A/RES/70/50
United Nations
Distr.: General
11 December 2015
General Assembly
Seventieth session
Agenda item 97
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 7 December 2015
[on the report of the First Committee (A/70/460)]
70/50.
Ethical imperatives for a nuclear-weapon-free world
The General Assembly,
Recalling the seventieth anniversary of the United Nations, which was
established to save succeeding generations from the untold suffering of the scourge
of war,
Recalling also that the United Nations emerged at the time of the immense
trail of death and destruction resulting from the Second World War, 70 years ago,
Recalling further the noble principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
which enjoin the international community, individually and collectively, to spare no
effort in promoting the ethical imperative of “in larger freedom”, so that all peoples
may enjoy freedom from want, freedom from fear and the freedom to live in dignity,
Convinced that, given the catastrophic humanitarian consequences and risks
associated with a nuclear weapon detonation, Member States have long envisaged
nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation as urgent and interlinked ethical
imperatives in achieving the objectives of the Charter, which is reflected in the first
resolution, resolution 1 (I), adopted by the General Assembly on 24 January 1946,
aimed at the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all
other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction,
Acknowledging, in this connection, the ethical imperatives outlined in the
provisions of its resolutions and reports and those of other related international
initiatives on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences and risks posed by a
nuclear weapon detonation, including the declaration that the use of nuclear
weapons would cause indiscriminate suffering and as such is a violation of the
Charter and the laws of humanity and international law, 1 the condemnation of
nuclear war as contrary to human conscience and a violation of the fundamental
right to life,2 the threat to the very survival of humankind posed by the existence of
nuclear weapons, 3 the detrimental environmental effects of the use of nuclear
_______________
1
See resolution 1653 (XVI).
See resolution 38/75.
3
See resolution S-10/2.
2
15-16804 (E)
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