US Mission Geneva

A collection of texts and photos from the Secretary of States February 27-28, 2011 visit to Geneva.

The question before us today is whether we will – at last – agree to end the dedicated production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons. Halting production is in the interest of every country, and I urge this conference to end the stalemate and open negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty without further delay.

We made a determination in this Administration to join the Human Rights Council. I think it’s proven to be a good decision because we’ve been able to influence a number of actions that we otherwise would have been on the outside looking in. There are a number of issues on that agenda that we will be working on. I will also go to the Conference on Disarmament because we continue to press for further action in accordance with President Obama’s Prague agenda. So it will be a very busy, exhausting day, but a very fruitful one for me to be there.

By all accounts, 2010 was a watershed year for nuclear arms control. In word and deed, the United States followed through on its commitment to disarmament. The U.S. Nuclear Posture Review concluded last April, fundamentally recalibrated the role of nuclear weapons in our strategic doctrine and changed U.S. declaratory policy on use of nonnuclear weapons.

The Report of the Obama Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, or NPR, emphasized that today, our greatest nuclear threat is no longer a large-scale nuclear exchange, but the danger that terrorists could acquire nuclear materials or, worse, a nuclear weapon.

In addition to having signed and ratified the Treaty of Tlatelolco, the United States is preparing to submit for Senate advice and consent to ratification protocols to the nuclear weapons-free zones established for Africa and the South Pacific, following up on Secretary Clinton’s announcement at the NPT Review Conference.

I welcome the opportunity afforded to this delegation and other delegations to address the issue of the conclusion of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) a vital objective which has been repeatedly endorsed by the international community.

Thank you, Mr. President, for facilitating this very useful discussion of space policy. We would also like to commend Canada for its long-standing focus on these important issues.

We felt it was very important to come and open this session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and do so with a great emphasis, first of all, on our support for the work of the CD historically, for the profound influence it has had on disarmament and arms control as well as the non-proliferation agenda.