
with the aim of identifying the best possible strategies to formulate an
agenda in preparation of the High Level Conference on Nuclear
Disarmament the United Nations have decided to convene no later
than 2018, an initiative originally proposed by the first Summit of the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

For instance, NPPD members and friends, also part of the IPU, should
formally request the Interparliamentary Union to organize its annual
parliamentary hearing at the United Nations next year precisely on the
role of parliamentarians to reduce nuclear threats and support nuclear
non-proliferation efforts. Together, like-minded parliamentarians of the
world, sharing these convictions, could formulate an agenda and a
roadmap for an expanded and unprecedented political leadership. The
challenge is adding up individual efforts into a successful global,
coherent and significant campaign.

From the Mexican viewpoint, the time is ripe to initiate a diplomatic

process, define specific time lines and the framework in which a new,
comprehensive, compulsory and ambitious treaty, reinforcing the value
of multilateralism and under the principles of verification, irreversibility
and transparency, prohibiting the production, stockpiling, possession
and use of nuclear weapons. To this end, parliamentarians can greatly
contribute with all sorts of education and sensibilization endeavors but
also reviewing our countries degree of compliance with all their
international responsibilities steaming from the NPT and other treaties,
exerting pressure to our governments in order for them to sign and

ratify important international conventions such as the Comprehensive

Nuclear- Test- Ban- Treaty, and to actively engage in the negotiating
process for the establishment of new nuclear weapon-free zones and
the strengthening of the existing ones.

Moreover, as stated in a Joint Statement of Parliamentarians, Mayors

and Religious Leaders for a Nuclear Weapon Free World, adopted in
Hiroshima last August during the 70th anniversary of the nuclear
bombing of the city, parliamentarians are a key part of a world coalition
promoting legislation either in the form of motions or legal mechanisms
consistent with the objectives of a new campaign in favor of
considering nuclear weapons against moral principles, at odds with
international law and in opposition to the imperatives of safety and
well-being of current and future generations. In this regard, I would like
to refer to the case lodged by the Marshall Islands against nine nuclear
armed States in the International Court of Justice arguing they have
violated their legal obligation to disarm. The Marshall Islands has
invited other non-nuclear countries to join the case through exercising
the right of intervention. It would be important that parliamentarians can
ask their governments to act accordingly.

I am pleased to inform you, as well, that the Mexican Congress

approved, last January, a motion where it joins the global
condemnation of North Korea hydrogen bomb test and calls all
legislative bodies of nuclear countries to adopt measures in order to
reduce the risk of detonations and to incorporate a humanitarian
dimension to the discussions regarding the existence and use of this
weapons.

But please do not forget other important possibilities. Parliamentarians

can make vital contributions in the promotion of disarmament and nonproliferation education and in performing our main task according to
the mandate of the IPU resolution, namely: the use of all available tools
including

committees

to

monitor

national

implementation

of

disarmament commitments, scrutinizing legislations, budgets and

foreign policy, national security and defense policies. I look forward to
listen to your proposals and to start a groundbreaking work with the
aim of begin the task of converting the disarmament vision into a
reality.
Thank you