Qatar Participates in High-level Segment of Conference on Disarmament
Geneva| February 24, 2025
The State of Qatar participated in the High-level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament, held in Geneva.
HE Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi headed the State of Qatar's delegation at the conference.
In the State of Qatar's statement before the conference, HE the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that Qatar has adopted a fixed national policy and clear positions on disarmament issues, based on its commitment to its responsibilities toward maintaining international peace and security, and its belief in the necessity of supporting all efforts aimed at disarmament in the world. He noted that Qatar has joined several major international agreements in the field of disarmament, and continues to develop and update national legislation related to weapons of mass destruction to be in line with its obligations under the agreements to which it has joined.
His Excellency said that the increasing crises and conflicts witnessed by the international environment, the escalation of tensions and major threats, global polarization and the challenges facing international security, especially the accelerating pace of nuclear modernization programs, the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence into weapons systems, and the growing threat of weaponization of outer space, are unprecedented risks that require the Conference on Disarmament, as the only multilateral forum for negotiating disarmament, to overcome the state of impotence that has afflicted it for three decades, and to exert more efforts to enhance mutual trust and demonstrate political will and flexibility to overcome differences, engage in a balanced, comprehensive and more effective work program compared to previous years, and begin negotiating a treaty that sets a specific timetable for the complete, transparent and irreversible elimination of all nuclear weapons within the framework of an effective state verification and oversight system, which will contribute to restoring confidence in the credibility of the conference and in its ability to support and enhance international peace and security.
His Excellency voiced the State of Qatar's welcome of the Pact for the Future, which called for moving forward toward achieving the goal of a world free of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, strengthening measures to prevent non-State actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, seeking to establish nuclear-weapon-free zones, calling for activating the role of the United Nations in the field of disarmament, and recommending the holding of a fourth special session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to comprehensive disarmament, with the need to take into account the preservation and strengthening of all gains previously achieved.
His Excellency expressed the State of Qatar's condemnation of the aggression and genocide crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and their deliberate targeting of civilian facilities, especially hospitals, schools, and homes, and their use of starvation policies as collective punishment against Palestinian civilians, depriving them of humanitarian aid, food, and medicine, forcibly displacing them from their homes and areas and their use of heavy and internationally prohibited weapons. He noted that they used more than 90,000 tons of explosives, whose destructive power, according to military experts, is equivalent to seven nuclear bombs.